Promised Land

Its easy to see Promised Land just as the trailers promise.Namely as a film about the environmental hazards of drilling for natural gas using a process called fracking ( hydraulic fracturing), that is not as harmless as its made out to be, and placing this neatly in a decaying small town in the agricultural heartland of America. Promised Land works at that level too, but more importantly it is the study of its protagonist Steve Butler, played by Matt Damon.Matt Damon and his co writers John Krasinski and Dave Eggers, have written a role which is ostensibly a corporate salesman for big oil but could easily have been a Wall Street trader coming to terms with the troubling reality of the financial world.

Steve Butler is the study of a man seriously out of depth, he is doing a job that he thought he was good at, but suddenly his modus operandi seems childish and outdated.Matt Damon does not reveal his moral core throughout, he continues to wear the amour of his flannel shirts, that he buys to blend in, before he gets to the job of converting the townspeople to sell out their future.Perhaps he has risen to his level of incompetence, a classic example of the Peter Principle.But in the hands of Gus Van Sant its not just about professionalism.He befriends a charming single woman in a bar, in a town like this its a miracle she exists.He turns his charm on her just like he does with his audience. His favorite trick is walking upto the front yard of a house and asking the kid who may be playing there,"Are you the owner of this place?'When the confused kid says, "No", he asks,"Then how come you are doing all the hard work?".That's a slam dunk.

But Steve this time has competition, a man more handsome, more charming and apparently smarter arrives out of nowhere, with a bunch of damning photographs which graphically illustrate the nightmare that the residents are about to wreck on themselves.He not only steals the town but also the girl.How Steve will deal with this double whammy is the neat resolution of the film.The resolution exists because filmmaking is a costly enterprise, but as we learn through the course of this film, reality is far more complicated than that.

He has a partner, Sue, played by Frances McDormand, who is the perfect choice for this role.She is tough and business-like and we see her cringe more than once as Steve turns into a bigger and bigger wreck.She is a travelling hockey mom, her sons baseball game is her only silver lining.She manages to remain sane because of this emotional anchor which Steve does not have.The reality of the environment debate is complicated and it needs a scientist to decode, played here by Hal Holbrook, who is able to do a more comprehensive job of using Google to figure it all out.And yet as he and Steve concur,ultimately its all about our consumption pattern that we are not willing to discuss, let alone change.The sad eyes of Halbrook see no hope, only sparks of revolt, which he provides with his research to the residents.

We start off in Promised Land by looking at Jason Bourne and then forget all about him.Perhaps this is part of what Damon was aiming for, to become an actor again rather than a one man action movie franchise.He succeeds to a very large extent.Francis McDormand is surely an American national treasure and her performance here is reason enough to see this film.The cinematography is deliberately fuzzy but maybe the goal is to make a pretty landscape look ugly and grainy, photographing the lush landscape and its wonderful actors in sharp focus would have made it a pretty picture, detracting from its weary tone.

The oeuvre of Gus Van Sant is full of pieces that study the American landscape from an intimate leftwing lens.From Milk which looked at a gay rights activist to Elephant, which quietly observed the Columbine shootings with a docudrama approach, his films try to decode the American ethos. Along the way he makes brave choices like reshooting Psycho shot by shot, a decision for which he has been much vilified, but his reasons for doing so as a serious director were commendable.Cinema is better off with experiments like those, never mind if they fail, or don't make people happy.

Promised Land remarkably reminds one of Peter Bagdanovich's classic 1971 film The Last Picture Show in its study of the collapse of the American dream.That film perhaps sets the stage for this one, all the young people have gone away to the city and those that remain must make frightening life choices.Its easy to see the poverty struck town as a microcosm of America and the title as a commentary on the shattered "Great American Dream" (surprisingly not trademarked yet).Mr Van Sant delivers a richly textures film that neatly sidesteps the environment question and places individual choices at its centre.

Published on my blog mostlycinema.com

Gus Van Sant has tackled a number of political and social issues in his movies. "Promised Land" looks at the issue of hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking. Matt Damon plays an executive from an energy company trying to convince a town to allow the process in their vicinity. Meanwhile, an environmentalist tries to convince people otherwise.

I have liked most of Van Sant's movies, and it's good that this movie is addressing a process that has devastated entire regions. Indeed, the fracking industry criticized the movie's depiction of the process as destructive (surprise, surprise). Unfortunately, what happens at the end does not seem realistic. It reminded me of what happens in Bill Forsyth's "Local Hero". Other than that the movie is a perceptive character study of Damon's amoral exec, the sort of man who's totally in it for the money. Mostly a good movie, understanding that what happens at the end probably wouldn't happen in real life.

There have been plenty of actors to make the great leap from the small screen to big screen and with plenty of success, but it is my feeling that John Krasinski will be one of the few that becomes a powerhouse player in Hollywood. His latest effort, which he co-wrote with co-star Matt Damon and teamed up with Damon's friend and director of Damon's breakout film, Good Will Hunting, Gus Van Sant. Promised Land is one movie that you will be able to go back and pinpoint as turning point in Krasiniski's career and where Damon has gone from the player to the teacher.

This is the story of a big energy corporation looking to take the natural gas resources of a small farming town. The corporation's representatives played perfectly by Damon and Frances McDormand are sent in to find land to lease for areas for fracking a dangerous and controversial means of extracting the natural gas from miles under the ground. Soon a local school teacher and retired "genius" begins raising questions and has the town very much concerned and it raises to another level when a small environmental group comes to town with it's representative played by Krasinski. When he clearly has the town on his side Damon's small town roots and conscience begin eating away at him. Then the bottom falls out and only one is left standing.

Having made his mark on the sit-com, The Office, Kransinski has clearly proved he is more than just a smart funny character on a popular sit-com, he's now a true actor. His performance which begins very much playing into his comedy roots takes a quick and dramatic turn. There is no one better to walk Krasinski out of the office and into the Promised Land than Matt Damon. This being only second major screenplay, it is not unlikely that he could follow his co-stars footsteps and take home the golden statue on Oscar night (this would also give Damon his second writing Oscar).

With a nearly perfectly cast of supporting players from the perfectly placed Hal Holbrook to the always lovely Rosemarie DeWitt, Promised Land is a film that will have you feeling every emotion poured on the screen. With plenty of comedic moments to have you taken in early on, to the real emotions that can easily be identified with of the local towns folk.

The performance of the film that had my attention from the moment he appeared on screen was the legendary Hal Holbrook. His role as a man who loves his town and farm despite having had the opportunities escape, is one that you almost can't take your eyes off of. Holbrook has one Oscar nomination to his credit and it wasn't very long ago for the wonderful Into The Wild when he was a spry 83 years old. Now a perfectly aged 87 he might not only be looking at another well deserved nomination but he just may walk on that stage and take that coveted award in his hand and no doubt to an arousing applaud. www.loveyourmovies.com

Promised Land (2012)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Director Gus Van Sant is visited from the ghost of Frank Capra in this morality tale that mixes politics, family values and greed. Natural gas salesmen Steve (Matt Damon) and Sue (Frances McDormand) head out to a small town to try and make the people vote for allowing them to drill for gas. They spread around whatever "truths" they must to secure the vote but soon the small town life starts to effect Steve. PROMISED LAND isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it's extremely well-made, features some great acting and it really is a fun movie to sit through. There are problems including the ending, which I won't ruin for those who haven't seen the movie but I think this complicated story and issues gets solved way too easily. With that said, Van Sant was the perfect person to handle this material because in someone else's hands you're probably looking at an over-sentimental picture that is too preachy. Instead, Van Sant really paints a great picture of small town life and I thought the screenplay allowed each character to fully grow. This includes obviously the Damon character but several other smaller ones including a terrific bit by Hal Holbrook who plays a local school teacher. The material is extremely well-written and for the most part the message is always there but it's never just beating the viewer over the head. Damon turns in some of his best work in years as he's completely believable in the role of this salesman who starts to have second thoughts. I thought the actor delivered a very strong and emotional performance that really paid off. Holbrook is simply divine in his small role and McDormand is also very good in her supporting bit. Rosemarie DeWitt also adds another winning performance to her resume. PROMISED LAND, I think, could have ended a bit better but there's still something that bring it all together. The film is fairly predictable but with such strong direction and a great cast it's still very much worth seeing.

"I'm not selling them natural gas. I'm selling them the only way they have to get back." Steve Butler (Damon) is a salesman working for Global, a natural gas company. Him and his partner travel to a small farming community to buy up property rights in order to drill. When an objection by a local teacher causes an enviormentalist activist to show up things get harder for Steve. This is a movie where the trailer doesn't do it justice. I wanted to see it based off the cast but it looked a little boring. While the movie is a little slow moving it is in no way boring. The writing and acting is very good and the "bad guy" that Damon plays really makes you feel for him and kind of root for him instead of the "good guy". While the movie does get a little political towards the end this is not a typical "enviromental/save the Earth" type movie. This movie makes you able to feel both sides of the argument and almost forces you to pick a side. I expected this to be boring with good acting going in. I got sucked in pretty fast and ended up really liking this much more then I thought I would. Overall, much better then expected and I highly recommend this. I give it an A.