Caminho sem Volta

"The Yards" invites you to taste corruption and to witness an imposed morality and then slyly allows you to resolve its escalating entanglements. It is a well-acted morality tale written and directed by James Gray that is as topical now as when the first bureaucrat accepted graft. Mark Wahlberg's Leo Handler character is a loser who seeks to redeem himself from the neglect of his sick mother and the evil he has done to others. If only his friends and relatives had similarly good intentions. The world he inhabits is a society with the unwritten code of conduct to never snitch or else pay the consequences. The best scene involves Leo as he nervously proceeds with his orders to kill the policeman who can finger him in the rail yard assault. Can he justify yet one more crime in order to maintain the good graces of his benefactors? Joaquin Phoenix's character, Willie, is perhaps the most tormented figure, having to choose between his high-minded intentions and his immoral survival instincts. He becomes less the controller and more the henchman of what others tell him to do. The excellent cast gives "The Yard" a true flavor of the perverse nature of favoritism from Faye Dunaway and James Caan to Ellen Burstyn and Charlize Theron (in a surprisingly youthful dark mascara look). However, Joan Allen would have added a harsher, more pessimistic visage to the sometimes inappropriately bubbly Burstyn. This film displays well how corruption commands people's lives and how hard it is to break out of that code of conduct.

This is an excellent film, well-written and expertly told. Unlike so many so-called "neo-noir" movies, this one is concerned with time-honored virtues of traditional storytelling, not style and attitude. As a director, Gray had the courage to tell his bleak, oppressive tale in a quiet, measured way, resisting the urge to ratchet up the action and decibels and pander to a jaded audience. If the story gets a bit needlessly contrived by the climax, it's rescued by the exceptional cast. This one can stand with the best of the classic noirs.

The cast and acting in this crime/drama is great, but the actors are let down by a melodramatic script that is too busy. "The Yards" is a character-driven story, but the problem is that the script has too many subplots going on which doesn't give us the time we need to know and care about the characters. By the end I really didn't care what happened, because I didn't know the characters and didn't care how the plot was resolved.

Basically "The Yards" tells the story of Leo, a working class young man who returns home from a stint in prison to his ailing mother. His best friend, Willie, takes him on at Leo's step-uncle's subway train outfitting business, where things aren't exactly above-the-board. Leo gets more involved in the business and things go awry. And along the way, there's a hundred and one subplots.

This movie had some nice moments, and great acting, but it can't rise above a script that tries to pack too much plot into too little time.

. . . you know you've got a movie that tried something different. Not NEW, necessarily, as The Yards is paced, structured and shot like it was made before 1976. But you don't see that often these days. The Yards is an entertaining and noble attempt at a tribute to crime films of that era. I have friends who don't have the attention span to sit through The Godfather(on some days neither do I) - I wouldn't recommend this film to them. Reared as our younger generation was on Spielbergian and MTV-cut films, the pacing of both that film and The Yards are slow and deliberate - sometimes hard to take. The Yards could have used a bit of tightening up in editing, just seconds off of a scene here, a scene there to move things along, but still, it's a strong film. The first thing that caught my eye was the sparse dialogue. There's a lot of acting going on here, and not of the scenery-chewing variety (recent Pacino). The actors are given a lot of room to act with their eyes and bodies. You're not hit over the head with 2-D stock characters, although it may appear so at first. The story is genre: ex-con, returning to his New York borough neighborhood falls right into the same circles that got him in trouble in the first place. What follows is a story of corruption, redemption and family; structured almost as a Greek Tragedy. But quietly. There are no "good guys" or "bad guys", as almost everyone is on the make. The overall impression projected is that everyone is protecting their own and trying to succeed in a system that they live in - not one they created or control.

Mark Wahlberg isn't a great actor, but he delivers what the character requires. Charlize Theron isn't in her element playing a Queens-chick, but aside from a faltering accent, she does pretty well. Excellent acting is delivered by Joachin Phoenix, as well as veterans Caan, Dunaway, and Ellen Burstyn. The Yards is a good movie, although admittedly, not for the "average" movie-going audience. It likely won't meet their expectations of what a "good" movie is.

It is hard to understand why this film couldn't command better distribution than it did. It has a bankable cast, a strong story and a realistic presentation. It is a raw and dark story about corruption by contractors supplying the transit system in New York City. Parts of the story are all too familiar and the entire film is very Godfatheresque. However, while `The Godfather' glorified organized crime, this film gives a much grittier view of the dirty deals and conniving, stripped of the Hollywood veneer. That is precisely what I liked about it, and in all likelihood, it is the reason that it foundered on the market.

Leo Handler (Mark Wahlberg) is just returning home from prison on a car theft conviction when the movie opens. He is repentant and sincerely wants to go straight. The deck is stacked against him though, because everyone he knows other than his mother (Ellen Burstyn), aunt (Faye Dunaway) and cousin (Charlize Theron) is corrupt. Leo applies for a job with his uncle Frank (James Caan) who is a contractor supplying parts to the New York subway system. He is reunited with an old friend, Willie Gutierrez (Joaquin Phoenix) who is currently working for Frank. Willie is eyeball deep in shady deals including the sabotage of other suppliers. One night a sabotage mission goes wrong and Leo assaults a policeman while trying to escape the scene. A manhunt ensues and both the cops and Leo's uncle are trying to hunt him down. With sinister intent, Uncle Frank wants to find him first so he won't blow the lid on the crooked dealings.

The story, written and directed by James Gray, delves into various character studies that bog down at times. However, speaking as a person who once lived there, it is an excellent rendering of New York attitudes and mannerisms, and includes plenty of not-so-glamorous shots of New York's seething underbelly. This is a New Yorker's eye view of the city, far from the glitz of Broadway, Wall Street and the art galleries. It shows the competitiveness and machismo of a segment of society known only to the locals.

The acting by the ensemble cast is outstanding. All the players capture the essence of the New York middle class gestalt beautifully. Mark Wahlberg delivers a somber but resolute character trapped in a vortex of graft and corruption. His performance is understated yet powerful. James Caan is one of the best at playing the small-time racketeer and he nails it again with his portrayal of the dirty dealing supplier. Joaquin Phoenix also shines as Willie, giving him a macho personality and the ability to rationalize any act according to his own code of morality. The cast includes Faye Dunaway, Ellen Burstyn and Charlize Theron in strong supporting roles. Steve Allen makes an extended cameo as the tainted commissioner.

This film is excellent and has been sadly overlooked by the distributors and the public. I rated it a 9/10 despite a somewhat familiar storyline, because the presentation is so precise and the style so un-sanitized. The film has a real New York feeling to it, especially recognizable to anyone who has lived there. It has my vote for the sleeper of 2000.