True Romance

Clarence (Christian Slater) is a lowly clerk at a comic book store, who happens to love kung fu movies and Elvis. The problem is he's lonely and doesn't understand why a woman won't go see a Sonny Chiba triple feature with him on his birthday.

Going by himself, no doubt his initial plan anyway, he's lucky enough to get popcorn spilled on his lap by Alabama (Patricia Arquette) She not only watches all three kung fu movies with him, but takes him out for pie afterwards. They hit it off wonderfully and before long he has her in bed. Certainly a great birthday, but a little too good to be true.

He soon hears the catch when Alabama reveals that she's a call girl, hired by Clarence's boss as a secret birthday present. She has however, fallen instantly in love with Clarence and just wants to be with him. Clarence takes it all in stride, as he's just as smitten. They waste no time, getting married the next morning, and start their life as couple. Alabama reveals that a guy named Drexl (Gary Oldman) was her pimp, and this knowledge doesn't sit well with Clarence. While considering this, Elvis (Val Kilmer from the neck down) appears behind Clarence in the bathroom mirror and convinces him to get rid of Drexl, also adding "I like you Clarence, Always have, Always will."

Drexl meanwhile establishes himself as a seriously dangerous character. He not only pimps but deals cocaine He casually shoots some thugs he's dealing with without missing a beat, as a punchline to a joke. Oldman creates quite a character in Drexl, a psychopath in dreadlocks, covered with scars who also happens to believe that he's black. When Clarence comes calling he isn't threatened, although Clarence reveals a bit of psychosis himself, not backing down in the slightest. After a bit of a struggle Drexl has Clarence at his mercy and brags to his assistant:
Drexl: He must have thought it was white boy day. It ain't white boy day, is it?
Marty: No man, It ain't white boy day.



Clarence turns the tables on Drexl, and kills him, forgetting that he left his driver's license in his hand. On the way out he takes a large amount of cocaine and heads back to Alabama. They decide to find Clarence's friend Dick (Michael Rappaport) in Hollywood, to get help selling it. They hit the road stopping in to see Clarence's father, Clifford (Dennis Hopper,) who used to be a cop. Clarence wants him to check and see what information the cops have about Drexl's murder. He establishes that they assumed it was drug related, possibly Blue Lou Boyle, a powerful mob figure that Drexl was tied in with. Clarence leaves the number and address for Dick's place with his Dad and they're off.


It turns out, however, that Blue Lou's men aren't far behind. Led by Jimmy Coccotti (Christopher Walken)they pay Clifford a visit. Coccotti makes it clear that things won't be pleasant. introducing himself:
Coccotti: You know who I am, Mr. Worley?
Clifford Worley: I give up. Who are you?
Coccotti: I'm the Anti-Christ. You got me in a vendetta kind of mood. You tell the angels in heaven you never seen evil so singularly personified as you did in the face of the man who killed you. My name is Vincent Coccotti. I work as counsel for Mr. Blue Lou Boyle, the man your son stole from. I hear you were once a cop so I can assume you've heard of us before. Am I correct?
Clifford Worley: I've heard of Blue Lou Boyle.
Coccotti: I'm glad. Hopefully that will clear up the "how full of shit am I?" question you've been asking yourself.

 They soon start working him over, but Clifford doesn't give up anything. Realizing he's not walking away he manages an act of defiance, by asking for a cigarette and telling the Sicilian Coccoti a story about the Sicilian lineage. Coccotti doesn't appreciate this and kills Clifford. They also find Dick's address on the fridge. Despite the outcome, it's a treat to watch Walken and Hopper play off each other.

 
Clarence and Alabama have reached Dick's place, meeting Dick's roommate Floyd (Brad Pitt,) a pothead who never leaves the couch but listens to everyone's conversations. Dick is amazed at the amount of cocaine, and they conclude they'll need a big money person, as Clarence wants to sell it all at once and fast. Fortunately Dick goes to acting class with Eliot (Bronson Pinchot) who is assistant to super successful producer Lee Donowitz. Donowitz agrees to do the deal but wants a sample before setting up the meeting.
 
Blue Lou's man, Virgil stops by Dick's and find Floyd is very helpful, giving them Clarence and Alabama's hotel without any coercion at all, muttering under his breath once they're well out of earshot  "Don't condescend me, man. I'll fuckin' kill ya, man"
 
Elliot has been busted with the sample bag of coke all over his face. The cops pressure him and threaten him with the prospect of prison sex, and he quickly breaks and agrees to wear a wire for the meet, helping them bust Donowitz in exchange for dropping his own charges.
 
Virgil quickly finds the hotel. Clarence has gone out for food so Alabama is alone. She tries to claim she's someone else, but Virgil doesn't buy it, beating her horrificly. She tries to fight back but Virgil seriously overpowers her. She doesn't tell him anything but he eventually finds the cocaine under the bed. Although Alabama can barely move, she holds a corkscrew up to Virgil. Admiring her spirit, he puts down his gun and toys with her offering a free shot. She surprises him by jamming it into his foot, which allows another struggle  culminating in Alabama hitting him over the head with a toilet lid, lighting him on fire with lit hairspray and finally shooting him. Clarence gets back soon after, and they clean her up and put her in a hooded sweatshirt hoping to downplay the injuries.
 
Clarence, Alabama and Dick meet up with Elliot and head over to meet Donowitz. Clarence nearly kills Eliot in the elevator because he has a bad feeling. Elliot doesn't handle it well and starts crying and pleading "I wish someone would come take me away." The police laugh at Elliot from a room down the hall from Donowitz, expressing their like for Clarence's crazy wild man behavior. They don't pick up on Elliot's strange pleading, Clarence apologizes and they head for the meet.
 
They spend some time chatting with Donowitz. Clarence admires his film "Coming Home in a Body bag" He convinces Donowitz that he's on the level, while Elliot tries to stay close enough that the cops can hear everything through the wire. Donowitz has mercenary type bodyguards with automatic weapons protecting him. Clarence visits the bathroom for another conference with Elvis, as the cops storm in unaware that the bodyguards really hate cops. Of course Blue Lou's men are also en route, and there is soon a ridiculous amount of shooting which we hope Clarence and Alabama can get through.
 
Ultimately. True Romance is a movie which lives up to it's title. Tony Scott delivers an ugly world full of bright colors and copious amounts of blood and action. Thanks to Quentin Tarantino's script and truly top notch acting talent, the dialogue is just as exciting. We end up with a twisted fairytale about Romeo and Juliet, if they'd had no families, and been influenced by Elvis, poverty and pop culture. The character's aren't deep but they don't need to be with as much talent as is assembled here. Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper all turn in vividly memorable performances.
 
Christian Slater was great here as the low key yet surprisingly competent oddball. Watching him here it's easy to see why he was predicted as a major talent to watch. Patricia Arquette shows the most range, able to convincingly play eager arm candy as well as a woman who can bash a man's head in with a toilet lid. Their morals are a bit flexible, but one thing that we never doubt is that Clarence and Alabama really love each other. That alone lets them navigate through the treacherous, and ugly environment around them. It's surprisingly sweet for such a graphic and dark movie, but that's alright sometimes. As Alabama says,

"I had to come all the way from the highway and byways of Tallahassee, Florida to MotorCity, Detroit to find my true love. If you gave me a million years to ponder, I would never have guessed that true romance and Detroit would ever go together. And til this day, the events that followed all still seems like a distant dream. But the dream was real and was to change our lives forever. I kept asking Clarence why our world seemed to be collapsing and things seemed to be getting so shitty. And he'd say, "that's the way it goes, but don't forget, it goes the other way too." That's the way romance is... Usually, that's the way it goes, but every once in awhile, it goes the other way too.

The Assassination of Jesse James by That Coward Robert Ford

Jesse James was one of the first American criminals to be celebrated by a public still troubled by the wounds of the civil war. Setting the stage for Al Capone later on, he was considered an outlaw in the vein of Robin Hood and probably America's first real celebrity. Before there were movies, he was fictionalized in countless news reports and dime novels achieving legendary status in his own lifetime and long afterwards.Brad Pitt's portrayal of Jesse James here is flawless, showing humanity, brutality, and an otherworldly quality that's suits the status of his subject.

Pitt's Jese James exhibits a deep weariness, as if he's seen everything that will happen already, but can't help trying to prevent it. When James appears (always unexpectedly) in a room, you can feel the unease of of everyone around him. James asks simple questions with deeper meanings and watches everyone squirm to answer right. Switching instantly from the most affable man in the room, to an inhumanly accusing stare. You get the sense that Jesse James could kill you with a look if needed. Jesse himself says "There ain't no peace when Jesse's around." and he's absolutely right.

As the film progresses, Jesse starts questioning everyone around him, suspecting (rightly so) that the record breaking bounty the government put on his head will drive his friends to betray him. He moves frequently renting homes under different names. Even his kids don't know who he really is, thinking of him instead as Mr. Howard. You could call it paranoia if his suspicions weren't always right. An official talking rith Bob Ford after he's agreed to bring in Jesse James says, "we don't know how but he always knows what's going on. He'll know I was here talking to you. Count on it." Jesse reads the future from entrails, he reads signs from nature, he even gives snakes the names of his enemies and then kills them. He comes across more as a force of nature than a man at times.

However, as hard as it is to remember when Jesse James is around, this movie isn't really about him, it's about Robert Ford the man who shot him. Casey Affleck plays Bob Ford in a performance that's as great as it is hard to like. Bob Ford is a smitten kid who worships a legend. His awkwardness when trying to make an impression on Frank and Jesse is painful to look at. He drops sentiments like "I'm destined for great things." into conversation, not realizing that it's about as convincing as writing  BADASS on your T-shirt.  Frank James (Sam Shephard) immediately dismisses him as a nuisance, barely hearing a word that Bob Ford says. Bob manages to get around Frank and fortunately (or not) discovers that Jesse at this point in time will let anyone ride with them.

After robbing a train with the James gang, he can't stop smiling from ear to ear. He finally gets a minute alone with Jesse, joining him to smoke a cigar on the porch. He tells Jesse all about the books he's read about him. "All lies" James tells him adding that he doesn't have to keep smoking the cigar if it doesn't agree with him. Ford is ecstatic the next day when Jesse sends the gang home but lets him stay. He doesn't realize that he's only staying to help Jesse move. Unexpectedly he allows Bob to stay a few days extra, during which time Bob fantasizes about staying forever accepted as a "cousin" to Jesse's kids. Jesse gets unsettled realizing that Bob is watching him take a bath. He asks Bob "Do you want to be like me, or do you want to be me?" before sending Bob home. Bob struggles to handle the rejection from his idol, but clearly never gets over it.

Voice over narration is used throughout the movie, giving it the feel of a documentary, or a movie that's a novel at the same time. (The movie was adapted from the novel of the same name.) The low key smooth narration also adds to the sense of the inevitable, reminding that this is possibly what really happened (for the purposes of the fi;m) This gives the acting a weightier feel as if we're watching people caught in history on the screen.

Keep in mind that this is a very long movie, (160 minutes) and while there is some action, it's more a slow deliberate period piece focused on characterization far more than action. I wouldn't recommend watching unless you have some time set aside and feel relaxed enough to absorb it. (Personally I didn't even realize the length when I first watched it as the story quickly grabbed my attention) Director Andrew Dominik seems to take his time intentionally as if trying to prolong our visit to a time that's been forgotten for a long time now, but is still relevant today. The cinematography is breathtaking, contrasting the harshness of the old west with careful attention to character movement. We can tell who's lying the same way Jesse James can, by watching their tics as he questions them.

In an inspired choice, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis provide a delicately somber soundtrack. I can't think of anyone better given Cave's affection for outlaws and murder ballads. He even shows up for a cameo, after the shooting, singing the song that summed up public opinion of Robert Ford


Every supporting character is superb as well. Sam Shephard's Frank James is the perfect foil for Jesse, distanced and practical as Jesse is hot headed and emotional.  Frank can't wait to disband the gang, planning to sell shoes somewhere in peace and quiet. Sam Rockwell is Bob's brother Charlie, the only character supporting Bob for most of the movie. Knowing Bob's admiration for Jesse, he continually talks up his brother as perfect for upcoming jobs. After some particularly lavish praise, Jesse looks at Charlie and says, "You forget, I've met Bob."

After several interactions convince Bob that Jesse James will never be impressed with him, Bob decides he'll get his fame and fortune another way by turning Jesse in for the reward money. Watching him at a party where he's set to meet the Governor to discuss terms, you get a feel for his ambitions. Although the arrangement is not supposed to be public, Bob can't help but sneak into the party, trying to be seen among the important people. The Governor dresses him down for this and of course Bob turns meek and bashful again, but still decides to go through with it.

Eventually Bob and Charlie are all that's left of the gang. They go to live with Jesse while planning a bank job. Jesse is suspicious of everyone at this point and both brothers know he may kill them suspecting a plot against himself. Bob tells Charlie about his arrangement with the governor to kill Jesse James. Charlie responds, "But, he's our friend." That's Charlie, loyal to a fault, to both Jessie and his brother. Unfortunately if you know the story or read the title, you know he only gets to keep one of them. Of course the atmosphere is almost unbearable for Bob and Charlie. Jesse's behavior becomes more erratic daily. They don't know if Jesse needs their help, plans to kill them or both.


The scene where Bob shoots Jesse James is played wonderfully and James almost seems to be inviting Bob to do what he came to do. He announces his taking off his gun belt (so the neighbors don't see his guns in the window) lays them carefully down and walks across the room to get up on a chair to dust a picture high on the wall that doesn't really look dusty, all while knowing that Bob has a gun (that Jesse had just given him as a gift) We're shown the reflection of Bob raising the gun and aiming in the glass of the picture. Jesse James doesn't seem at all surprised and doesn't even move, as if he expected it to happen. Afterwards Jesse's wife Zee comes into the room screaming and sobbing. Bob just sits on the couch as if exhausted, unaffected by Jesse's  wife and kids' turmoil, even swearing to Zee with gun in hand that he didn't do it.

Bob immediately tries to play up his celebrity, staging reenactments of the shooting for audiences every night. Charlie acts out Jesse's part and this soon takes it's toll on him. Bob is called a coward everywhere he goes and ends up as despised as Jesse James was admired. Even in death people love Jesse James, paying to see his corpse, which is travelling around the country, or even paying for pictures of it. Clearly Bob hasn't arrived at great things, his betrayal has only cemented the legend. He imagines visiting the surviving relatives of James' victims and announcing himself, still desperate to be as big as James was. He thought that the man who shot Jesse James would be a hero and on paper he would've been right. Bob Ford was on the side of the law after all.  The Jesse James/Bob Ford story tells us that being a "hero" or not, has less to do with the moral code, than the qualities we admire (or dislike in Bob's case) in a man. Speaking to a girlfriend of the incident long afterwards Bob says. "I thought there'd be applause."

He just forgot that the public loved Jesse James.  Jesse James (in their minds) had strength and courage and heart, all of which were seriously lacking in Bob. The people felt the betrayal so acutely (his shows probably helped with that) that he may as well have betrayed them. Eventually it catches up with Bob, although his death is not mourned by anyone. (I should also add that Jesse James was quickly adopted by film. Over fifty movies have featured him starting as early as 1921. His influence refuses to go away.)

Fight Club

Fight Club is a very important movie, not for the solutions it offers, but for the questions it asks and the bold assertions it makes. David Fincher (adapting from Chuck Palahniuk's novel) is very aware of the world he's creating and uses every power at his disposal to create a harsh and chaotic world that doesn't even want to be likeable (except for the soothing IKEA world and the office which are both soothing to the point of sleep.) The visuals are jarring, harsh clashing colors and seemingly random cuts , flashing cigarette burns, characters talking into the camera, and subliminal images, combine with loud dissonant music to frame a brutal world without regard for anyone in it. Fight Club is no bedtime story.

It's no accident (and nothing in this film is an accident) that the opening scene is the narrator faking testicular cancer to belong in a support group for men who've had their testicles removed.

Our main character (Edward Norton) is a powerless man feeling completely trapped in a life that he feels, is all about owning different things. The corporations he says, will one day control the universe. And what is one life compared to "the corporations." The only time he feels anything, is when faking different conditions to attend support groups for the legitimately suffering. Things start to change when he meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) a fellow faker at the testicular cancer group. She stifles his ability to cry and so they agree to alternate nights. He soon runs into Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) on a plane, and he's taken with Tyler's observation on the real purpose of oxygen masks.

On arriving home his apartment and all his belongings are blown up. Not having another place to go he calls his new friend  Tyler. "How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight." Tyler Durden(Brad Pitt) asks Norton's character. he then asks Norton to hit him as hard as he can. Tyler reciprocates and our narrator is amazed at the sensation of real pain a punch in the gut produces.Suddenly, he feels alive.

While some see this film as about finding an outlet for male aggression, I think that view misses the whole point. Albert Camus once said that rebellion (as opposed to revolution) is a man who says "No." Ultimately this is a movie about rebellion, a man who tries to say no, in every way that he can. While video games and news stories used Fight Club as a term for any informal brawling association, they completely missed the fact that Fight Club was not really about men hitting each other at all, but why they would want to. Norton's character has to go to ridiculous extremes to even consider this. But, once he starts, men from all around are joining the Fight Club to test themselves with pain.

To explain the need for Fight Club, Tyler says to the members:
"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

Edward Norton's character and Tyler Durden use Fight Club to rebel against the life that's been sold to them. But it's telling that the Fight Club's first outside assignment is to start a fight, which they also have to lose. As Norton observes, most people will do anything they can to avoid a fight. In Fight Club's world, normal people are used to being safe, and confrontation, especially physical confrontation poses a challenge to their whole consumerist bubble of a safe clean world. The actual physical fighting is just an outward symbol of the rebellion, the idea of living life without fearing scars.

Norton is terrific in a very tricky role. He has to be able to present himself as a listless drone, who gradually evolves into a truly dangerous individual. Brad Pitt is pitch perfect as Tyler, the sociopathic bad influence that Norton's character needs to help him reject the numbness consuming him. Rejecting nothing less than all of society and modern civilization turns out to be not an easy task.Helena Bonham Carter is brilliant in her darkly against type role as Marla. Her role evolves as she develops a deeper relationship with both Norton and Tyler. She's at least as numb as Norton is, but more fascinated with death. She speaks calmly on the phone, while thinking she took too much Xanax. "It's not a suicide thing, more of a cry for help thing." she tells them without emotion. The relationship with Marla complicates things, as she gets deeper under the narrator's skin than he would like, leading him into some big revelations about himself.

The Fight Club evolves into "Project Mayhem" a full on anarchist campaign designed to wreak havoc on the outside world as opposed to the insular Fight Club dynamic. Of course this leads to many problems including a casualty. Anarchy taken to it's logical conclusion is one person left in the world, the system destroyed with nothing to replace it and Tyler is perfectly OK with that. Where the Fight Club was about rebellion, Project Mayhem is about an anarchist revolution. Norton's narrator feels more alive than ever, but he doesn't realize that the members of the group have only traded one program for another as evidenced when "Project Mayhem" operatives attempt to follow their orders to emasculate anyone who interferes.

In the end Norton's rebellion against being powerless before society only leaves him powerless again, but the struggle this time is against himself, having become his own worst enemy. While failure to change society was inevitable, against himself, he at least has a chance. The rebellion against society was necessary, if only to let him face this fact. (without giving it away if anyone hasn't seen it, I'll just say that this is shown in a very literal way.)

Fight Club is full of testoserone, but I don't think it should be dismissed as a "man's movie." while modern man's emasculation is certainly a major theme, taken a step further, what we're really considering is the loss of the individual in a society that easily reduces us to numbers, and how we handle that. The testicles after all, are just a symbol for our names (bloodlines, heirs) and that's what's being lost. The issue of the narrator's name for example, is a pretty big deal, and he doesn't know what it really is. Eventually, for Norton's character it comes down to this, "should he be more concerned with the credit record or with Marla?" And that's a dilemma that could easily applied to either sex.

Albert Camus once said that artistic rebellion was the only true rebellion, because we can recreate the world without destroying the world that was. Fight Club does exactly that, without sparing society, or the revolutionary, the government or the citizen. I'm sure there are many that still refuse to believe the world that Fight Club creates. It's easy to say that it's only a movie and an unrealistic one. But David Fincher has definitely created a work of art with Fight Club. It asks real questions, hard ones, and leaves it to us to give the answers. A lot has changed since 1999, but the changes in the world only make this work more relevant. Do we feel any more in control? There has to be more to life than IKEA world, but only we can define what the more is. It is after all a movie, not an instruction manual.