It's as if time has stood still.
"The Brave One," which its star Jodie Foster peddled at the just-ended Toronto International Film Festival as if it were an elegiac tone poem on the haunting nature of contemporary existence, is nothing more than a rehash of Charles Bronson's "Death Wish" with an added touch of Abel Ferrara's B-movie classic "Ms. 45" thrown in for good measure.
In fact, during much of this out-of-touch vigilante revenge fantasy, you half expect Bronson to appear, sit Foster's character down and softly murmur advice after an introductory "Please pay attention, grasshopper."
Of course, straightforward action isn't all this kill-or-be-killed movie delivers. I mean, come on, it's got Ms. Foster in it, so we need a dash of feminine mystique and a bit of introspection. Can you imagine Bronson engaging in imaginary dialogues about what he was about to do? Here we get sloppy intellectual side dishes about the irony of a woman picking up a really big gun and mowing down punks. Harry Callahan, step aside. And speaking of Clint Eastwood, sort of, I should mention that "The Brave One" also takes a few glances at his "Play Misty For Me."
Along with Foster, who has a firm hand in her projects, director Neil Jordan and his three screenwriters, Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia Mort, have gone back in time to the mean old 1970s when Manhattan was a nightmarish vision right out of Hieronymus Bosch. I should add, however, that the movie isn't set in that decade. It offers a 21st-century New York City that is weird and retro and not in keeping with the safe, tourist-oriented world created by mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg. Ms. Mort, by the way, was brought on board to give the movie a more convincing woman's point of view. Or at least that's what they claim. Read that as Foster's point of view.
As expected, Foster is good. She delivers an emotionally tough performance as Erica Bain, the host of a radio show called "Street Walk," during which she shares with her audience sounds she's recorded as she rambles around the Big Apple. She also offers meditative contemplation about what she has seen. Big Apple? Big yawn is more like it.
One evening, Erica and her fiance, David (Naveen Andrews), are walking their dog in Central Park, which is depicted as a dark and foreboding corner of Dante's Hell. The lovey-dovey couple are brutally attacked by a group of punks. And these men are not just your everyday punks. They are savage movie monsters. David's injuries prove fatal. After a lengthy stay in the hospital, Erica recovers but she's left emotionally devastated.
Stunned, shocked and saddened -- all the sorrowful "S" words -- Erica buys a gun for protection. Here's where the movie starts to go out of whack. The gun gives her powers she didn't have before. Spider-Man, step aside. Everywhere she looks, Erica sees random acts of violence. Everywhere. Rape, robbery, ruination of the social fabric of New York. The cops are clueless, but not our heroine. She can sniff out trouble at 40 paces. And she does. And she starts mowing down the troublemakers. Her revenge fantasy becomes a rescue fantasy. She's a muscular, well-toned killing machine. She's Annie Oakley with an even better aim.
Soon Erica is really Manhattan's Queen Of Mean. One by-the-book NYPD detective, nicely played by Terrence Howard, thinks he knows who's ridding the streets of bad guys but he's not going to tell anybody. Or at least not just yet. He's got his own moral dilemma. He likes what he sees happening. To counteract the increasing anger and violence, a little bit of balance is provided by the level-headed and worried Carol (well acted by Mary Steenburgen), the producer of Erica's radio show.
Meanwhile, Erica, now a full-fledged avenging angel, works overtime to track down her fiance's assailants. Throughout all this, she extrapolates on the ethical nature of female empowerment, gun control and the best outfit to wear when stalking killers. If this hooey weren't so deadly serious in all it offers, it would be utterly laughable.
During the film, I thought of Foster's little girl character from "Taxi Driver." What Erica has become, I began to imagine, is what Iris might have ended up as. She's the female Travis Bickle. Maybe Martin Scorsese also should get a credit on "The Brave One."
The movie especially falters whenever Erica ruminates on the irony of a woman (you know, peace-loving nurturer and all) suddenly obsessed with guns. This is an absurd element because it denies almost 40 years of progress for the feminist movement. Equality means they can blast away with the best of them. Are you telling me that Foster and company don't think there are females who fire away at shooting ranges? What about women police officers? Woman soldiers?
Bogged down as it is with issues of moral choices, "The Brave One" is less a good genre picture than it is a mordant philosophy lecture. Its cinematography is dark and brooding and its music is heavy on ominous undercurrents. Memories are not made of this.
His real name was Jean-Baptiste Poquelin but he's known to you and me as Moliere, France's sharp-witted 17th-century satirist. In "Moliere," screenwriter-director Laurent Tirard concentrates on the playwright's formative years and delivers an infectious and genuinely funny film about the birth of a fabled writer.
A failed actor before he turned to penning hilarious comic hits, Moliere was jailed for bad debts after his Illustrious Theatre Troupe went bust. There's actual historical mystery about what happened to him between his time in the stir and his success as the imaginative comic genius of the Paris literati. According to Tirard, Moliere was smitten with a beautiful woman who was the love interest of the man who wanted Moliere to teach him how to act. Farce in all its glory ensues, and, if you know the playwright's work, you'll recognize key scenes and characters from his comedies. Overall, a charming and satisfying romp.
Produced, co-written and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, "The 11th Hour" is an eco-friendly documentary about global warming and the numerous environmental challenges that confront the people of the world. The movie goes Al Gore one better in that it offers earnest solutions from architects, scientists, inventors, theorists and others for warding off impending chaos. It's a given for everyone connected with the film that it's easy being green. The photography is top-notch, the writing is solid and the message of hope is worth hearing.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Sept. 17 2007 |