The
teaming of Neil Jordan and Nick Nolte is an interesting one, considering the
director only seems capable of making a good film every other time out (his
most recent was The End of the Affair),
while the actor has been able to successfully carry a film approximately once
over the last 10 years (Affliction).
In other words, the chances of The Good Thief (opens Friday, April
25, at the Little) being a memorable picture would be pretty close to the odds
of the damn Yankees finishing the season in the AL East basement (Lord, hear
our prayer).
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย But Thief isn’t bad. In fact, it’s practically entertaining, assuming
you’re interested in seeing a slightly more indie, slightly more international,
slightly less fun version of Ocean’s 11.
Or assuming you’ll be titillated by watching Nolte play a disheveled alcoholic
and junkie just a few months after his arrest for being a disheveled alcoholic
and junkie (Hey, haven’t you ever heard of method acting before, Officer?).
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Nolte plays Bob, an expert
crook-turned-degenerate booze/heroin/gambling-addicted mess with jet-black hair
and a gravelly voice that sounds like Satan from The Exorcist — that is, when Nolte bothers to project beyond a
mumble. As Thief opens, Bob is at a
horse track on the French Riviera, bidding farewell to his last bit of money.
But a bunch of his pals then discuss the possibility of knocking off a
Japanese-run, Monte Carlo casino on the eve of the Grand Prix. Along the way,
we meet an interesting array of supporting characters, like the teen whore
(Nutsa Kukhiani) Bob manages to rescue from her pimp, an evil art dealer (an
uncredited Ralph Fiennes), a pair of wacky twins (directors Mark and Michael
Polish), and the cop (Tchรฉky Karyo) who knows his old pal Bob is up to
something, and seems intent on stopping it.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Thief takes forever to get going, but once it starts to focus on the safe heist, it
becomes increasingly enjoyable. Jordan incorporates clunky freeze-frame shots
and awkward jump cuts throughout the film, which is more forgivable than
allowing Thief‘s music to step on
many of Nolte’s best lines, most of which are already inaudible due to his
mumbling. To make matters worse, Jordan’s last handful of films have been
visual treats, shot by the likes of Roger Pratt, Darius Khondji, and Adrian
Biddle. But for Thief, he returns to
boring, Michael Collins cinematographer Chris Menges.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Aside from a decent performance by
Nolte (to be honest, I saw Thief a
few weeks before his arrest, and I’ve downgraded my opinion since then, because
I’m not sure how much of it was acting), there isn’t much else here, other than
the cast of throwaway supporting characters. Thief is a remake of Jean-Pierre Melville’s Bob le Flambeur, from 1955.
If
you’ve been wondering whether someone can make a film as moody, atmospheric,
and downright disturbing as Se7en,
you’ll want to head down to the Dryden Theatre this Friday night (April 25), to
catch Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure. Actually, it’s more of a blend
of Memento‘s amnesia, The Manchurian Candidate‘s mind-control
and power of suggestion, and the bent serial killer from the aforementioned Se7en.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Yakusho Koji plays Detective Kenichi
Takabe, a man clearly beaten down from both dealing with his mentally unstable
wife and his inability to solve a string of bizarre murders. The victims all
have a large “X” carved into their throat and chest, but the killings
have an even more bizarre link. The murderers are always found near the crime
scene, but they have no recollection of committing any crime. They’re usually
friends and acquaintances of the victims, too.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Enter a peculiar psychology student
named Mamiya Kunio (Hagiwara Masato). Mamiya might be connected to the murders,
but he suffers from acute amnesia, making it impossible to question him, as he
can’t remember anything that happened more than a few minutes ago. Mamiya keeps
asking, “Who are you?” over and over again (his memory is much worse
than Leonard Shelby’s), but is he merely trying to figure out who you are, or
is he trying to get you to question your own identity?
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Kurosawa uses long shots almost
exclusively in Cure — which,
amazingly, is his first film to be released in the United States. The result
makes the film a bit creepier, sort of like you’re spying on the characters,
but it also makes everything more realistic. It’s one bleak film, and its
ending would make Kevin Spacey proud. But if you’re the kind of idiot that
needs every loose end neatly tied up before the credits roll, you’ll want to
skip this and see Bringing Down the House again.
A
double award winner at Sundance, but noticeably snubbed by Oscar, Amandla!
A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony (also opening April 25 at the Little)
is a documentary about the history of Apartheid in South Africa. The film
mostly focuses on the protest songs created in response to the enactment of the
Apartheid laws in the late 1940s. Like the folk tunes brought to the Americas
by the Irish and the Scots (as seen recently in Songcatcher), these angry a cappellas were handed down from
generation to generation as important tales. Since most Apartheid victims were
illiterate, the songs are the only link back to their appalling roots.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The morale-boosting tunes, like
“Beware Verwoerd (The Black Man is Coming),” aren’t really harmonious
in the way the title might suggest. If you’re not into this kind of music, Amandla! is likely to be an extremely
grating experience (I found the songs to be moving, but painfully repetitive
after 15 minutes). For those unfamiliar with the details of Apartheid, however,
it should at least be educational.
Interested
in raw, unsanitized movie ramblings from Jon? Visit his site, Planet Sick-Boy (www.sick-boy.com), or
listen to him on WBER’s Friday Morning Show.
This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2003.
