The weekend has come and gone, and with it, more screenings than we can count. Starting today – and for the rest of the week – we will be doing roundups in an effort to at least try and keep pace as we attend more screenings over the next few days. As the following batch of reviews indicates, it hasn’t all been roses (i.e. the latter two films) but they’ve been worth sitting through for the gems and surprises that have met us along the way (i.e. the first two).
“I Always Wanted To Be A Gangster” – Taking its name from the classic opening of Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas”, writer/director Samuel Benchetrit’s film isn’t the gritty crime flick you might expect it to be. The winner of Best Screenplay at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, it’s easy to see why this film took the prize, as it’s exactly the kind of picture that would’ve set Park City ablaze in the early 1990s. Exuding the atmosphere of Jarmusch’s early Americana films, mixing them with the observational wit of Aki Kaurismaki’s work and combining them with the best job-gone-wrong scenarios of yore, Bechetrit’s pic nonetheless feels like a breath of fresh air. His script, told in four chapters and an epilogue, is centered around a lonely highwayside diner. Over the course of one day a stickup artist, two inept kidnappers, two aging rockstars and a gang of now elderly thieves will all find themselves pulling into the restaurant’s parking lot. Remarkably, Benchetrit’s script never feels contrived and he wisely keeps the main intersecting points believable, simple and few. In fact, the second chapter with the kidnappers (one of the highlights of the film, and the part that earned the most laughs) takes place largely away from the diner. Set to an awesome soundtrack ranging from George Gershwin to Kris Kristofferson, from Bob Marley to Bobby Rydell, “I’ve Always Wanted To Be A Gangster” is a wickedly fun time. [A-]
“Secrets Of State” – This slick French thriller is an aesthetic blend of “Traffic”‘s global sprawl and “Syriana”s potent politics. The story’s elaborate thread takes us from the start to finish of a terrorist plot to set off a bomb in Paris. The screenplay, by director Philippe Haim and Julien Sibony, convincingly shows us how suicide bombers are recruited, while a parallel storyline finds a rookie Secret Service agent training and then entering the dangerous mission to stop the plot. The film succeeds most when it sticks to the unfolding threat, as it breathlessly and quickly tracks Middle Eastern movements, cell phone calls and various double crosses with “Bourne” like panache. However, when the film turns to trying to honor the agents who risk their lives, it paints their sacrifice in an overly dramatic fashion, essentially mirroring the recruitment methods of the French government to those of Al-Qaeda (i.e. preying on weak people, with poor family relationships). But, despite this, and a couple of wildly improbable last minute plot revelations, “Secrets Of State” is worth the ride. [B]
“Pardon My French” – Unfortunately for Chiara Mastroianni, daughter of Marcello and Catherine Deneuve, her first leading role is in one of the most unrelentingly quirky and annoying films we’ve seen in a long time. Mastroianni plays Celimene, a successful author suffering from writer’s block who is also saddled with enough twee character traits to make us ill. She calls herself and others by names she gives them, becomes voluntarily mute when she’s feeling particularly overwhelmed (which just happens to be when she visits her therapist – ha ha) and bakes cakes when she sleepwalks. And this is just the first forty minutes. Added to this, she just broke up with her boyfriend, lives with her mother and is being stalked by an obsessive high school age fan (whom she eventually befriends). Director Sophie Fillieres’ first film is definitely overstuffed, but worse, her execution of her own script makes Celimene extremely unlikable. It’s difficult to root for someone who acts like a petulant child for the majority of the film. Not clever enough to overcome it’s whimsy or believable enough to earn its attempted last act emotional tug, “Pardon My French” should be asking the audience for forgiveness. [D-]
“Icognito” – If there is one positive thing we can say about this film, it’s that it’s a solid execution of below average sitcom material. Lucas is a bus ticket taker who has given up his dream of being a musician. One day while rummaging through some old gear, he stumbles across the songbook of a former bandmate he believes to be dead. Lucas cuts a record using the songs and becomes an overnight sensation. Fast forward a couple of years and guess who he bumps into? You can probably guess the wacky hijinks that happen when he tries to keep his identity as a worldwide star secret. The film hits every predictable joke with perfect mediocrity, while settling on an improbable ending that will keep audiences from experiencing anything unpleasant. “Incognito” couldn’t be a more inappropriate title for such an obvious film. [D+]