brandon-radisic

If it did not contain a decent score, absolutely stunning art-house cinematography, and Asia Argento wandering on-screen for a bit, this would be the worst waste of film without Alan Smithee credited as director.

I've seen numerous films without a linear plot: Timecode, Slacker, Zabriskie Point, most of Larry Clark's ouevre... yet this movie lacks plot, characterization, dialogue for the most part, any thread of narrative, and any point aside from tossing pretty people on-screen in a lame attempt to re-examine the suicide of Kurt Cobain.

Gus Van Sant has made some truly gifted films: Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, and Elephant. He's had commercial hits with Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester. I'm tossing this in the junk-pile alongside his Psycho re-make and his adaptation of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. For Michael Pitt purists this is a novelty act... he's better used in The Dreamers, Murder By Numbers, and Hedwig & the Angry Inch.

I would ask for my ninety-some minutes back, but it taught me to never, ever, watch any film where Harmony Korine might be on-screen.

Having seen most of Bernal's films, or at least everything available in the US, I've grown to like him greatly as an actor, thus explaining my motivation for renting this. The description given on the jacket, added with the blurb equating it with Memento (which was a very entertaining mind-boggle), talked me in. Call it a two-for-two deal.

Reading through the commentary left by others, I'm troubled by the negativity being attached. Exactly when did it become a crime to invoke plot-twists as a story device? The last I knew, filmmakers such as Hitchcock and Preminger relied upon them incessantly. A twist in plot, if carried off well, can satisfy viewers and fire the imagination.

Personally, I find the romantic drama as a genre in dire need of a wake-up call. Films such as this one, Closer, Unfaithful, Wicker Park, and very few others, are daring to attempt something original, whether it be a more frank look at relationships, a less clichéd or sexist view of infidelity, or a new take on the love triangle... and by new I mean new in both this film and Wicker Park. Rather than recycle Shakespeare, Jane Austen, or An Affair To Remember for the forty-billionth time, the director and cast broke new ground.

This is not a perfect film, and really, honestly, who gets entertainment from "perfect" films? Admiration, yes. Respect, yes. Are perfect films fun though? That's an argument for a forum... I gave this an eight out of ten, with two points off for those imperfections. The three leads are solid; the story is clever and solid enough. The two points to perfection can easily be forgiven.

I had fun watching this movie.