goggy turk

I reluctantly went along to see this film on the insistence of a friend, and boy was I glad I did. This movie is unusual, original and fresh, really something quite different. It's a movie with a code at its core, and that code permeates its entirity, dictating the rhythm and much of the imagery. Surprisingly, there's also quite a lot of humour (mostly provided by the inept, overweight mafia hoods), which neither seems inappropriate or out of place, but rather adds to the somewhat surreal context the story is placed in, as well as a contrast for the greased-lightning action scenes. The music too is powerful and strangely haunting, the hip-hop beats helping to drive the rhythm of the film and providing a strong counterpoint to the contemplative readings of Hagakure.

The only other movie involving far eastern themes I've seen this year was 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', which although a well-made film was predictable, monolithic and lacking in the plot department (as well as being monstrously overhyped). In spite of 'Dog's pretensions I wouldn't hesitate to put it above 'Dragon', Oscars and all. It sounds like pants but it's really very good.

I decided, on Christmas Eve, to reacquaint myself with an old friend- Sergio Leone's heavyweight gangster epic, which I had previously watched in two sittings, 10 years previously, at Uni.

I was rewarded with a movie of tremendous vision and creative style as well as emotional integrity. When you take an idiosyncratic, brilliant, stylish director like Leone, his composer counterpart, Morricone, and a cast including two of the foremost actors of their generation (de Niro and Woods) then you have an idea of the kind of quality this film has. In fact, the only gangster movie(s) I've seen that match it are the first two Godfathers (in fact Leone almost directed those too... now that would have been interesting).

In contrast to earlier Leone Westerns, the characters are more fully developed- although the detachment of the characters in these movies made for a more rollercoaster, loose style of cinema, no one was ever going to win an award appearing in one, although they were all great movies.

Although I could tell I was in a Leone movie almost from the beginning, what was different was the inner lives of the characters dictated the way the plot flowed in a pleasing way. I also think that the performance de Niro put in was the best of any film I've seen him in, and that includes any Scorcese picture. To make the audience actually care about a character who does such evil (including raping the woman he loves) is a towering achievement. The apparent effortlessness with which he achieves this is a mark of true greatness. Leone's style of filmmaking, with its long silences and pauses and (in this case) slow pace suit de Niro's style of acting perfectly. It's a real pity that they never had the chance to work together again.

I think this a great film, and, at 3 3/4 hours, it kept me at least interested and often gripped all the way through. Why are Hollywood studios scared of movies like this? Some people out there love them.

This is quite a mix. The plot is definitely overlong and bloated, with far too many frankly stupid and pointless twists that dissipates any dramatic tension generated by the mostly promising beginning, especially the excellent comic scenes in the sperm bank. This didn't make the thriller complex as all the protagonists are basically after the same thing and so are never at the kind of cross-purposes that generate true drama, rather it induced a couldn't-care-less attitude in me. Everyone has a stake in the outcome of the kidnapping. So what? We already knew that. It's inefficient storytelling. Another beef I have is with the way Geoffrey Lewis' character is developed and then totally wasted in a pointless cameo role.

However, the standard of acting was generally good- I especially liked Benecio del Toro and James Caan, and I worked out the doctor was a good guy by the way everyone else slapped him around. The ending too was good, with the money on the fountain- there's echos of the Wild Bunch and The Good The Bad and The Ugly (the ending with the cross, the rope and the money) and a few others in it. Also when James Caan appeared with his wrinkly cronies it reminded me of my uncle (who looks like Caan) and his muckers appearing for a cash-in-hand job, which amused me greatly.

I certainly wouldn't criticise a film like this for being stylised as that's the whole point in it. However to claim that this is some kind of tour de force is a gross exaggeration.

The central problem with this film was that it was trying too hard to be whatever it was trying to be. I think the director has a lot of potential but the writer needs to learn some discipline in his storytelling. And that's a lesson in economy of style: killing one bird with two stones.