Verdade Nua

Another great work by Atom Egoyan, based on the novel by Rupert Holmes.

Knowing a little about the plot before seeing the film my big question/concern was "Kevin Bacon"? Going in I just didn't see Bacon in such a roll. But it didn't take long before Egoyan's primary cast selection (including Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, and Alison Lohman) was clearly calculated and well thought.

Some might call this Egoyan's 'most mainstream' work to date, but it retains many of the qualities we've come to expect from him. The screenplay was precisely developed to provide a great pace to the story, and to provide little 'bits and pieces' of key information just when you need them. It doesn't give the truth away too early, yet when the secret is finally revealed it's accompanied by a sense of "I should have seen that coming".

This film does deal with some 'touchy' cinematic subjects including sex and drug use. What should be truly disturbing is the murder in question, but 'simple' murder is accepted in film without a second thought.

The screening I saw was the 'uncut' version of the film. There has apparently been some controversy surrounding some of the films content, so I don't know whether this is the version the movie-going public will eventually see in mass-market theatres. It contained some pretty graphic sex, but it wasn't gratuitous - it served a purpose in the development of the characters and story. These scenes, while clearly not suitable for a younger audience, belong in this film.

An excellent film, as most have come to expect from Egoyan.

Warning: vague, minor spoilers. Not really, but hey better safe than sorry.

Here is a movie so delightful, messy, strange, sexy, and all together not quite there; that it makes me glad that films like it are still being made.

Egoyan soaks the film with a shining visual flare, and the characters leap off screen demanding to be fantastic. With such flamboyant settings, people, and actions, casting is absolutely critical. This is where Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth are invaluable and perfect. They are so famous, so flamboyant on their own and so well known that we are drawn into this story right along with Karen. And let's face it, they are all sexuality, with evil and lies boiling just beneath the surface. This is that rare kind of film that does justice to a phrase like that which is usually written on the cover but not delivered in the movie.These men carry their own persona into the film, and deliver just the right amount of insanity and insecurity. Watch Bacon's Lanny yell at a waiter for bringing lobster to the Jewish Lanny. Watch Firth's Vince stumble away from Lanny and Maureen reeling with rejection and sexual confusion. Watch Lanny lean over and kiss Vince's cheek while they perform high. The movie could have been all style and intrigue and little substance; but since Egoyan is directing, the sexual scenes are handled deeply, the drugs are films in full glory, and poignancy creeps in through cracks of the story.

Alison Lohman, who was SO good in the vastly underrated "Matchstick Men" has a good part here as a young journalist still somewhat infatuated with Lanny and Vince's famous duo. For me, her performance is the only one that never really takes off and leaves the screen, but I still went along with her character Karen, and it is not a serious or terribly noticeable flaw, simply a slight mismatching of actress to character; all though perhaps I find Karen a bit weaker and smarter than the other characters and no actress could have changed that.

Some quotes are a bit "bookish" and take us out of the movie for a moment, but even them I found working excellently. Bacon's voice-over in particular drips with confident malevolence. He has a speech on what he sees in Maureen's eyes in a key moment, that at first seems ridiculous and distant, but had me coming back and appreciating it more and more.

Overall, if you like the looks of the film/story/trailer/or even cover, it certainly delivers, and you will love it. The combination of drugs, mystery, lies, murder, fame, bisexuality, more drugs, more sex, and above all, Egoyan's flashy but confident directing, is stunning.

Not perfect, but a wild ride about manipulation, consequences, fame, and sex.

I saw the movie today at the 2nd showing of the Toronto International Film Festival.... The movie will be released in Canada in the way that I had seen it today, uncensored and uncut.

The scene in question isn't explicit at all, well the part that the MPAA is crying about that implies that one of the characters as being homosexual, there's no full frontal male nudity, a lot of female nudity from Alison Lohman, Rachael Blanchard, and Kristin Adams there is some interaction between Lohman and Adams but it is done tastefully..

So again, if it doesn't get played in your market and you can get to Canada go see the movie....

Oh, what a difference bad casting decision can make. " Where the truth lies" had such a great potential. Two very strong leading actors, Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth, intriguing story, creative director, but... The catastrophic acting of Alison Lohman sabotaged the whole thing. The utter lack of artistic presence, wobbly, girlish voice, completely at odds with the part. There are thousands of talented young actresses, and why in the world would you cast her. There was no saving this movie after that bad decision. Two leading protagonists were doing their very best, lovely camera work brought us back to the times long gone. But to no avail.What a shame.

Good film, glad to have seen it. Wish there were more adult films as I'm tired of sifting through what appeals to 14 year old males. I wasn't shocked by the sex scenes and can think of a few R-rated films that contained scenes which made me more uncomfortable. There is a lot of sex in the film, it's not framed in shoulders-up shots, but it's not wall-to-wall. There is a good story that goes along with it. I wouldn't call it erotic, this is a story about sex as a way to manipulate people and sex because you can. It is graphically honest. I didn't feel it overwhelmed the plot or took you out of the story. If you're looking for a souped up version of Body Heat though, you'll probably be disappointed.

So I start with a 10 for interesting story and great performances from Firth and Bacon. Bacon clearly has the showier role, and the script mostly revolves around Lanny and how people relate to him. He commits himself to it totally and gives you a revealing performance of this "out there" character, warts and all. You see Lanny for what he is, both the public and private persona. It is a pitch perfect performance. Colin Firth handles the more complex character of Vince with his usual ability to reveal everything and nothing at the same time. His character is more veiled and enigmatic, not so clearly scripted (which works in the movie) and leaves you with questions as much as answers by the film's end. He delivers it with truthfulness and without gimmickry or sleight of hand. One of the thing's I've always liked about him as an actor is once you've seen a movie and know the ending, you can re-watch it and see an even more layered performance than you first realized because his character was fully there from scene one. The mystery, though not what I'd call suspenseful, did serve as a useful and involving vehicle in an interesting character drama. Then I start to subtract.

The film started off a little slow and it took me a while to establish an interest in what really happened to the dead girl, beyond what I'd picked up from the trailer. And Alison Lohman was just bad, I couldn't buy into her character at all. She was supposed to be the engine that drives to the solution of the murder and why these guys broke up, pushing them to reveal secrets they've held onto for 15 years. Not only did she need to be tougher and much smarter and more driven, her acting was way off the mark. Her lines in a scene might read "I'm a tough cookie" but there was nothing in her performance that supported it, before, after or during the scene. She was supposed to be someone who you'd pay a million dollars to for a hard-hitting expose because you believed she could get at the truth. Instead she comes across as the girl from Kansas who just fell off the turnip truck looking for a big break. She's out of her depth, exacerbated by being blown off the screen by her co-stars. I never believed she could stand up to Vince the way she has to in order to make the plot evolve, or hold Lanny's interest as a sexual liaison or an adversary. She added nothing and I think reduced the impact of the mystery's resolution.(Though I agree with an earlier review that Rachel Blanchard was a surprise as the girl killed in the hotel room. She was good.)

My last nit..the music was often wrong. I'm not usually so aware of the music in a film, but in this one it was distracting at times, way over the top.

So this is a film that "coulda been a contender" along the lines of LA Confidential. Close but no cigar. If this were meant to be a break out film of sorts for Egoyan, I don't think he completely managed it. I do think it is worth the price of admission though, and is better than most of the films I've seen this year. I don't mean to undersell the film and its strengths make up for the weaknesses. So if character dramas are your thing, see it for an interesting dynamic and two stand-out performances in an involving plot. See it with friends who love thought provoking movies, probably not right as first date fare.