apparently the film was inspired by "the myth of sisyphus" which was written by albert camus, in which a figure from greek mythology is sentenced to rolling a boulder up a hill over and over, only to have it roll back down once he has completed the task, for all eternity. ow. the film brings up the question of being able to find value of your life, meaning and significance, in a world that seems to be bleak and illogical to most, but without comprising or conforming to certain standards or figures i.e. parents, social classes, et cetera. all the while set in a mental ward for young adults? (though there are beautiful cameos by the adults, segregated only by a chain-link fence, including an amazing man who squawks like the blackbirds around him, a seriously off-putting sound.) a beautiful concept, sign me up, please. of course i went in watching it and knowing nothing except that it was from 2001, don cheadel, joseph gordon-levitt and zooey deschanel were in it and it had to do with a psych ward. i figured it was a good enough reason, i was riding high from my earlier binge on brick and i haven't watched a NEW good movie in so long that i've kinda forgotten just how passionate i am about them, every single aspect that goes into creating them.
as someone who has been in institutions before i always am up for watching these sort of films (over the edge is one of my favorites, but it just happens to deal with suicidal folks in ireland that are around my age and in a mental ward, it wasn't chosen because of the subject matter, mostly cause of the performances) because they are both relatable and in the most unconventional of senses; heartwarming. and i'm not talking about the good guy winning in the end sort of movie talk heartwarming, i'm talking about how it brings back the fonder memories that were had in those times. for instance, cut intermittently throughout scenes were little clips where the patients, sans the main character, are gathered in the common - or the lounge, whatever you wanna call it - and talking. one time it's about why this one girl cuts and how she started. one of the characters, kenny - played by cody lightning - a young kid who i think is of some western native american descent whose story takes a twist i surely didn't foresee, naively comments that it looks like someone burned her. another time they discuss the different institutions they have been in - and they trade stories of them, each knowing the names of them as if it's a sub-culture or secret community that not many people are let in on. which, in some sick way it is in the real world, but i enjoyed how the film brought light to that, and in a more reality based way.
i need to watch this movie again - actually, i need to buy it, but luckily it's found its way onto an easily accessible website where it will hopefully remain for a bit - because the characters in it are fascinating but i didn't get to catch on to any heavy development -which is there, just not at face value- save for lyle. which would be expected of the main character. don cheadle's character, dr. david monroe, was all together brilliant, though, as an ex-aggressive rage-aholic who knows his way around the frustrated youth of america and how to almost always talk down a hot headed or too far down kid on his watch. zooey deschanel plays tracy one of two main females, which was a pleasant surprise even though i favored the brash, loud-mouthed ways of sara riva's... sara - ellipses necessary for no confusion, thanks director for not changing the name! - though i was happy she was around as it wasn't a cliche one, she had no 'out-there' tendencies, there was nothing... acute about her, but ms. deschanel always seems to work well with the words she is given. actually, let me correct myself a bit; tracy is a unique character but introverted therefore paling in comparison to the others. i think she was somewhat the opposite of lyle's character - his rage was outward whereas she kept everything inside, save for violent, horrifying nightmares that would wake the whole ward up with her screams. a connection between the two was made, something i actually didn't despise whereas i normally loathe when those bonds are created, but this one was kept very grounded and almost innocent. lyle witnesses one of tracy's nightmares, the first time he hears anything more from her than "my name is tracy, i'm working on my self esteem" and he's mystified by it, i think because he sees in her all the aggression he has in him. luckily, though, it never becomes a sappy sort of predictable situation and both characters stay true to themselves which surprised me.
"do you think this is what being black is, mike?" i can't express my love for don cheadle enough but his candor and wit in this film are brilliant, one of my favorite performances of his i've seen yet. slightly reminiscent of his role as pearl madison in the united states of leland but in this one he was more down to earth and relatable. plus it was pre-leland. what was great was not only dr. monroe's interaction with the patients but we were let in on some of his interaction with ward staff and little snippets of him in his office. we learned that he had given up smoking recently, and pops some sort of pills - diet? vitamins? didn't look like anything prescribed by lord does he take a lot of 'em - and is still in a tight struggle with his inner demons, which are never revealed completely to us, only that his rage is there and at one point, during a beautifully conducted scene (sound, acting, cinematography, everything was so great) does he admit that he's "still miserable".
the script was written by michael bacall and blayne weaver. interestingly enough, bacall co-stars as the manic-depressive slightly agoraphobic chad who becomes lyle's sort of sidekick while playing a key catalytic role in turning things on and around in lyle's head, making things click. chad's story has its own unique elements - that is another enjoyable factor of this film when it comes to just the face factor of it all. for me it was like if there was going to be a cliche 2D character then they were kept pretty flat and distant, but if a character was going to have the slightest of edge to them then they had no trace of typical youth angst drama stereotypes that i feel like most audiances are familiar with. with chad we are shown the true side to manic-depression which is rarely portrayed these days - the highs and lows that come with the territory and just how spiraling it can send a person. bacall's performance is haunting, how he goes from leaping around and being lyle's biggest advocate on the first day to the progression we watch up until his 18th birthday is incredible.
there's one scene in particular that i wish i could find a clip of itself alone, in which the kids form a mosh pit to "head up" by the deaftones, and it is conducted like a symphony of expression, ending in dr. monroe walking in and stopping the staff from breaking it up. for a moment everyone is unified in this bout of freedom - the notorious fighters bump shoulders only to crash into each other a moment later, a flash of an over zealous grin showing for a split second. the bitch plops on top of the loner in a wheelchair someone unfolded in the midst of it all and gets pushed around while waving her arms and the quiet youngster is free to run around with the big kids and have as much fun as he wants, letting out every emotion right along with them and the deaftones. it just goes to prove that music is cathartic, which we already knew, but in situations like that it really can work wonders on your mind, spirit and soul. what i found interesting, though (and slightly depressing) was how the patients seemed to remain in their victimized state of minds until the music came on or until they begin having an argument over van gogh's last painting, "wheatfields with crows". that is when they all start to crack out of their shells or speak candidly and passionately about something - without a doctor trying to bleed them for their innermost thoughts and fears. art of all different aspects had a minor but key role in the film for which i was highly appreciative of.
oh..wait a second. found it. booya.
though i think as far as character development goes (and perhaps the most overwhelming and heart wrenching moment) i was stupified when lyle, after things begin to turn into pure chaos at the ward, manages to get to kenny's new room in a different ward (the two had been roommates before something happened.) and kenny is despondent, unwavering in his fixed gaze-on-the-wall-dead-behind-the-eyes trance. lyle, though, does not give up after the first attempt to get him to talk. he tries his old tricks, gordon-levitt masking emotion after emotion across his face. it goes from playfulness in an attempt to pull ken out of his hell to confusion and then worry, something lyle in all his head-bashing-in-glory does not ever really show, and finally a look of revelation as he sadly resigns himself to what is happening. for one last act of kindness (and just to dig the knife deeper into my heart) lyle pulls out kenny's medicine bag from his pocket - a small brown pouch he had in his hand the first time we were introduced to him in the film, which lyle finds left in their room - and hopes that ken will perk up at that, as he used to always carry it around. the scene ends with another whammy, tying in how tracy's character has inadvertently affected lyle - when the two words came out my jaw dropped. it is minor, miniscule things like this that make movies memorable and exciting to me, these are the things i pick up on and pick apart. aparrently. anyways, how we got from the beginning of the film to here with this character is insane, gordon-levitt honestly did wonders with the movie - which required a multitude of physical scenes, but not in the standard sense. seeing as how there wouldn't be much of a film if the main character was locked up in solitary the whole time there had to be extreme reigns of control with lyle's rage yet have it show strongly, and it came off stunningly. gordon-levitt reminded me of a spring coiled too tightly, wound up and just waiting to be released. he had little things down that emulated the boiling anger inside of him - straightening shoulders, the shift of a stance, the boldness of his gaze, or particularly the way he'd set his jaw as odd as that sounds. he definitely encompassed the character, as he usually does with his roles.
stylistically i think this was ace. it was shot mostly hand held, i believe, and utilized zooms and close-ups for capturing the emotions of the characters, something that is necessary in a film like this or else things can slip by. between the fight sequences, basketball games and the group sessions there was always a constant change of shots, angles and adjustments in depth of field but not enough to turn me off from watching it. and there were a thousand minor things like someone's hand dragging along the chain-link fence or cheadel's hand in the lower left corner of the frame while kids walk by, placing their shoelaces back in his hand or a house of cards falling all which were not perfect on center shots and didn't have the flawless look of most films. there was a grittiness to just the way it was filmed, though i think filters or effects were used in editing because some of the coloration was wild. but it all fit and that was what made it so striking. definitely a story driven movie, not one i'll watch for editing reasons alone, but all production elements were so toned toward enhancing the casts performance it seemed. all in all it is the next film that needs to be put in my collection - and i made a promise i'd stop buying DVDs until the end of the year but i'm making an exception for this one.
and it doesn't hurt that the song played throughout the film is one of my all time favorite songs, #1(cliffs) by aphex twin, off of selected ambient works, vol. II, disc one, and features some stuff by broadcast, sleater-kinney, squarepusher and had its aditional music composed by thurston moore. fuckin' sweet.
on completely unrelated notes...
i'm not saying what needs to be said. but i don't like you. i'm enjoying my venture into french or at least the french book and all its useful phrases. i can help people find gay bookstores, specific doctor's offices and tell them that i don't like them! it's almost as good as being able to call someone a grapefruit but it doesn't have that... je ne sais quoi.
i am looking forward to saturday already. i have three bandaids on, i am clumsy. i still can't find two of my rings and i'm incredibly upset about this. i put the self analytical side of me to sleep already which is a good thing. i have five mixes ready to hand out. i'd like to be told i'm a good friend.
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