The Tenants

Just finished watching "The Tenants" last night, and thought I'd make a couple of comments, as of this date, there really hasn't been much info or opinions given about it yet. In general, I thought it was a pretty decent movie, being similar to "Barton Fink," and it held my interest throughout the film. There wasn't a very involved plot, but the main characters were interesting, as was the character development.

One of the central themes of this film was racism. Both of the male leads were racist. "Mr. Dogg's" character was outwardly so, but, for Lessor, it took some time to see that, deep down, many of his views about blacks were based on "facts," or stereotypical ideas us white folk pick up when young, or somewhere along life's way. I had started to like Lessor, as he was a quirky character, who was living his life as he wanted, irregardless of whether it was along society's guidelines or not, but as these came out, along with my impression of him coming off as a know-it-all, I found myself, little by little, losing any affinity I had felt towards him, and by the last parts of the film, I was actually hoping for something nasty to happen to him. I must add that, although I am leaning on the side that this is what he wanted, I am not sure if these impressions of Lessor were, indeed, what the filmmaker was trying to have the audience see, or if these were just my own personal thoughts.

I saw some comments in the message boards on the question of whether Snoop Dogg could act in a serious role. For my two cents, I thought he did a pretty decent job. I'm not sure I'm ready to start comparing him to Marlon Brando or Dustin Hoffman just yet, but this type of role is kind of new for him, so he's still got time yet. In his previous roles, the films revolve around and utilize his skills as a rapper, a "player," and all-around slick guy, and he has been at, or near, the top of his profession for many years. I think it takes some courage on his part to risk failure, to try a different venue where he's trying something new, and where he isn't considered some kind of "God."

It makes me wonder though, how someone with the unbelievable life he appears to have, would still want more. I guess it just goes to show you that we can get accustom to, and even bored with, just about anything. Yeah, I suppose all that money, and the women, and the adoration from everyone you meet, can just get old after a while, huh?

I ended up watching The Tenants with my close friends who rented the movie solely based on Snoop Dogg's appearance (a passionate fetish of theirs) on the cover. Understandably, I did not expect much. I thought the movie would include the typical array of Snoop Dogg related behavior and imagery often seen in cliché rap videos. However, my generalization was for the most part wrong. Unfortunately, this didn't make the movie any better.

Most would describe the movie as a dark serious drama, whereas I would describe it as a dark seriously drawn out boring drama flick. The film tells a story of two struggling writers (Dylan McDermott and Snoop Dogg) who are trying to create their own separate masterpieces. Their polar opposite lifestyles end up forming an unlikely but highly complex and neurotic friendship. This friendship moves throughout the entire movie like a wild roller-coaster - most of which is contributed by Snoop's character - reminiscent of someone with a severe case of split personality disorder. And although the movie is a drama, the acting - which has a morbid and serious tone - from Snoop and company was more comical than anything else.

I wouldn't recommend this movie for those who are attention impaired because this one has a lot of dialogue and a lot more dialogue after that. There are some mediocre conflicts, but even they are mostly bogged down with more dialogue. The end, however, jumped at me with a sudden surprise. It was a little bit twisted, somewhat unexpected and a perfect way to wrap up a movie that needed to end. While watching the ending credits I couldn't help but picture the director thinking, "Oh God, how the hell do I end this snoozer." By the way, the director laid out carefully planted hints and subtleties leading to the climax - all of which are more visible than Waldo in a crowded street of midgets wearing nothing but black sweaters.

The movie wasn't bad as everyone says, but it could of been made a little better, casting wise I do say. BUT... look at the way the movie LOOKS, the colors are very crisp and MAKES the picture stand out for that reason. The person or persons involved in that did an OUTSTANDING job. 10 out 10 for that, and as a filmmaker I would love to hire the people who were in charge of that. I sat through the film looking at it from that angle. It was done beautifully, it looked like it was shot on film (which it was I bet)but in the 70's era. I can't stress that enough, it looked so damn amazing, I began to think that it was shot in that era. Great job, bottem line.

This movie sticks out in a good way. At first I thought Snoop was going to be a little cheesy,but He wound up winning everybody in the room watching it with me. I remember Snoop's in a mysterious room, and he just keeps writing. It appears or common sense would tell you that he's wasting his time, but the movie chugs along. It turns out he doesn't and Snoop then develops a cool relationship with Dylan McDermott. This movie was pretty much straight to DVD, and I thought it was a shame. In fact it was in the two dollar bin at blockbuster in a corntown, but we all needed to do something on a Friday night besides staring at the wall. I will say It's my favorite performance from McDermott and I really enjoyed Snoop in this role.

30 years ago (wow!) back in High School, I was a big fan of Bernard Malamud and read most of his works in Modern American Literature Class. But I didn't read The Tenants. So I looked forward to seeing The Tenants especially since my Cuzzin, Snoop Dogg is in it.

The Tenants is an excellent though simple story transformed into a very good screenplay. The problem, however, is the director. This movie feels like it was directed by a film student. It's directed in what I would call a "matter of fact" style which fails to develop a relationship between the characters. In fact, the characters seem just to be reciting lines. Despite that, the screenplay carries this movie well and it was certainly a movie I wanted to go back to and watch to the end on DVD.