because you can't have too much entertainment... April 2000

In the Deep Shallows
Frequency Starring: Dennis Quaid & Jim Caviezel
American Psycho Dir: Mary Harron. Starring: Christian Bale & Chlöe Sevigny
Mission to Mars Dir: Brian DePalma. Starring: Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins & Don Cheadle
High Fidelity Dir: Starring: John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Catherine Zeta Jones & Jack Black

I never thought I would say this but the latest serial killer film is actually the best choice you could make at the movie theater this month. By now you've probably heard about the latest from Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol). It's a suprisingly smart adaptation of the legendarily hated Bret Easton Ellis novel "American Psycho". Now, I haven't read the book so I shouldn't comment but I will because I want to talk about the film. Again -this is not from personal experience- but the general consensus is that Ellis' satire on 80's greed and emptiness was bogged down by his own shallowness. He may have been on to something but the book was overwhelmed by sickening misogyny and pornographic violence -which may have part of the point but proved too disgusting for many readers to endure. This would have included me as I am not the sort of person who enjoys carnage in art or life. I do however enjoy those rare films that have actual ideas and purpose...

So, if the general consensus about the book is true than what we have here is a film that actually elevates its source material. Harron has worked some ambiguous magic and the film goes deep in its investigation of the shallows of human nature. The opening ritualistic sequence is perfectly handled by an icy removed Christian Bale setting the tone of his movie monster and the film. The thing I found most surprising about it was how wide its grasp is. We are not just looking at one character who symbolizes dehumanization or greed. This is an ambitious portrait of a time period, a biting treatise on the materialism, and a horror film about misogyny. No one here gets out alive. Everyone is corrupt and ugly on some level and usually motivated by greed. Sure, that's a depressing notion but it's deftly handled and well played. Harron gets all these ideas in there and the film still does not feel strictly like an art film experiment or academic lecture. It works intellectually and still remains gripping as a horror film. Considering its subject matter, the film is mercifully low on actual onscreen violence, but the sense of menace is pervasive. Even dialogue sequences hold a sickening dread. A particularly chilling moment late in the film happens between Bateman and a landlady. If you're in tune with the film that scene is just as frightening on a spiritual level as any of the violence is on a visceral one.

Obviously, it's not a film for everyone. If you can stomach it, it's a smart indictment of shallow greed and the horror of spiritual emptiness. As a result it's unfortunately a lot more relevant now than its 80s satire first implies.

Speaking of shallow....

My whole life entire life I've been plagued by frustration when I hear trite and simplified messages about the psychology of behavior. 'Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. Men like sports. Women like to talk and are in touch with their emotions. Men are incapable of monogamy. Women are nurturing.' It's as if there was only one explanation for any given behavior and your entire existence can be summed up by your genitalia.I'm thinking about this because I saw three movies this week that were, in one way or another, all about men, Hollywood's favorite subject matter. Indeed Hollywood is like a great religion in its ability to reinforce and feed us our collective beliefs. Consequently we often get lowest common denominator type of films.

Still, even the lowest of denominators would probably not have been pleased with Mission to Mars, one of the single stupidest things ever seen onscreen. We're in the year 2020 and men have now evolved enough that instead of not talking about their emotions they now discuss them in excruciatingly boring and trite detail. Women, however, haven't evolved at all since they're still basically just cooking for the men and throwing parties to send them off on their adventures. All the men in the movie are heroic and noble and deliver very bad dialogue very badly. Director Brian DePalma even manages to get a bad performance out of the usually great Don Cheadle. George Lucas watch out! There's another big director on your tail with zippo talent with actors.

Another thing that cracked me up about this movie is that all the guys are frat boy masculine and yet Gary Sinise sports tweazed brows and eyeliner throughout the film. Now, everyone knows I love big queens in real life but I find it hilarious when someone inadvertently plays one in a "man's film." It was like Kurt Russell in Tombstone all over again. Heaven help us all.

Men getting in touch with their emotions is also at the core of Frequency which I saw at a sneak preview. Frequency is a time travel yarn so it is naturally a bit dorky but for a while it so unashamedly works in the small male tearjerker genre that I was admiring it. Not that I didn't find it hokey. We're talking baseball, sports, ham radios, the love of a good woman, teaching your son to ride a bike. Indeed, every Americana "male interest" cliche gets trotted out for viewer consumption. The film quickly derails, despite the efforts of a restrained Jim Caviesel (last seen as the spiritual center of The Thin Red Line), into a lackluster serial killer/time travel epic. By the time the film ends I was laughing at the bravura hokiness of it all. I kid you not when I say that this film ends on a grandfather/ father/ son baseball game with a soaring sensitive guy power ballad in the background. Bring on the cheese!

As far as insights into male psyches go your best bet would have to be High Fidelity with John Cusack. I went into this not expecting much and left surprised at the many laughs and great scenes. It doesn't go much deeper than the easy target of man's fear of commitment but it least it does so in a new entertaining way. And unlike the other films discussed here it also offers a few vibrant female characters to think about. Listen, people are from Mars and Venus.

-Nathaniel

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