Nowhere in Africa
REVIEWED 06/03, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Jettel Redlich (Julianne Köhler) is a middle-aged woman of culture and moderate wealth, hostessing parties and living a measurably carefree life in late-1930's Germany. Conversely, her lawyer husband Walter (Merab Ninidze) lays at death's door in a malaria-stricken daze somewhere in the Sun-baked barren plains of Nigeria, after consciously realizing Hitler's rising threat to him and his small Jewish family early on and fleeing to the safety of this new life a continent away. Some safety. However, quickly being nursed back to health by Owuor (Sidede Onyulo), the charmingly enigmatic local cook of the struggling cattle ranch where they both eke out a tough and meager living, Walter sends for his hesitant wife and their self-minded young daughter Regina (Karoline Eckertz) to begin again, far from the mortal ravages of Nazi anti-Semitism and the brewing onslaught of World War II. And, it is a rugged life. One that Jettel has a tough time adjusting to; as she struggles with her own often misplaced opinions amongst the natives and the chasm of resentment that slowly poisons her marriage. Regina blossoms in the desert's warmth, blissfully transcending cultural boundaries with unbridled enthusiasm - even when this bright little girl is faced with British Colonial bigotry miles away at boarding school. The years that pass offer this family several rich and poignant lessons along the way, as their individual paths diverge and reconnect in thoroughly captivating ways.

If you've ever wanted to see a movie that honestly takes the time to fully develop already interesting characters onscreen, this superbly constructed and subtitled Oscar-winning foreign epic should be on your must-see list. 'Nirgendwo in Afrika' ('Nowhere in Africa') takes you through six years in the lives of this family, offering you outstanding glimpses into how each of these individuals emotionally and intellectually mature within their ever-changing and challenging worlds. This is easily Köhler's film, considering her performance as a woman forced to acclimatize while slowly realizing her true sense of self shines through in almost every scene she's in. However, what makes this film such an incredible gem is that the entire cast delivers with such captivating realism. You can feel their isolation and clearly see from their actions what choices they've made in the past to bring them here. You're given real reasons to care about what happens to them, because you know that most of them are just trying to keep it together under fairly harsh circumstances. The best supporting performances you'll likely ever see come from Matthias Habich, as the Redlich's personably earthy yet tragically romantic friend Süßkind, and Onyulo's slyly irreverent Jack-of-all-trades who casually shepherds these transplanted Europeans' very survival with wry humour and example. Sure, the plot does run thinly at times as its humanity-driven script plays itself out against a shifting war-tinged backdrop, but this picture is by far a tremendously satisfying find that's definitely well worth checking out. Awesome.

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The Notebook
REVIEWED 06/04, © STEPHEN BOURNE
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REVIEW:

Wow. This hugely romantic love story based on best-selling author Nicholas Sparks' 1996 novel is an incredibly satisfying tearjerker that pairs seventeen year-old country boy lumber yard worker Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) with New York college-bound socialite Allison 'Allie' Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) during their doomed yet passionately engulfing 1940's Seabrook, North Carolina summer courtship. These two make sparks fly off the screen in pretty well every shared scene, yet former actor turned director Nick Cassavetes (yes, son of vanguard director John Cassavetes) still manages to prolong a paying audience's sumptuous agony over wanting them to beat the odds, by throwing the ever-present obstacles of that era in their way at virtually every turn. What I found specifically brilliant was in the way their lust is portrayed throughout, as each enthusiastic burst of embracing heartfelt kisses is suddenly interrupted by an almost magical moment of timeless awe that lifts their hormone-ignited carnal hunger out of mere frantic groping onto a wonderfully electric plateau of deep emotional yearning rarely ever seen in cinema anymore. Pure poetry. Any actor can throw their knickers to the wind and bare all for the camera, but this picture masterfully demonstrates how it should be done for a normally intelligent mature audience made up of people who have actually experienced an all-encompassing adoration for another - even though you hardly see any real nudity here. Lovely. Hell, the entire picture is a near-masterpiece because of how meticulously smart Jeremy Leven's screenplay is allowed to naturally unfold before your eyes. Cassavetes' screen legend mother Gena Rowlands and James 'Duke' Garner also pull in absolutely captivating performances during what turns out to be this feature's second main story, intertwined with the flashbacks of Noah's and Allie's whirlwind tale through a much-cherished handwritten notebook that Garner's aged character lovingly reads to Rowlands' as a kind of homemade cure for her increasingly worsening senile dementia, despite Duke's doctor and his adult children's concerns that he's wasting the last years of his life on misguided hope. This thoroughly well scripted drama is all about hope against crushing reality, definitely crafted for hopeless romantics who eat this stuff up while gleefully bawling their eyes out. That happened at the screening I attended, where I figured I could have easily made a tidy profit selling handkerchiefs every time the music swelled. Just kidding.

'The Notebook' is quite simply the most astoundingly touching film of its kind from Hollywood seen in a while, and well worth spending time with long after leaving the theatre.

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Nathalie...
REVIEWED 08/04, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

French actress Fanny Ardant ('8 Women' (2002)) stars as slightly detached bourgeois Catherine, who hires dazzling part-time prostitute Marlène (Emmanuelle Béart ('Mission Impossible' (1996)) from the strip club around the corner from her downtown clinic to assume the alias 'Nathalie' and seduce her long-time Parisian businessman husband Bernard (Gérard Depardieu), when Catherine is led to believe he's cheated on her while on a recent business trip to Zurich, in this fairly graphic sub-titled 2003 flick from France. Curiously, this suspicious middle-aged wife seems more interested in understanding her emotionally distant hubby's preferences in the bedroom than in justifying any need for revenge here. Paying Marlène to tell her every detail of what goes on during what she's informed are numerous, intensely passionate encounters.

Frankly, the logic behind co-writer/director Anne Fontaine's, Jacques Fieschi's and François-Olivier Rousseau's screenplay made absolutely no sense to me from the outset. Fontaine recently described this sometimes perversely crude movie as being about fantasy, because (according to her) everything happens through words. Well, I guess I must have experienced some strange sort of wishful optical illusion during this screening, because I'm pretty sure I left the theatre afterwards with a fairly good idea of what Béart's boobies look like from several angles and under different lighting conditions. Not that I'm complaining too loudly about that, mind you. However, Ardant's slightly Mime-like yet otherwise incredibly captivating performance failed to truly help a paying audience to understand exactly why she hired this hooker in the first place. Let alone continued to manipulate the situation while being told about each sordid rendezvous that's visibly painful for her to know about, until she seems to begin to like it - and starts bonding with that young blonde bombshell. 'Nathalie...' actually does feel a lot like the kind of star-studded offering that couples or creepy uncles might rent as a somewhat softer type of porn that actually has a story to it for a change. It's certainly not 'Pretty Woman' (1990), or even 'Looking for Mr. Goodbar' (1977), but it's unlikely to appear on the Playboy Channel anytime soon, either. The few scenes where you see Catherine and Marlène actually getting to know each other as human beings were definitely where this hour and forty-six minute film briefly becomes interesting, before yet another round of dirty talk spoils things. Shameful really, because this truly is a remarkable cast of primary performers, with Oscar-nominated Depardieu taking an uncharacteristic backseat while still managing to let his astounding screen presence wonderfully play off Ardant's equally mesmerizing cinematic charm. It's the fairly unimaginative presentation, that might have also been weakened in the translation, which ultimately betrays their efforts throughout. Unless you fall into one of the two categories mentioned above, you probably shouldn't bother with this one.

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Napoleon Dynamite
REVIEWED 08/04, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Apparently fleshed out and slightly altered from co-writer/director Jared Hess' nine-minute 'Pecula' (2003), Preston, Idaho super nerd Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder, who also starred in that black and white short) returns to high school and meets Pedro (Efren Ramirez), a transfer student from Mexico with no important skills - like num chuck skills or bow hunting skills or computer hacker skills - but owns a sweet red Sledgehammer bicycle and is pretty good with the babes (not really), shortly before that gawky and buck-toothed disenfranchised teen and his unemployed thirty-two year-old chat room-addicted brother Kip (Aaron Ruell) end up having to deal with their self-infatuated "idiot" dreamer Uncle Rico (Jon Gries, 'Get Shorty' (1995), 'The Rundown' (2003)) moving in to their small secluded bungalow for a few days, after the boys' matriarchal Grandmother (Sandy Martin) is hospitalized during a day out racing on the dunes with her boyfriend.

This hugely quirky ninety-minute independent film is an hilariously ridiculous riot, similar to some of the successfully offbeat and experimental films of the 1980's that include 'Eating Raoul' (1982) and 'Raising Arizona' (1987), or the more mature-oriented comedy 'The Big Lebowski' (1998), as Hess and co-writer Jerusha Hess' 'Beavis and Butthead'-like screenplay follows the bizarre yet mundane life of this Tater-chomping, tall tale-telling adolescent pariah. It's definitely in the same league as the wryly intelligent coming of age sleeper 'Welcome to the Dollhouse' (1996), but this one's much lighter and far more irreverent. Showing this guy quietly drawing hackneyed sketches from his imagination - including the "liger"; a cross between a tiger and a lion and his most favourite animal in the whole world, checking out the local Rex Kwon Do martial arts school with Kip, taste testing questionably tainted milk from mason jars for judges at the National FFA bovine fair, and experiencing his relentless awkwardness in befriending equally marginalized school mate and part-time glamour photographer Deb (Tina Majorino). Wonderful. 'Napoleon Dynamite' - also one of many pseudonyms used by famed Punk-turned-Standards singer Declan Patrick 'Elvis Costello' MacManus, yet reportedly not connected to that artist in any way - does suffer from a few curiously disjointed editing choices that give this flick a decidedly amateurish look, but they don't overtly detract and sometimes actually lend to its inherently funny weirdness throughout. Pretty well the only glaring fault is that this otherwise fresh and inspired picture seems to contrive a happy ending for all of its main characters, when it probably would have been even more satisfying if at least a couple of them had simply faded from the spotlight long before the final credits rolled. I won't ruin it for you, but the opening scene where Dynamite has to present an oral report in front of his disinterested classmates, as well as moments linked to him subsequently deciding to help his new friend Pedro win the coveted Class President election against perky popular blonde Summer Wheatly (Haylie Duff), are truly inspired and priceless.

Do yourself a huge favour and check out this incredibly entertaining offbeat comedy full of straight-faced strangeness if you get the chance. Good stuff.

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National Treasure
REVIEWED 11/04, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Thirty years after Benjamin Franklin Gates' (Nicolas Cage; 'Leaving Las Vegas' (1995), 'Matchstick Men' (2003)) eccentric Grandfather (Toronto's Christopher Plummer; 'Ararat' (2002), 'The Return of the Pink Panther' (1975)) first granted him the solemn duty of the Knights Templar - the religious Order of nine original French Chevaliers formed in 1118, dispatched to Jerusalem after the First Crusade and believed to be the doomed forefathers of modern banking and Freemasonry who scholars claim spirited away sacred controversial Judeo-Christian relics hidden under the ruins of King Solomon's Temple - Ben has finally discovered and cracked what he hopes is the final arcane clue leading him to a treasure map of untold riches. An invisible list, it turns out. One that also happens to be locked away on the back of America's heavily guarded two hundred and twenty-eight year-old Declaration of Independence, on public display within the recently renovated Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, it becomes clear that professionally maligned Gates' and his young partner Reilly Poole's (Justin Bartha; 'Gigli' (2003)) extremely rich yet rather unscrupulous benefactor Ian Howe (Sean Bean; 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003), 'GoldenEye' (1995)) plans to steal that historically important 29.75 by 24.5 inch parchment for its secrets anyway, and our two accidental heroes end up racing against time and evading patiently deductive FBI supervisor Sadusky (Harvey Keitel; 'Red Dragon' (2002), 'Mean Streets' (1973)) - with reluctant Archives director Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger; 'Troy' (2004), 'Wicker Park' (2004)) and Ben's skeptical father Patrick (Jon Voight; 'The Manchurian Candidate' (2004), 'The Odessa File' (1974)) being dragged along with them - to not only protect this priceless document by stealing it first, but also elude trigger happy henchmen while Ben unlocks further ancient ciphers towards rescuing that amassed hidden fortune from Ian's relentless and brutal greed.

While obviously burdened by wildly anachronistic creative license throughout, this rip roaring cinematic poor cousin of 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' (1984) definitely promises to be a convincingly satisfying fun ride at first glance. However, its flight of fantasy story line quickly turns into little more than rubbery artificial Swiss cheese before the second reel, mainly because the heavily fabricated premise tends to consistently defuse a ticket holder's over-all enjoyment. Obvious inaccuracies can't be ignored, such as those surrounding legendary inventor and diplomat Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), who - despite being portrayed here as having been extremely busy creating elaborately enigmatic clues within more shadowy, contraption-aided clues for his Masonic brethren as a teenager and an Illuminati-like Revolutionary co-conspirator later on - apparently didn't join the (arguably) 18th Century Scottish Rite until two years after the first lodge reportedly appeared in the States in 1731, and Franklin reportedly lived exclusively in France from December 1776 until five years before his death. The Declaration of Independence itself is also shrouded in a new suspicious myth here, completely negating that the original is known to have been lost and quickly replaced by John Hancock's secretary Charles Thomson with the current 1776 copy. And, a dubious need to Americanize European and Canadian lore runs rampant throughout this hundred and forty-two minute big screen treasure hunt, as Cormac and Marianne Wibberley's screenplay conspicuously avoids mentioning Scotland's 15th Century Rosslyn Chapel and Nova Scotia's legendary Oak Island, in favour of a sparkling thieves den cornucopia spanning vast millennia that's been clandestinely warehoused deep beneath Manhattan by nation-building Freemasons to resemble something similar to the closing wide shot from 'Citizen Kane' (1941). None of it makes sense outside of this film's lazily cobbled together bubble, and it doesn't really work as compelling fiction for anyone other than very young fans of outrageous pirate fables. Yes, 'National Treasure' does feature a lot of enthusiastic acting from Cage and crew, as well as wonderfully noisy moments of pure adventure throughout, but the smallest dose of reality irrevocably betrays director Jon Turteltaub's efforts to believably present these characters' logically-minded sleuthing at almost every turn. Making this decidedly hokey live action cartoon a visually rich yet aggravating endeavour for a knowledgeable paying audience wanting a far more cleverly woven suspension of disbelief while being expected to follow every contrived labyrinthine plot epiphany that nudges this cast along. Switch off your brain and let the familiar pyrotechnics and trite dialogue wash over you, and you're sure to have a reasonably good time with this Disney offering. Maybe. However, it's an incredible shame that this escapist B-movie wad of cotton candy missed the opportunity to thoughtfully inspire the imagination with lushly documented marvels of actual unminced history while still working hard at being entertaining, since it's so heavily based upon what the script desperately attempts to pass off as historical events esoterically linked to actual people and organizations. Disappointing.

As a rental, it's definitely a great kid's flick, but 'National Treasure' is astoundingly silly and patronizing over-all.

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Nobody Knows
REVIEWED 03/05, © STEPHEN BOURNE
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REVIEW:

Akira Fukishima (Yûya Yagira) has tried to make sense of what's happened. Why they had moved to this unassuming Tokyo suburb. Why he'd had to lie to the landlord and the neighbours about being his absent father's and perpetually single mother Keiko's (You) only child and Sixth Grader, keeping silent about never having gone to school and about his siblings secreted up the stairs in heavy suitcases past everyone's prying eyes. He's just a child himself, and yet his tenuously mature parent had insisted on treating him like a confidante. Like an adult. Unfairly forcing him to set aside the childish things that he once loved to do. Making Akira grow up too quickly for his tender age. To be the man of the house, and a surrogate father to his young sisters Kyoko (Ayu Kitaura) and Yuki (Momoko Shimizu), and to his little brother Shigeru (Hiei Kimura). All carefully kept hidden in their new, second story apartment. He knows it wasn't right. Just as Akira knew it was wrong that his mom went away to be with some grey shadow in the back of a moving taxi. She had just left before dawn. Abandoning this twelve year-old to take care of her kids on his own, just like he remembers their various fathers disappearing without much of a good-bye. It wasn't fair. Keiko's handwritten note had said that she'd only be gone for a few weeks. The small fortune of twenty thousand yen stuffed in an envelope on the kitchen table might have been enough for food and essentials, but it still wasn't fair. Akira could barely look his mother in the eyes when she suddenly reappeared at their door as if nothing had happened, long after she'd said that she would return. As if she'd just come home from a day trip. Gone again just as quickly from their tiny two room suite. Followed by their days once again blurring into weeks, weeks fading to months. With this stranger who Akira once knew as his mother paying them off again with another trite note and a quickly dwindling, unreliable allowance from a distance. Until nothing more needs to be said or done but to let go, forget, and survive. Until something bad happens to them again...

Sadly, there's scant verifiable info available online regarding The Affair of the Four Abandoned Children of Nishi-Sugamo - the actual Tokyo-based, six month long 1988 case of abandonment involving four uncertified, unschooled children aged three to fourteen born of different fathers, and those orphans' unwed mother's desertion - that writer/editor/director Hirokazu Koreeda ('Wandafuru raifu' (1998), 'Distance' (2001)) reportedly based this visually artful yet terribly meandering, Cannes winning 2004 subtitled film on. Koreeda does mention in a recent interview that most of his screenplay is fiction, but it's tough not to empathize with the plight that those real kids endured as you're presented with this emotionally numbing big screen examination. Unfortunately, the script and cinematographer Yutaka Yamasaki's relentless attention to the most mundane of subtle details throughout tends to become increasingly exasperating as this hundred and forty-one minute feature clicks out its series of painfully drawn out scenes where nothing much really happens for the most part. There are no fights, or large dramatic key moments amongst these siblings while their habitually ordered young lives slowly slide into a kind of soft, chaotic sloth met with immature ingenuity regarding the basic necessities of life. The water and hydro bills go unpaid, so they merely fill buckets from a nearby playground's tap and go without lights or television. Sure, I realize that's one aspect of what Koreeda was attempting to show here. That the characters this cast of first timers portray are stuck in limbo, like unwanted kittens dumped in a box by the roadside, unwittingly waiting around for someone who's never coming back for them. However, while grinding my teeth in aggravated boredom in my theatre seat through this decidedly long and tedious movie, it seemed as though what might have saved it (and my nubby molars) would've been to at some point see these human flotsam as young adults with more clearly developed individual personalities than exhibited, still struggling with their mother's selfish disappearance in different ways, still haunted by what eventually happens to one of them before being discovered. As it stands, 'Daremo shiranai' (its original Japanese title) lacks enough plot or compelling presence to push it beyond resembling a cinematic sleeping pill flavoured with pretty colours and fleeting controversy.

Camera buffs will likely love this picture's heavy use of natural lighting and closely cropped compositions, but its unpunctuated subtleties and snails paced story hardly make it worth the price of admission. Yawn.

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No Entry
REVIEWED 08/05, © STEPHEN BOURNE
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REVIEW:

For the past seven years, Sunrise Publications newspaper editor Kishen (Anil Kapoor) has been tormented by the pathological jealous streak of his otherwise adoring wife Kaajal (Lara Dutta). The slightest hint of possible infidelity sends her into fits of accusatory tears, even though Kishen has always been a faithful and generous husband to her. He doesn't understand it, but his gregarious, womanizing friend Prem (Salman Khan) does. "Women are the source of all mens grief," he tells Kishen, explaining that these emotionally fragile creatures expect their husbands to cheat on them. So, like Prem does, husbands should go ahead and cheat on their wives anyway. Enjoy the pleasure, if they're guaranteed the pain. And then, use their intelligence to smooth things over with smart lies. Kishen is hesitant. Even his star photographer Sunny (Fardeen Khan) agrees. However, when their plan to expose Prem's blatant philandering backfires on them, both Kishen and Sunny quickly find themselves neck deep in girl trouble after gorgeous dance club singer Bobby (Bipasha Basu) is hired to seduce the unwitting editor. Sunny might have escaped being dragged into it, if his own antics at Suicide Point hadn't convinced young Sanjana (Celina Jaitley) that he needed saving, forcing him to take up residence in Kishen's guest house. That's when things go terribly wrong for Sunny, abetting Kishen's first lie to Kaajal that Bobby is his new wife - despite falling in love with Sanjana - and ending up in the local Best Couples Competition with this sexy other woman. Prem is in hysterics that his devilish trick is working out so well. That is, until they all end up in a Mauritius resort hotel during Sunny's and Sanjana's honeymoon, and the boys' devious web of lies unravels, threatening to destroy their marriages.

There are quite a few times when this subtitled Hindi comedy from writer/director Anees Bazmee ('Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha' (1998), 'Deewangee' (2002)) feels like a Bollywood homage to the far more manic Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis farces of forty years ago. There's a lot of goofing around in front of the camera here, but it works. For the most part, Anil Kapoor ('Pukar' (2000), 'Bewafaa' (2005)) and Fardeen Khan ('Prem Aggan' (1998), 'Dev' (2004)) are absolutely hilarious together as beleaguered newspaper editor Kishan and his lovably oafish staff photographer Sunny, both suffering head aches at the hands of their girl crazy friend Prem (Salman Khan; 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' (1998), 'Baghban' (2003)) when club singer Bobby (former Ford Super model Contest and, uh, the Tulips Miss Super Vivacious competitor, Bipasha Basu; 'Ajnabee' (2001)) is hired to seduce Kishan in order to teach him a lesson. Sure, this hundred and fifty-eight minute romp is purely contrived Summertime camp, heavily relying on mistaken identity and convoluted word play to kick start most of its funnier moments throughout. Admittedly, the musical interludes are barely endurable as little more than amateurish bimbette wiggle dance numbers that actually sabotage the momentum of this sporadically raucous Masala. However, with all of its glaring flaws, 'No Entry' still manages to be an enjoyable confection over-all. Keep an eye open for Lara Dutta ('Andaaz' (2003), 'Kaal' (2005)) giving an amazing co-starring performance as Kishan's excessively jealous wife Kaajal, and watch out for former 2001 Miss Universe contestant and Afghanistan-born rising star Celina Jiya Jaitley ('Khel' (2003), 'Silsiilay' (2005)) in her hugely captivating comedic role as good hearted yet feisty Sanjana.

There's not a whole lot to this slightly over long and wildly undemanding feature, and you'll likely feel as though you've seen much of it before, but 'No Entry' is a fun piece of mature-oriented nonsense that definitely works as a worthwhile bubble gum rental full of harmlessly contagious goofiness.

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North Country
REVIEWED 10/05, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

They call it "Taconite". Josey (Charlize Theron) remembers how her first day at Pearson Taconite and Steel Inc. had started with an orientation session and tour of that loud and filthy North Minnesota iron mine that gutted the scorched earth a short drive from where she'd grown up. How she and the other new female employees had been paraded through the plant, through a seemingly endless gauntlet of grime-smeared men leering and cruelly chuckling at them, as "The Girls" followed the maze of catwalks that straddled each smoke and stink belching machine, into "The Powder Room". It was like a cave. Dark. Low. Thick with dust. She'd been told that the piles of large glossy black pellets that lined The Powder Room were called Taconite. They felt hard against her back and face, as Josey struggled. Bobby was heavy on top of her, forcing himself on her, roughly shoving his hands all over her, snarling harsh words at her terrified eyes. It wasn't supposed to happen. This is 1989 in America for God's sake. None of the daily abuse that she and the other women working there were formally expected to shut up and put up with should have happened. The crude words scrawled on their locker room walls. The constant sexually charged quips from the guys as she tried to do her job. The disgusting things The Girls had to check their lunch boxes for. The grabbing, the taunting, and this sudden physical attack by Josey's former high school classmate Bobby Sharp (Jeremy Renner), were all wrong. The others had warned her not to complain about it too much. They needed to keep their jobs just to eke out a living. It was considered normal. They were doing a man's job. They were probably asking for it, by being there and not at home, cooking and cleaning and raising the kids like good mothers should. Management did nothing about the abuse. The union turned a blind eye to it. Josey, who had escaped here to her hometown of Eveleth from a violent marriage, couldn't remain silent any longer. She'd briefly met returned New York lawyer Bill White (Woody Harrelson) at her son Sammy's (Thomas Curtis) hockey game, but now she needed him to defend her rights. Women had rights against that sort of workplace harassment, didn't they? Like Anita Hill did, on the televised trials Josey saw every night. Something had to be done to stop it.

I suppose the first question that begs to be asked regarding this offering from director Niki Caro ('Whale Rider' (2002)) is why it's not a more accurate accounting of the actual, remarkably captivating ten-year Lois E. Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co. class action law suit that began in 1988, filed by Attorney Paul Sprenger after Lois Jenson had already endured thirteen years of abuse as one of the first of the original four women hired to work at that Mesabi Iron Range pit in Eveleth, Minnesota. 'North Country' clearly does remain somewhat true to the spirit of that ground breaking Sexual Harassment case, and acknowledges adapting journalist Clara Bingham's and lawyer Laura Leedy's co-written 2002 book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jensen and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law, but Michael Seitzman's and Leedy's screenplay heavily edits the events and changes all of the names in an attempt to personalize this real life court room drama of individual resilience towards justice against impossible odds, invasive humiliation and public ridicule. There's an entire back story of retaliatory torment that's completely ignored here. I guess someone threatened to sue. As it stands, this hundred and twenty-six minute film ends up becoming a far less riveting version of 'The Accused' (1988) meets 'Norma Rae' (1979), set against what someone who's been a Blue Collar factory worker (like me, for instance) would easily consider a fairly tame and unconvincing backdrop of a misogynistic work environment - even for 1989, when this movie's plot takes place. It does have several good things going for it, though. This main cast, led by Charlize Theron ('That Thing You Do!' (1996), 'Monster' (2003)) as Jenson stand-in struggling single mother Josey Aimes, is absolutely wonderful throughout. Theron and co-star Frances McDormand ('Fargo' (1996), 'Something's Gotta Give' (2003)) - whose role as Josey's hardened mentor Glory Dodge pays humble tribute to real life Lou Gehrig's sufferer Pat Kosmach - both absolutely shine here, effortlessly submerging themselves into their individually fascinating characters, with Richard Jenkins ('The Witches of Eastwick' (1987), 'Shall We Dance' (2004)) and Woody Harrelson ('The People vs. Larry Flynt' (1996), 'After the Sunset' (2004)) pulling in fairly strong performances. Some of the interwoven sub plots are also interesting, but that's primarily where 'North Country' sabotages itself more often than not. It runs soft and feels over-long. It doesn't go deep enough with the material. Along with seeing little more that a few rude words and some patronizing jeers from those roughnecks, deeply emotional scenes that should have been there simply aren't. The opportunity to fully examine the hypocrisies of male/female dynamics briefly skirted is wasted, and hints of underlying romantic interest never come to fruition in order to make this feature reach its obvious potential. The hard hitting stuff inevitably falls flat, due in large part to film editor David Coulson's uneven use of flashbacks. Ultimately, this one becomes an After School Special about a Mom making peace with her sullen teenaged son, instead of what it starts out as. Did Caro and crew lose interest? Sure seems like it. And, that's a shame.

Definitely check it out as a worthwhile rental for the great acting, but it's still not enough and you're likely better off reading the book to look for any lasting inspiration or satisfaction.

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The New World
REVIEWED 01/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Predominantly chronicling the nine-year span of time during the short life of Powhatan tribal Princess Matoaka (c.1595-1617) - whose name is never mentioned on screen, and is likely more well known by what was reportedly her childhood nickname, Pocahontas - beginning with the 1607 arrival of English colonists to the inland shores of Tenakomakah - an apparently expansive area now known as Virginia in the United States, where those eventually unwelcome European settlers built their surprisingly decrepit small fort called "Jamestown" - this extremely demanding and somewhat aggravatingly experimental Period romance from writer/director Terrence Malick ('Badlands' (1973), 'The Thin Red Line' (1998)) definitely takes its own sweet time at getting anywhere. The rather slow-as-molasses-in-winter pacing that does slightly make sense in the same manner that 'Master and Commander' (2002) tangibly illustrates the slothful passage of time at sea during that bygone era, is made even more exasperating here by this hundred and fifty-minute effort's relentlessly repetitive orchestral soundtrack. It's not pretentious per se, just imaginatively self-indulgent in a borderline flaky sort of way. That said, I truly wanted to become thoroughly amazed by the overwhelming poetic nature of 'The New World', since it's quite obvious from the first few scenes onward that an extraordinary level of attention to detail and self-discovery are afforded almost every richly textured visual. Scholarly film purists will probably love it, but I just couldn't ignore my numb tush during this arduous duration.

The heavy use of narrated internal monologues that pretty well sound like they were written by the House of Chanel for their latest perfume line also eventually ruined it for me, frankly. Yes, the over-all structure of this flick is fairly organic, artfully lingering within this visually stunning recreated environment long enough for a paying audience to fully drink it all in, but that's also its downfall. It becomes monotonous relatively quickly, regardless of this astounding cast's wonderfully believable performances. The acting truly is incredible - particularly from Colin Farrell ('The Recruit' (2003), 'Miami Vice' (2006)) as John Smith (1580-1631), Christian Bale ('Empire of the Sun' (1987), 'Batman Begins' (2005)) as John Rolfe (c.1585-1622), and this picture's debuting star, Incan descendant Q'orianka Waira Qoiana Kilcher ('How the Grinch Stole Christmas' (2000)) as the Aboriginal Princess whose lovely grace beautifully torments both men. Sure, it's tough to tell how much popular myth is perpetuated here - although, it's certainly not as blatant as seen in Disney's animated 'Pocahontas' (1995) - but Malick's screenplay really could have benefited from the presence of a certain amount of noticeably absent clues for an uninitiated audience wondering what the heck is going on at times. Like I'd mentioned, this one's definitely demanding and might require a bit of pre-screening homework if you're completely in the dark about that moment in history. The flavour of 'The New World' is obviously inspired by European Cinema and you'll either love it to bits as a masterwork of sheer genius, or you'll sit through it all 'til the closing credits roll and still be waiting for the actual movie to start.

If you're the least bit interested in checking it out for this great cast and the astounding scenery, I'd absolutely recommend that you see it on the big screen where they have comfy seats, but don't say I didn't warn you.


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Nanny McPhee
REVIEWED 01/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
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REVIEW:

Reportedly based on Malaya-born, former governess Mary "Christianna Brand" Milne's (1907-1988) children's book, Nurse Matilda (a set of three was apparently first published during the 1960's), this wonderfully weird kid's flick about frumpishly ogre-like and mysteriously magical Nanny McPhee (screenwriter/star Emma Thompson; 'Much Ado About Nothing' (1993), 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' (2004)) stepping in as rural British mortuary owner Cedric Brown's (Colin Firth; 'Bridget Jones's Diary' (2001), 'Where the Truth Lies' (2005)) last hope to tame his wildly unruly seven motherless young children is a simplistic yet over-all delightful morality play from acclaimed director Kirk Jones ('Waking Ned' (1998)). Quite frankly, I have no idea why I almost immediately fell under this ninety-eight minute movie's spell, because it bloats the big screen with otherwise aggravating Pantomime-like clichés - such as overtly theatrical caricatures chewing out their dialogue with boisterously affected accents and silly gestures - that would normally have me grinding my molars into nubby stumps long before the food fight and the happy ending. Yes, there's a food fight. And, there's a dancing donkey wearing people clothes who whistles a tune and blows kisses.

I truly should detest this one with a fiery passion that knows no earthly bounds, but sitting through the final cut with a matinee audience full of thoroughly mesmerized tykes, it becomes clear that 'Nanny McPhee' masterfully overwhelms you with unabashedly childish humour cleverly balanced by its rare sensible charm. Thompson's character is the key, entering the Brown children's riotously pernicious mayhem as the type of respectfully stern and patiently fair-minded authority figure that most parents probably wish they could consistently emulate. Unlike McPhee's vaguely similar, famed cinematic predecessor in Disney's 'Mary Poppins' (1964) - whose 1934 literary debut, by author Helen Lyndon "Pamela Lyndon Travers" Goff (1899-1996), may have inspired Milne's Matilda - this wart-faced and songless matronly caregiver doesn't pander to or coddle these devilish wee darlings, making this feature something that contemporary kids eagerly following along can tap into and enjoy as something fresh. Thompson's screenplay takes place in a slightly anachronistic bygone era, where Victorian work house orphanages and thatched roof country villages, horse drawn carriages and small parasols accessorizing large frilly gowns are the norm, but no specific time period for this fantasy is ever established. At the same time, it's fun seeing TV's 'Murder, She Wrote' (1984-1996) celebrity Angela Lansbury ('The Picture of Dorian Gray' (1945), 'Beauty and the Beast' (1991)) spouting Dickensian puffery as Cedric's rich In-Law, Great Aunt Adelaide, meddling with his family and pushing him to quickly remarry. Thomas Sangster ('Love Actually' (2003), 'Tristan & Isolde' (2006)) also pulls in a great performance as the Brown brood's precocious eldest, Simon, and first timer Raphael Coleman probably has one of the funniest scenes as Eric Brown, citing a thick book of fairy tales as hard evidence that stepmothers are wicked. The innocence of 'Finding Neverland' (2004) undeniably lives on here. Yes, there are a couple of slightly disturbing moments skirting the issues of death and suggested cannibalism (as a practical joke) here that some parents of very little children might consider inappropriate viewing, but none of it is depicted as blatantly morose or as (possibly) intensely scary as in 'Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events' (2005), for instance.

For young children and kids at heart, 'Nanny McPhee' is probably the best movie specifically intended for early pre-teens that's played in theatres in quite a long while and is well worth checking out.

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Night Watch
REVIEWED 03/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
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REVIEW:

Reportedly adapted from acclaimed Sci-Fi novelist Sergei Lukyanenko's hugely popular 2004 book, 'Nochnoi Dozor' (this film's original title) is the first instalment in the somewhat futuristic, supernatural adventures of Russian seer Anton Gorodetsky - an indoctrinated ground soldier of Moscow's City Light Company that has strictly policed an uneasy thousand year pact involving the hordes of witches, shape shifters and vampires who have sided with evil while walking amongst mortals - now battling to protect a twelve year-old Other named Yegor (first timer Dmitry Martynov) whose actions could bring to fruition an ages old prophecy of doom for the world, while a mysterious case involving unsuspecting yet cursed Dr. Svetlana Nazarova (Mariya Poroshina; 'Antikiller' (2002)) threatens to rip the city apart within a growing vortex of eternal darkness that has suddenly appeared above her modest apartment block.

Shades of several Hollywood movies are definitely evident throughout this 2004 subtitled flick, from 'Excalibur' (1981), 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1984), 'Willow' (1988) and 'Underworld (2003)', to the relentlessly ubiquitous Tech Fantasy genre milestones 'Blade Runner' (1982) and 'The Matrix' (1999). However, 'Night Watch' (its international title) manages to wonderfully combine the realm of folk lore and magic with a gritty alternative contemporary world of eerily familiar societal decay that's overrun by untempered capitalism and hyper surveillance, to create a captivatingly fresh version of dystopia that immediately envelops you and never ceases to amaze and surprise. Imagine if novelists Stephen King and William Gibson collaborated on a screenplay, and you'd be on the right track. Co-writer/director Timur Bekmambetov ('The Arena' (2001), 'Day Watch' (2006)) masterfully uses Anton (played by Konstantin Khabensky; 'Mekhanicheskaya syuita' (2001), 'Madagascar' (2005)) as your guide through the strange and oftentimes bizarre corners of this dangerous landscape, instilling a strong sense of wonder and dread at almost every turn while this personably gruff antihero is slammed around by his single-minded mission that's made even worse by a murderous vendetta involving the beguiling girlfriend of a particularly nasty blood sucker who nearly finishes off Anton half way through this visually astounding hundred and fourteen-minute escapade of mayhem and gore. One of the truly fascinating aspects of this feature is in how something as normally ordinary as the typography of the English subtitles creatively interact with what's happening in each scene, sometimes adding to the creepiness as well as beautifully augmenting the over-all mood. At the same time, some of the main story does become briefly mired in lost momentum whenever Bekmambetov and co-writer Laeta Kalogridis try to force things in certain directions by having somebody attempt to explain what you've already been able to figure out. It's nothing major though, and this capable cast pretty well remains in character. Sure, there are also a few goofy bits of irreverent humour thrown into the mix here, like when you see young Yegor sitting at home alone whittling a wooden stake while he watches an episode of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' dubbed in Russian on TV, or when a City Light Company van belches flames from its exhaust pipes and cleanly flips forward over a stunned pedestrian to continue careening through the night's streets, but these hilariously weird moments merely lend another memorably fun side to 'Night Watch' that's tough to avoid being impressed by.

Absolutely check out this hybrid horror picture for its stunning effects and creatively experimental story telling that hopefully carries over in its much anticipated sequels.

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The Notorious Bettie Page
REVIEWED 05/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

In an apparent attempt to clearly illustrate how dull leather bondage fetishism was in the mid-1950's, Gretchen Mol ('Celebrity' (1998), 'The Shape of Things' (2003)) stars as that era's hugely celebrated "sexual deviance" pin-up girl and Playboy Magazine's January 1955 Playmate of the Month Bettie Page (born Bettie Mae Page, in 1923) in this aggravatingly boring, childishly exploitative biopic from Canadian co-writer/director Mary Harron ('I Shot Andy Warhol' (1996), 'American Psycho' (2000)) that vacuously spans Page's life from her pre-WWII days as pious Nashville hometown debutante until the self-imposed end to her New York sex trade modelling career. Quite frankly, it seems as though the only reason that this ninety-minute, predominantly black and white 2005 movie exists is because Harron fell in love with the notion of exhibiting Mol trussed up in jet black S&M gear while playfully growling at the camera - not to seriously examine any tangibly captivating aspects of this famous bygone icon's personal or professional life. That realization becomes gruelingly obvious early on, when Bettie's first marriage is depicted as little more than a brief montage of superficial clips that do nothing for the story except push this character onto a Greyhound bus headed for Manhattan. Perhaps she was only married for a day - not a handful of years - and maybe something as inconsequential as a world war didn't touch her life in the slightest, as suggested here. The facts don't matter, right?

'The Notorious Bettie Page' quickly develops a bad habit of such glaring avoidance throughout, sheepishly alluding to Page's early years of existing under the thumb of her strictly religious mother and the pedophillic urges of her childhood friend's father, or teasing a paying audience about her otherwise failed yet decidedly normal work life as a part-time stage ingenue before becoming enticed to pose in what look like spine crushing corsets and sky scraping stilettos at Irving (Chris Bauer; 'Face/Off' (1997), 'High Fidelity' (2000)) and Paula (Lili Taylor; 'Ransom' (1996), 'Casa de los babys' (2003)) Klaw's photographic studio, without this screenplay bothering to take any of those comparably more interesting plot points any further. I'm not suggesting that the various examples of emotional intimidation and physical abuse that are touched upon here should have been played out in painfully graphic detail. It's not even clear if any of them are biographically reliable, but this picture definitely would have benefited from it presenting a few carefully placed moments where you're specifically shown how her reactions to what ever happened may have influenced her decisions. What goes on internally, while the three dimensional person dissolves in front of the camera to become the pretty faced fantasy girl snapping forward to wriggle out of her clothes, wiggle her tushy a few times, and play Dominatrix dress up for High Society perverts and soft porn Men's magazines? You're never told. The underlying events served up as anecdotal filler really should have been the overwhelming core of Harron and Guinevere Turner's script, but instead, it's pretty well taken for granted that you're simply sitting in the audience to mindlessly enjoy the few ogle sessions starring Mol's bared boobies and other bawdy parts. Yawn. This woman fell away from and then reclaimed her Christian beliefs during a time in American history when that was monumentally scandalous, but you'd think it was like changing socks for her, as presented here. The worst aspect is that 'The Notorious Bettie Page' is basically one big flash back sequence that's relentlessly interrupted by Art Director Thomas Ambrose's weird need to use cheesy Technicolor splashed scenes whenever Page leaves her monochromatic New York City sets for the sunny beaches of Miami. None of that visual trickery makes any sense - except as an unintentional acknowledgement of how hollow this film truly is - but, much of its dialogue and structure doesn't make a whole lot of sense either.

This lame Art House novelty act might be a fun curiosity in that there's not much story to get in the way of its superficial naughtiness, but it's hardly worth the price of admission and is horribly ignorant of the grown up story telling opportunities clearly afforded it from this real woman's fascinating life.

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Nacho Libre
REVIEWED 06/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
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REVIEW:

Fueled by an unsated childhood passion for wrestling and the poverty stricken reality of his small Mexican monastery of orphans' need for fresh food, church cook Father Ignacio (Jack Black; 'The School of Rock' (2003), 'King Kong' (2005)) secretly enlists the help of scrappy homeless scavenger Esqueleto (Héctor Jiménez; 'Mezcal' (2004)) as his tag team partner to fight as paid luchadores at the local ring, in this dubiously hilarious farce from co-writer/director Jared Hess ('Napoleon Dynamite' (2004)) that seems inspired by the real Reverend Sergio "Fray Tormenta" Benitez's life, where Ignacio dons the powder blue mask and stretchy pants of his alter ego, "Nacho Libre", that conceal his identity from his growing fans, as he impatiently craves the glory of finally winning any of those nightly matches and turning pro, while he yearns to impress his orphans' lovely new teacher Sister Encarnación (Anabell "Ana" Gardoqui De La Reguera; 'Un Secreto de Esperanza' (2002), 'Ladies' Night' (2003)). Admittedly, I was looking forward to this hundred and ten-minute flick that's essentially a blatant showcase for Black's stylishly bizarre sense of comedy. In that regard, "Nacho Libre" absolutely delivers whenever possible. Despite his horribly phony Mexican accent, Black is a force of nature throughout, frenetically pulling goofy faces and bursting into song with absolute perfect timing here. "The brothers think I don't know a crap load about the Gospel, but I do," is probably one of the funniest lines heard so far this year.

The problem is that Hess', Jerusha Hess' and Mike White's curiously mediocre screenplay unabashedly perpetuates so many negative stereotypes about Mexicans that it's tough for a paying audience to get past this story's underlying bigotry in order to thoroughly enjoy what plays out on the big screen. Black's phony accent is jarring at times, and director Hess' questionable need to present all of these characters as being lackadaisical simpletons ends up making you feel as though you're supposed to laugh at this culture and its people, not at what ever specifically comes from each punch line or quirky situation. It's disappointing and unnecessary. Sure, casting De La Reguera is definitely a stroke of genius, because her nature screen presence easily catches your breath in virtually every scene that she's in. However, this too eventually becomes distracting once it's made clear that De La Reguera really isn't given much to do here except smile beautifully. Director Hess still seems to be figuring out how to make movies that are more than trite novelties, while the camera's rolling. "Nacho Libre" ends up awkwardly straddling the chasm between being an experimental independent film of sketches that heavily relies on weird visual laughs spurred by a kind of freak show cameo mentality, and being a heavily hyped mainstream Hollywood box office contender that features a freshly entertaining series of events and that clicks along at a reasonably good pace. It becomes atrophied by that unsure duality, taking lazy detours through the dramatic bits so that the intentional hilarity can kick back into what passes for high gear. Most of those entertaining events consist of various stereotypical luchadores flinging each other around like rag dolls in the second act. If you hate wrestling, steer clear of this one. A few other briefly funny moments - that aren't linked to Black's hyperactive eyebrows - are curiously tossed in as throw away sight gags. The monastery's humourously gruesome Saintly statues. Candidia Ramon's (Carla Jimenez) secret tunnels. Héctor Jiménez's achingly mushy smile that resembles a split opened husk of mangled corn. They're small moments that are memorably delightful, but this picture continually suffers from overt bouts of disjointed story telling to the point where Black's irreverent strangeness almost acts as a stabilizing counter balance over-all. It falls apart, and finishes off with a cheesy closing moment that's outrageously anti-climactic.

Definitely check it out as a worthwhile rental if you're a big fan of Black, but trust that uneasy guilty feeling that 'Nacho Libre' is an aggravatingly unpolished joke full of untapped potential that's pretty well made at the expense of Spanish-speaking North Americans.

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The Night Listener
REVIEWED 08/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
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REVIEW:

Fourteen year-old AIDS patient Pete Logand's (Rory Culkin; 'Signs' (2002), 'The Chumscrubber' (2005)) horrifying autobiography, The Blacking Factory, about his childhood of sexual abuse and exploitation at the hands of his disturbed birth parents stuns and yet piques the interest of WNYH 'Noone at Night' radio personality Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams; 'Popeye' (1980), 'Mrs. Doubtfire 2' (2007)), in this intensely atmospheric picture from co-writer/director Patrick Stettner ('The Business of Strangers' (2001)) adapted from screenwriter Armistead Maupin's 2000 novel that's reportedly inspired by Maupin's six-year long distance friendship with Anthony Godby Johnson, teen author of Rock and a Hard Place: One Boy's Triumphant Story (1993), where Noone's slow suspicion that Logand and his tragic story are part of an elaborate hoax fabricated by Pete's blind adopted mother Donna (Toni Collette; 'The Sixth Sense (1999), 'In Her Shoes' (2005)) sends Gabriel on a strange investigation to rural Wisconsin and an unsettling truth. This one is tough to pin down and feels like an old episode of 'The Twilight Zone' at times, but it's always great to see Williams in a serious dramatic role that's challenging.

It's likely that a general paying audience will find most of this entire ninety-one minute film to be a challenge, too. That's partially because the subject matter revolves around a young survivor of pedophilia dying of AIDS who you're never really sure actually exists, and because 'The Night Listener' is predominantly dead pan and morose throughout. There aren't a whole lot of high points or laughs here, as Noone - devastated over the disintegration of his relationship with long time Gay lover Jess (Bobby Cannavale; 'Shall We Dance' (2004), 'Snakes on a Plane' (2006)) - becomes torn between wanting to believe and support Pete's sad tale set to prose, and questioning why nobody but Donna admits to ever actually seeing that deathly ill young man. Williams is incredible here, effortlessly projecting a heavy complexity while carrying the lion's share of this movie. Full marks also go to Collette, whose eerily enigmatic portrayal of Donna truly makes this effort an enjoyably fascinating screening from beginning to closing credits. However, it's full of false scares, heavily relying on the overwhelmingly creepy atmosphere that's captured by cinematographer Lisa Rinzler's lens and punctuated by Peter Nashel's soundtrack to keep you tuned in to what the script fails to fully embellish upon. This definitely isn't in the same realm as 'Misery' (1990), even though it attempts to give the impression that Noone's amateur sleuthing might lead to horror, as it becomes increasingly clear that Donna is mentally unstable and capable of anything. In that respect, as intriguing as it is, 'The Night Listener' suffers from a couple of major flaws. You're never really given a good enough reason to care about whether Pete is real or imaginary. There's nothing at stake, either way. In the actual case of Anthony Godby Johnson, celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Keith Olbermann reportedly put their reputations on the line with public endorsements and calls for support, despite never actually meeting Johnson except through telephone conversations apparently proven to have been faked. This feature doesn't have that same feeling of the truth mattering to Noone, except out of idle curiosity that becomes increasingly obsessive. The second flaw is that there's no tangible pay off. The underlying mystery remains only partially resolved, resulting in you being left with a handful of loose ends and the weird anecdote that Williams' character then relays to his radio audience.

Make it a second or third choice rental for the high caliber work from this impressive small cast, but 'The Night Listener' isn't a particularly satisfying story over-all.

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The Number 23
REVIEWED 02/07, © STEPHEN BOURNE
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REVIEW:

Weirdly serendipitous was what unassuming Department of Animal Control front line worker Walter Sparrow (Jim Carrey; 'Man on the Moon' (1999), 'Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events' (2004)) had thought of the first few chapters of The Number 23, the worn red covered, typewritten with hand drawn scribbles book that his wife Agatha (Virginia Madsen; 'Candyman' (1992), 'The Astronaut Farmer' (2007)) had spontaneously bought him for his birthday on that chilled and tumultuous night, but his curiosity about that Pulp novel's strangely provocative main character Detective Fingerling (Carrey) rapidly turns into an frightening obsession with seemingly coincidental numerology, in this surprisingly stylish yet flawed psychological thriller from director Joel Schumacher ('The Lost Boys' (1987), 'The Phantom of the Opera' (2004)) that feels slightly inspired by 'Memento', where, following Fingerling's initially perplexing encounter with a suicidal blond (Lynn Collins; 'The Merchant of Venice' (2004), 'The Lake House' (2006)) who insists that the number twenty-three has cursed her life, the brooding Detective's twisted relationship with kinky girlfriend Fabrizia (Madsen) is shattered by an insane crime of passion which far too closely resembles an actual unsolved murder that Walter's now dangerously fragile mind is compelled to solve at all costs. I hate to admit it, but this ninety-five minute cinematic puzzle probably would have been quite a bit more compelling if Jim Carrey hadn't starred in it. Yes, 'The Number 23' definitely has a lot going for it stylistically, and it's enjoyable watching how writer Fernley Phillips' contemporary homage to Film Noir and Raymond Chandler Pulp classics unravels throughout. Some of cinematographer Matthew Libatique's artful camera work is truly clever here.

Madsen and the strong supporting cast - including Logan Lerman ('The Butterfly Effect' (2004), 'Hoot' (2006)) as the Sparrows' precocious teenaged son Robin, Danny Huston ('21 Grams' (2003), 'The Constant Gardener' (2005)) in a dual role as Agatha's scholarly friend Isaac and the fictional Detective's serpentine Doctor Miles Phoenix, and Mark Pellegrino ('Mulholland Dr.' (2001), 'Capote' (2005)) playing the wrongfully convicted Kyle Finch - all make fairly memorable on-screen contributions here, by comparison. The problem is that Carrey's transformation from mild mannered nobody into what his role eventually becomes isn't believable enough to hold this movie together. His dramatic performance simply lacks a recognizable depth of from-the-gut street worn grittiness as Fingerling, as well as failing to subdue the expectations of a paying audience that Walter will exhibit a funnier kind of madness - like what was seen in 'Fun with Dick and Jane' (2005), or 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' (2004). Carrey doesn't bring it to the same level as his over-the-top humour. So, when lines are said, such as, "I'm a killer, I've killed someone," there's nothing tangibly convincing behind the words, even though most of what's unfolded in this story backs up the claim with graphic clarity. Dialogue that's intended to illicit grim meaning consistently falls flat. I kept forcing myself to look at this one as if it were a European flick, and that's probably why I managed to like the over-all look and pacing, but it was a conscious struggle from beginning to closing credits to forget the naturally comedic reputation of its star.

Check out this feature as a second or third choice rental for its slick look and enjoyably experimental construction, but there's a lot of mediocrity to slog through that probably isn't worthwhile if you're a fan of Jim Carrey's more notable dramatic films.

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