The one that got away
Sunday, September 11th, 2005 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seraiTuesday evening, I got to go to the premiere of Thumbsucker, the film that Elijah almost starred in, but decided not to because he and the director agreed that he was "too old for the role".
Yep, the premiere. Red carpet and everything. Seems FIND scored balcony seating for its members. And it was fun! We didn't see any of the red carpet stuff, because the line we were waiting in was around the corner so as to be out of the way of all the hooha. But the Egyptian is a lovely old movie palace, recently restored by American Cinematheque, and I haven't sat in a balcony for a film since I was a kid.
There were two reasons I saw this film, and both will probably be familiar to anyone around here who knows me. First reason is obviously that Elijah was gonna be in this one and then wasn't. So comparisons had to be made. (More on which later.) The second reason is my bestest friend Spike. She and I were in the trenches of Keanu fandom together, and when I say trenches, I mean trenches. (I was surprised at the sensitivity and tendency to kerfuffle in LOTR fandom when I first got here, because I was internet-fandom-weaned over at a Keanu board called JTJ, and if you didn't go in there in plate armor with ten edged weapons and a neckful of amulets, you deserved whatever you got.) LOTR came along and knocked Neo out of my head almost completely, but Spike is still living in Keanuland, and happily. So the chance to watch her squee her head off was irresistible. Once the line started towards the theater, I was happy and Spike was VIBRATING.
Coming up to the door, there he was, schmoozing with some fashionably disheveled indie people, and damn if the man didn't look fine enough to eat. Would I fuck him? You bet I would. (Hey, I may have the hots for Elijah, but I'm not stupid.) He looked like a big ol' plate of hotsex. And I'll tell you, the man has a smile that dazzles. (Such is the power of that smile that Spike actually froze in her tracks. I had to grab her sleeve and pull on her to get her to start walking again.)
So, that was reason 2 accounted for, and quite enjoyed. Back to Reason 1.
Thumbsucker is what I call a Some Guy book. Some Guy books are novels about some ordinary schmo with an odd problem. Character pieces, with twists and turns (or not), and they don't have arcs so much as they have spans: they start here and stop there, and you've gone somewhere in between, but there's not that much of a story involved.
Some Guy in Thumbsucker is Justin Cobb, a teenager who can't stop sucking his thumb, duh. That's the role that Elijah was going to play, and the whole thing is more about the people in it than about anything that actually happens to them. It's that kinda film. And it only took me ten minutes of watching Lou Pucci (who's playing Justin) to realize something that really surprised me:
Elijah was right.
He can't play a teen anymore, despite the fact that his face could easily pass (at least in a film). It's not a matter of looks, it's a matter of style. His mien has changed enormously, and he just feels too old. There's no callowness there anymore, no babyfat. (I'm talking internal as well as external.) He's seen too much life to sound like a 17-year-old anymore. Hell, he was already pushing it in Try Seventeen. So I guess he really is over that hump, more happy he. Back to the story.
After a few expository scenes featuring some utterly wonderful actors (Tilda Swinton, both the Vinces), Justin visits his dentist, Perry. Here's where Keanu comes in. Perry is a guy I'm well familiar with, having lived some years up in Santa Cruz, CA. He's a holistic dentist. His office is paneled in dark rough wood, decorated with Starving ArtistTM oil paintings of wolves and Indians, and there is flutesy New Age muzak playing (and incense burning, no doubt). Perry is a long-haired hippie type, and is gentle and kind and dispenses platitudes. He hypnotises Justin to cure him of his habit, which of course works.
And the second revelation of the night for me was that Keanu is simply the best thing in the film. That's not knocking anybody else's work, honestly, because they're all wonderful. (D'Onofrio was heartbreaking.) But damn, Keanu was funny. He caught exactly the right tone in this guy, and like I said, after years of hanging out with just this kind of person, I know 'em when I see 'em. He had me busting a gut. When Justin later calls Perry in desperation because the cure worked and now he's going nuts from the lack of stimulation, Perry gently suggests, "Try calling on your power animal" (the hypnosis had included that concept), and Keanu's delivery of that line was utter magic. Really, the guy can be hilarious.
The movie then follows Justin around from one obsession to another, always trying to find something that will provide the same hard-wired comfort and joy that sucking his thumb has always given him. There's not a lot to say about the plot. Like I said, it goes here and there, and then stops. I think the real enjoyment of this film will come from watching the actors do their work, and it's a very fine cast. Tilda plays Justin's mother and D'Onofrio plays his dad. D'Onofrio is not a handsome man most of the time,* but he is lovely to watch onscreen, very subtle and layered. Vince Vaughn plays Justin's school debate coach, and he's also a piss. Keanu gets two more scenes with Justin, and each of them is just as funny. And to my surprise, it's his character that gets to deliver the film's message. (Somewhere in every film, someone or something has to lay out what the movie is about, either in words, images or deeds.)
It's a great message, for all that the film is not a work of genius. The message is basically that we spend far too much time trying to solve our problems, "trying to be problemless", as Perry says. "We keep searching for answers that may not be out there. The trick, as I see it, is to live without answers." Man, did that ring true. We're all flawed beings, and the things that mark us as different or odd are simply part of who we are. Why go to such unreasonable lengths to change them? Why not just be who we are, without spending so much precious energy insisting on seeing as defects things which are simply oddities, just because someone else tells us to? It's an excellent idea.
So, in a nutshell, entertaining without being brilliant. An excellent ensemble piece about people you wouldn't normally notice, with great work by top-rate actors. Definitely worth seeing, though whether you'll want to pay theater prices or not is up to you. If not, do not miss renting it. (I did have one moment of regret about Elijah, during Justin's encounter with his girlfriend, who will not allow him to touch her naked skin without him being blindfolded. *sigh* Oh well, you can't have everything - where would you put it?)
*Most of the time, D'Onofrio looks big and schlubby. But if you're curious about how good he can look, rent The Velocity of Gary. In it you will see a Vince who is whip-slender, with waist-length black curls and tight black leather pants. He plays a porn star, and is so fucking sexy I had a very hard time believing it was the same guy. *drool*
Yep, the premiere. Red carpet and everything. Seems FIND scored balcony seating for its members. And it was fun! We didn't see any of the red carpet stuff, because the line we were waiting in was around the corner so as to be out of the way of all the hooha. But the Egyptian is a lovely old movie palace, recently restored by American Cinematheque, and I haven't sat in a balcony for a film since I was a kid.
There were two reasons I saw this film, and both will probably be familiar to anyone around here who knows me. First reason is obviously that Elijah was gonna be in this one and then wasn't. So comparisons had to be made. (More on which later.) The second reason is my bestest friend Spike. She and I were in the trenches of Keanu fandom together, and when I say trenches, I mean trenches. (I was surprised at the sensitivity and tendency to kerfuffle in LOTR fandom when I first got here, because I was internet-fandom-weaned over at a Keanu board called JTJ, and if you didn't go in there in plate armor with ten edged weapons and a neckful of amulets, you deserved whatever you got.) LOTR came along and knocked Neo out of my head almost completely, but Spike is still living in Keanuland, and happily. So the chance to watch her squee her head off was irresistible. Once the line started towards the theater, I was happy and Spike was VIBRATING.
Coming up to the door, there he was, schmoozing with some fashionably disheveled indie people, and damn if the man didn't look fine enough to eat. Would I fuck him? You bet I would. (Hey, I may have the hots for Elijah, but I'm not stupid.) He looked like a big ol' plate of hotsex. And I'll tell you, the man has a smile that dazzles. (Such is the power of that smile that Spike actually froze in her tracks. I had to grab her sleeve and pull on her to get her to start walking again.)
So, that was reason 2 accounted for, and quite enjoyed. Back to Reason 1.
Thumbsucker is what I call a Some Guy book. Some Guy books are novels about some ordinary schmo with an odd problem. Character pieces, with twists and turns (or not), and they don't have arcs so much as they have spans: they start here and stop there, and you've gone somewhere in between, but there's not that much of a story involved.
Some Guy in Thumbsucker is Justin Cobb, a teenager who can't stop sucking his thumb, duh. That's the role that Elijah was going to play, and the whole thing is more about the people in it than about anything that actually happens to them. It's that kinda film. And it only took me ten minutes of watching Lou Pucci (who's playing Justin) to realize something that really surprised me:
Elijah was right.
He can't play a teen anymore, despite the fact that his face could easily pass (at least in a film). It's not a matter of looks, it's a matter of style. His mien has changed enormously, and he just feels too old. There's no callowness there anymore, no babyfat. (I'm talking internal as well as external.) He's seen too much life to sound like a 17-year-old anymore. Hell, he was already pushing it in Try Seventeen. So I guess he really is over that hump, more happy he. Back to the story.
After a few expository scenes featuring some utterly wonderful actors (Tilda Swinton, both the Vinces), Justin visits his dentist, Perry. Here's where Keanu comes in. Perry is a guy I'm well familiar with, having lived some years up in Santa Cruz, CA. He's a holistic dentist. His office is paneled in dark rough wood, decorated with Starving ArtistTM oil paintings of wolves and Indians, and there is flutesy New Age muzak playing (and incense burning, no doubt). Perry is a long-haired hippie type, and is gentle and kind and dispenses platitudes. He hypnotises Justin to cure him of his habit, which of course works.
And the second revelation of the night for me was that Keanu is simply the best thing in the film. That's not knocking anybody else's work, honestly, because they're all wonderful. (D'Onofrio was heartbreaking.) But damn, Keanu was funny. He caught exactly the right tone in this guy, and like I said, after years of hanging out with just this kind of person, I know 'em when I see 'em. He had me busting a gut. When Justin later calls Perry in desperation because the cure worked and now he's going nuts from the lack of stimulation, Perry gently suggests, "Try calling on your power animal" (the hypnosis had included that concept), and Keanu's delivery of that line was utter magic. Really, the guy can be hilarious.
The movie then follows Justin around from one obsession to another, always trying to find something that will provide the same hard-wired comfort and joy that sucking his thumb has always given him. There's not a lot to say about the plot. Like I said, it goes here and there, and then stops. I think the real enjoyment of this film will come from watching the actors do their work, and it's a very fine cast. Tilda plays Justin's mother and D'Onofrio plays his dad. D'Onofrio is not a handsome man most of the time,* but he is lovely to watch onscreen, very subtle and layered. Vince Vaughn plays Justin's school debate coach, and he's also a piss. Keanu gets two more scenes with Justin, and each of them is just as funny. And to my surprise, it's his character that gets to deliver the film's message. (Somewhere in every film, someone or something has to lay out what the movie is about, either in words, images or deeds.)
It's a great message, for all that the film is not a work of genius. The message is basically that we spend far too much time trying to solve our problems, "trying to be problemless", as Perry says. "We keep searching for answers that may not be out there. The trick, as I see it, is to live without answers." Man, did that ring true. We're all flawed beings, and the things that mark us as different or odd are simply part of who we are. Why go to such unreasonable lengths to change them? Why not just be who we are, without spending so much precious energy insisting on seeing as defects things which are simply oddities, just because someone else tells us to? It's an excellent idea.
So, in a nutshell, entertaining without being brilliant. An excellent ensemble piece about people you wouldn't normally notice, with great work by top-rate actors. Definitely worth seeing, though whether you'll want to pay theater prices or not is up to you. If not, do not miss renting it. (I did have one moment of regret about Elijah, during Justin's encounter with his girlfriend, who will not allow him to touch her naked skin without him being blindfolded. *sigh* Oh well, you can't have everything - where would you put it?)
*Most of the time, D'Onofrio looks big and schlubby. But if you're curious about how good he can look, rent The Velocity of Gary. In it you will see a Vince who is whip-slender, with waist-length black curls and tight black leather pants. He plays a porn star, and is so fucking sexy I had a very hard time believing it was the same guy. *drool*
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no subject
Date: Monday, September 12th, 2005 05:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, September 12th, 2005 06:24 am (UTC)I'm not ordinarily a Keanu fan, but I will watch the dvd - and probably agree with you.
no subject
Date: Monday, September 12th, 2005 06:44 am (UTC)Come to think of it - Elijah sucking anything?
Heh. With that Iggy film coming up, you may get your wish.
no subject
Date: Monday, September 12th, 2005 06:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, September 12th, 2005 07:13 am (UTC)Have you seen this (http://www.livejournal.com/users/perianella/74512.html?view=881936#t881936)? WORD. And Iggy - yezzz.
no subject
Date: Monday, September 12th, 2005 07:43 am (UTC)*gives up and flails*
no subject
Date: Monday, September 12th, 2005 01:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, September 12th, 2005 07:38 pm (UTC)I love your reviews and I have always always enjoyed Keanu, he is one lovely living piece of art. And I have always appreciated his performances, he is hampered there by his beauty - many people don't see past that to his performing. I enjoyed the book greatly and thought fifteen year old Elijah would have been perfect for the part - but you all are probably right about him being too old when they first approached him, at what twenty (?) to play Justin. Justin is a naif. Thanks for sharing, sweetie you do it so well.