Sympathy for Delicious

at first sigh, a religious movie. out of ordinaries rules of genre. in fact, precise portrait of society. a lot of problems in a honest manner presented. the homeless case, the artistic success, the healing industry, the faith, the miracle, the pain, the love's sense, the need of fame, the good intentions, the God will, each in a special way examined . a film who must see. as good occasion to discover pieces from another works about same problem. for the inspired script and for the good acting. for the questions. for the status of parable of film. for the image about every day reality. for the cold poetry of few scenes. for the silences. more than a good movie, it is an useful one.

I saw a screening of this movie at Sundance 2010. I was very impressed with Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut. I told him afterward that it seemed effortless. He laughed and said it was anything but.

Sometimes with first-time directors (though he's had some TV directing experience), there are jarring points that make you realize you're watching a debut. But there were no such moments for me with this movie.

Christopher Thornton, who also wrote the script, was great. He explained after the screening that he developed this with Ruffalo after Thornton complained that there are no good roles for paraplegics.

Though I was told beforehand to expect a dark film, it really has more moments of levity, which Ruffalo said was intentional.

It's a film worth seeing!

==Urgent update Jan 6, 2014. I just saw copies of this movie, brand new, for sale at the Dollar Store. Yes $1! Don't even finish reading this review, just go buy this movie. OK, back to the original review==

I thank my lucky stars I didn't see the trailer beforehand because it would've ruined the beauty of watching this creative story unfold. If you've already seen the trailer, do your best to rinse it out of your skull (it's not exactly accurate anyway).

Rather than tell you about the plot, I'm going to tell you some behind-the-scenes info which should enhance your enjoyment. "Sympathy for Delicious" took 10 years to make. It was written by its lead actor Christopher Thornton who, like the character he plays, is paralyzed from the waist down in real life due to an accident. So the passion he delivers on screen is 100% genuine, and that's why this film works. Nothing is contrived. Even the story, surreal as it is, comes directly from the heart of a man who has been through the ordeal.

His counterpart is played by director Mark Ruffalo, Thornton's longtime friend in real life. The dynamic is stellar. On screen as well as in real life, they share a sort of sibling love-hate relationship. This makes their dramatic scenes 100% authentic. When the characters get into arguments, you can feel that they've left the script behind and are emoting straight from the heart. Not since F. Murray Abraham's performance in "Amadeus" have I seen such raw, honest passion.

The film touches heavily on themes of religion, but it is neither preachy nor bashy. Devout Christians as well as Atheists should enjoy this movie just the same. Thornton plays a faithless character with a lot of understandable resentment toward God (again bringing to mind the excellent film "Amadeus"). Ruffalo plays a Catholic priest who himself has profound issues. Though polar opposites, the 2 characters are oddly parallel.

What makes this film jaw-dropping is the way the story weaves a clever parable of "the rock star & the priest". After you see the film maybe you'll agree that it's a very fitting analogy.

Juliette Lewis is perfect in her role, and her scenes with Thornton are at times funny, at times sentimental, at times powerful, and each time memorable. Orlando Bloom, though prominently featured in the promos for this film, plays a somewhat minor role. But he's still larger than life every time he graces the screen. As far as acting goes, we get Oscar-worthy performances all around.

This is not your average rock'n'roll film; it's much more. It packs a lot of philosophy and requires your full attention, so be sure to watch it with a clear head. It's so original I can't think of many films to compare it to. But it reminds me of the excellent film "Into Temptation" (about a priest who's trying to stop a prostitute's suicide) and the Mexican masterpiece "Piedras Verdes" (about a girl on a soul-searching journey thru the desert). It touches on some of the same profound themes found in "Amadeus" and "The Green Mile".

I give this film 9 stars which is about the highest I ever give a film. Honourable mention for the first & only time I've heard the line "I'LL SEE YOU IN HELL" used effectively (apologies to Arnold Schwarzenegger)!

Dean "Delicious D" O'Dwyer (Christopher Thornton) is a bitter paralyzed DJ who lives on L.A. skid row. Ariel Lee (Juliette Lewis) tries to get him to play in her band led by singer The Stain (Orlando Bloom). Nina Hogue (Laura Linney) is their sleazy manager. Father Joe Roselli (Mark Ruffalo) helps the homeless and tries to help Dean. When Dean discovers his power to cure, Father Joe pays him to cure the people at his mission. It quickly gets out of hand. A man offers to pay the mission $250k to cure his daughter. Dean is infuriated and wants to be paid himself as part of the band's show.

Ruffalo's directing is a bit chaotic. On the other hand, his acting is great and I love his work during the chaos of the healing mission. Orlando Bloom as the lead singer don't feel right. Juliette Lewis has the right feel. Christopher Thornton is not a normal lead actor but he fits this bitter character. It's an interesting idea and I like this movie until the trial. It changes the movie in a wrong direction just as it starts to pick up speed with a vibrant pumping energy.

This piece of cinema exhibited abeyance to the great maxim "you can't always get what you want." A great cast, a compelling story, and a first time directorial debut from a well-regarded actor seems to create the formula for cinematic magic. Unfortunately after two hours that seemed more like three days in a third world airport this was not the case. I wish there had been one area to praise but this again was not the case. The cast a group of distinguished actors were uniformly without character,off key in delivery, and spouting embarrassing dialog. The storyline is hokey and filled with clichés. To top it off the predictable ending is an over the top contrivance. A gritty opening shot in a area of homeless people winds its way to a thoroughly improbable story by a very unappealing and unlikable character. Everyone else is sleepwalking through this disaster. I have no idea what some of the other reviewers thought they were watching but I know for me it was a poorly crafted film.