|
"My Boyfriend Was
Really In "Rollerball?" |
 |
Directed by Neil Jordan
- Written by Roderick
Taylor, Brice Taylor,
Cynthia Mort
Starring Jodie Foster,
Terrence Howard, Naveen
Andrews, Mary
Steenburgen
Distributed by Warner
Brothers - 2007 - 119mins - Rated
R |
|
Richard Propes'
Review
|
  |
C+ |
|
| |
|
Is anyone else starting to wonder if Jodie
Foster has some unresolved issues? |
| |
I have read in recent interviews that
Jodie Foster believes her performance in "The Brave One" to be the
finest work of her career.
If that is true then, well, Foster should give back her Oscar.
Fortunately, this kind of spouting should be deemed little more than
Hollywood hype for a film that will need all the hype it can get to
be more than a mere blip at the box-office.
"The Brave One" is the story of Erica Bain (Jodie Foster), a New
York City radio show host whose love affair with the city is
equalled only by her love affair with David (Naveen Andrews). The
two spend their days making mad, passionate love. One night, the two
lovebirds are viciously attacked with David being killed and Erica
being left for dead.
What initially follows this nearly poetic contrast between romance
and violence is, initially, a powerful psychological expose' about
the impact of violence upon a human being, the healing process and
the precarious journey towards overcoming one's fear.
It is in these transition scenes that "The Brave One" is most
effective, separating itself from far more base cinema such as Kevin
Bacon's recent "Death Sentence" and all of Charles Bronson's "Death
Wish" films except for, possibly, the very first one. While this is
undoubtedly a Foster we've seen before, given her recent penchant
for steel-willed victim roles, Foster is mesmerizing in being able
to effectively balance both her character's vulnerability and her
absolute will to survive.
Erica becomes paralyzed by fear living in the city she had loved for
so long, and watching her wilt under the weight of this fear is
devastating. However, once director Neil Jordan's film moves Erica
from victim to avenger, the heart of the film largely dissipates
from character study to self-righteous action film with occasional
forays into Erica's psychological decline along the way.
The first step is becoming empowered...in this case, Erica gets a
gun and, practically instantaneously, begins her slow journey back
to becoming an empowered woman. By the time she kills a convenience
store robber in self-defense, Erica has done practically a
180-degree turn out of the victim role.
Even the "B" movie classic "I Spit On Your Grave" had the decency to
only allow the wronged woman to go after her attackers...in "The
Brave One," we are expected to buy into Jordan's vision and that of
screenwriters Roderick Taylor, Brice Taylor and Cynthia Mort that,
somehow, Erica's experience as a victim is justification for her
suddenly going "whup ass" on every perceived bad guy in the city.
Sorry, but I ain't buying it.
What "The Brave One" really shows, particularly poignant given the
New York City post-9/11 setting is that blindly going after revenge
for an injustice is as bad personal politics as it is national and
international politics.
Of course, Jordan couldn't just be a brave filmmaker and make the
film solely about the vengeful woman and, thus, we're treated to the
handsome, sympathetic cop (Terrence Howard) who is constantly on her
trail but somehow seems to be sweeping up the mess she leaves
behind.
While anyone with half a brain could probably guess that "The
Peaceful Critic" isn't exactly gung ho about the idea of violent
revenge, the film could have been a powerful character study had
Jordan stuck with it being a psychological expose' and, perhaps,
allowed Erica to only go after those who had originally done her
wrong. By allowing her to wreak havoc citywide, however, it's
impossible to be completely sympathetic with Erica, no matter how
savagely she was beaten (especially, on a side note, because she and
her boyfriend had been so blindly negligent in entering a Central
Park tunnel after dark).
Does a victim ever deserve their crime? Of course not, but sometimes
life does require just a touch of common sense and, yes, failure to
use said common sense does sometimes have quite the disastrous
result.
Duh.
A truly brave filmmaker would have concerned themselves less with
turning "The Brave One" into a market-friendly, violence filled
action flick and more concerned with the authentically human story
behind Erica Bain's struggle to survive such a horridly traumatic
event.
"The Brave One" should have been a tour-de-force for Foster and one
of Fall 2007's cinematic highlights...instead, all I can say for it
is "Hey, at least it's better than "Death Sentence." |
| |
|
© Written by Richard Propes -
Email Me! |
TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Jacob Hall's
Comment
n/a
|
