The nihilistic temperament of Matteo Garrone’s Italian gangster piece “Gomorra” is established early and often through a series of hellish collisions that make the depraved dealings of Michael Corleone seem like a Walt Disney production. Now, this is by no means a better film than “The Godfather,” but the lack of music as well the absence of alluring characters make the execution feel colder and less operatic than anything Coppola could’ve arranged.
These wise guys don’t drive Cadillacs, they don’t wear finely tailored zoot suits and they certainly wouldn’t spend 30 minutes a week spilling their guts to a psychiatrist a la Tony Soprano. They’re motivated by greed and the desire to control a dilapidated region of Naples that is there for the taking, so anyone standing in their way is just begging to be taken out with the morning trash.
Based on Roberto Saviano’s non-fiction account of his time with the Camorra crime syndicate, Garrone’s film presents the day-to-day business of various thugs in a cinéma vérité style that makes you feel as if what you’re seeing is nothing less than the real thing. The people are ordinary, the outlook is bleak and the hits are committed with frightening indifference. My only issue is that we’re given no reason to care about these characters and therefore must sit through the entire two plus hours with the same indifference as the miscreants we’re watching.
- *** ½ out of 4
Despite its aphoristic similarities to 2007’s “Resurrecting the Champ,” Joe Wright’s maudlin, look-at-me Oscar bait “The Soloist” operates somewhat effectively on two levels. The first is an inspiring tale of two men whose unlikely friendship awakens both of them to an assiduous spirit not experienced since their early days. The second provides the audience with a harrowing glimpse into the issue of homelessness in America, which of course is what urged Wright to tell this story in the first place.
I’d like to say that Universal’s decision to abandon last year’s November release date was a mistake, that the brilliant, soulful performance of Robert Downey Jr. would’ve propelled it to award season glory. However, I just can’t do it. What should’ve been a fully realized character study is nothing more than a sometimes great, but mostly dull and by-the-book account of a societal outcast being thrust back into a spotlight he’s not quite ready to respond to.
Like I said before, Downey’s expressive work as Los Angeles Times reporter Steve Lopez is essentially the only thing this film has going for it. He’s hilarious when he wants to be, vulnerable when he needs to be and, unlike co-star Jamie Foxx, presents a well-rounded character with a purpose that the audience can latch on to. When he comes across a schizophrenic cellist living on the streets of Los Angeles, his journalistic ambition takes over and he’s immediately pondering ways to bring this man’s story to the masses.
It turns out that Nathaniel Ayers Jr. (Foxx) was a former child prodigy who dropped out of Julliard for reasons known only to him and the voices in his head. He went from being a classical musician on the rise to a mumbling nomad trying to survive the hard-boiled streets of LA’s Skid Row district and Lopez wants the public to know why.
On paper, the story is as compelling as can be, but Foxx is entirely too one-note to offer any true moments of transcendence. Much of his dialogue consists of disjointed prattle, so it’s not until half way through that we begin to see the potential for prominence he possesses and, by then, I wasn’t in the mood to see it through. I know I’ve said this before, but it does seem like a lifetime ago that Foxx delivered dazzling work in “Collateral” and “Ray,” so here’s hoping the Academy Award-winning talent has a lot more left in the tank.
The conclusion is predictable as expected and the lovely Catherine Keener is relegated to a throwaway role that doesn’t offer much other than a female presence. We’ve come to expect more from Joe Wright (“Pride and Prejudice” and “Atonement”) and, frankly, he let us down.
- ** ½ out of 4
