Reviews: Doubt & Gran Torino

Heaven Help Us
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It’s never easy trying to turn a play into a film. It’s a very hard task, trying to preserve the intimate nature that brings out shining performances from the stage while also trying to broaden the scope of the piece so the use of the film medium is fully enhanced. When in doubt, the rule is to mostly swing toward the latter half. Other times, the balance has difficulty succeeding and a stasis in that transition is felt. That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t fall in love with a previous play adaptation this year, Frost/Nixon, for being one of those examples in limbo. This film is another example of very fine acting, but is hindered by its difficult transition.

Based off the highly revered, Tony sweeping, and Pulitzer-Prize winning play, the setting is the Bronx circa 1964 in a Catholic school and parish. The principal is Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) and she’s as cold as a Chicago night in December. She oversees the school with a stern fist and is usually at constant battles with the homely, nicer history teacher, Sister James (Amy Adams). Then, one day, the priest belonging to the parish, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) calls a black boy into the rectory. It’s never said, but Sister Aloysius’s investigation speaks very loudly about what has unfortunately become a staple of controversy within the Catholic Church.

The name of the game here is subtlety. This story works better when its messages are laden with code and the nuances are heavy in the air. That’s why the script by John Patrick Shanley, who also wrote the play, is so great. Nothing is ever really said with any clarification and that keeps the film’s message more than just simply the corruption of Catholicism. It’s about the deep seeded secrets that we keep, both from the world and ourselves, and how we come to terms with that. Obviously, the script is not the major fault. If anything, it is a savior for this film. All of this is true until the very last line, which rids itself of all mysterious credibility, but fortunately has the rest of the dialogue to make up for it.

The film’s major fault is its direction. Shanley also chose to direct this film, and he becomes another in a long line of great writers who don’t have the right sense to direct. The direction is far too over the top, and eventually makes the film feel more like a stage play that is desperately trying to be taken seriously as a film. Unfortunately, I think this material was always destined to feel like a stage production, so Shanley’s attempts are not only wasted, but bothersome. It’s a shame that the intentions of Shanley the director are completely opposite of Shanley the writer, as the frankness of the direction and nuances of the screenplay crash terribly into each other.

Fortunately, he also relies on Roger Deakins’s cinematography, which has always been known to use natural lighting more beautifully than anyone else. The other drawback of the technical aspects would sadly have to be Howard Shore’s score, which feels just as over bearing and painfully aware of itself as the film’s direction.

With that, the film then has to bet all of its chips on the acting. It’s a move that has its big payoffs, even if the other elements are left to fall by the wayside. Streep is an actress that, I still believe, can do anything, but I couldn't help but feel as if her performance was sort of “auto pilot.” She’s very good here, but that extra effort to make the character something special is never really felt. To be fair, it’s still a worthy performance in her career, but one can’t help but wonder if she could do better. Hoffman once again shows his great range as an actor, and his subtle abilities here can truly impress. His scenes against Streep are some of the film’s most riveting moments.

Adams is a gifted performer, as anyone who has seen Junebug and Enchanted can attest, but I always felt her character existed only as a foil to Streep. It’s a well acted part, but the character feels unnecessary. By far, the best one is breakthrough star Viola Davis, who does more with her ten minutes of screen time than anyone else. She the only one who really understands the power of the script’s subtle messages, and her performance is never anything over the top and is grounded in such a realistic way.

Had Shanley actually trusted another filmmaker with his material, the film would have been an excellent showcase of talent across the board. Instead, its one, but very important, element undermines the rest of the film’s greatness. Still, that doesn’t mean much is to be discovered here, and the performances and script do well to bring the film up. This is most definitely a film that should be seen, and be seen more than once to discover the things that might have been missed the first time, and if you can believe it, that is actually a compliment. ***1/2 / ****; GRADE: B+



Running on Empty

Clint Eastwood is a man that deserves all the respect he has earned. Even at 78, the man has still got all the stamina to turn out two movies, act in one, pick up a few awards on the way, write music, and work with marvelously talented people. Eastwood showed us a very good movie that was filled with excellent characters in Changeling. Call it over-hyping, call it a bloated plot, or call it a showcase of "misery porn", the movie was shunned by most critics. When that happened, Mr. Eastwood figured he do what was done two years ago when one Oscar buzzer flopped (Flags of Our Fathers). He came out with another one that was far superior and got its Best Picture place (Letters from Iwo Jima). Unfortunately, this film doesn't repeat that same success from two years ago, and becomes a significant disappointment from a filmmaker who has seen much better days.

In his first onscreen acting role since Million Dollar Baby (which Clint confirmed was supposed to be his last), Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a disgruntled, racist Korean War vet who clings to his traditional 1950s values and his prized car: a vintage 1972 Gran Torino. Next door, an Asia family moves in, and it's pretty obvious that Walt is in total agony over this. After the family's youngest son Thao (Bee Vang) attempts to steal the Gran Torino as a forced initiation, the family sends him to work for Walt to pay off his shame. Walt learns to like the guy, slowly but surely, and then tries to solve this deadly situation of the gang that threatens the family and his own integrity.

If this plot sounds familiar, then you're absolutely right. Nick Schenk's script is terribly clichéd and full of mediocre to primer school level dialogue. Much of the conversations only dig at the surface level, and it's a false move considering the movie should have been going deeper into these characters. Eastwood has worked with stories that seemed to not venture beyond their genre categories (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima), but within them are slight detours that turn the stories on their heads and make them into something more. That is not present here, and the story remains flat. It appears Eastwood should tear Paul Haggis away from the James Bond series and start writing stuff for him, and judging by the shoddy plot to Quantum of Solace, that sounds like a win-win.

For some reason, Eastwood has always gotten high praises for his acting, and many believe his only two Oscar nominations for that category is unfair. I'd actually say that's two nods too many. As a director, Eastwood is able to completely disappear into whatever mood the film takes, and his style is that of a true master and given a great contribution to film. As an actor, he has always been one note, playing the same variation of the snarling, tough guy with the scratchy voice and thorny personality. It's more of the same here, and it still doesn't impress. Though I would have to hand it to him for being able to play the first likable bigot since Carol O'Conner.

The rest of the supporting cast hardly matches up to Eastwood. Vang and Ahney Her, who plays Thao's sister, have a very shallow acting well, and the chemistry they have with each other and Eastwood is never felt to be very realistic. Vang especially, in his first theatrical role, deserves a few more acting lessons to build up his believable credit. Other actors just become groups of movie stereotypes: the ungrateful grandchildren, the distant sons trying to make amends, and the street wise city gangsters. The only ones who really help the film's dying ensemble would be Christopher Carley as a tenacious priest who attends to Walt's guilt, and John Carroll Lynch who trades some very funny banter with Eastwood as his barber.

I think the real reason for Clint's return to acting is that he wants an Oscar. Not just any, because he already has four, two for directing. No, he wants an Oscar for acting, and he wants it for his own film. Had he taken Tommy Lee Jones's role in In the Valley of Elah, he might have had it. Instead, he chose this project, with sub par acting and a flaky script, which also features an ending that is both implausible and predictable at the same time. The only real great thing about the film is the original song "Gran Torino", which Eastwood helped write with his more musically talented son Kyle, that plays over the end credits. It's somber melody and flighty vocals try to lift high above the rest of the movie. Too bad you have to sit through the rest of the movie before you begin to leave. ** / ****; GRADE: C