Taking a 'time out' in Out Of Sight
Is there a more perfect courting/love scene in the history of cinema? Seriously, I can't think of one. After two bland movies (The Peacemaker and One Fine Day) and one disaster (Batman & Robin) Clooney landed the role of Jack Foley in Out Of Sight, the first of many he was 'born to play' but before he'd shaken off his tv doctor persona. When director Steven Soderbergh cast him opposite Jennifer Lopez (who herself was still a popstar playing actress) as Karen Sisko in this Elmore Leonard adaptation who could've know we were about to witness such a perfect storm of onscreen chemistry?
Lopez was elegant and energetic, full of sass and bristling sexuality. Clooney had an unassuming, charming cool about him and a streak of nervous playfulness. They shared just two moments of screen time together prior to this scene, the first a brilliant encounter in the trunk of the car where they speculate how unrealistic it was that Faye Dunaway and Robert Redford hook up so quickly in Three Days Of The Condor. The second was a frozen moment in the hotel elevator where Karen hesitates in arresting Jack, which he responds with a wave. Such connections reach beyond normal explanations Jack points out to Karen in the cocktail lounge where they meet:
"It's just something that happens. It's like seeing someone for the first time, like you could be passing in the street and you look at each other and for a few seconds there's a recognition, like you both know something. The next moment the person is gone and it's too late to do anything about it. And you always remember it because it was there and you let it go and you think to yourself what if I had stopped? What if I have said something. What if? What if? It may only happen a few times in your life."
KS: "Or once."
JF: "Or once..."
It's only then we notice David Holmes sensual score become prominent as Soderbergh begins to cut between the lounge and footage of their actual love scene. Moments overlap, glances are stolen and hands brush against body parts. They discuss their fantasy while acting it out, flirting with their words and their bodies – bittersweetness hangs throughout. Soderbergh keeps his camera unsteady, spying on them through the grainy lens as tiny freeze frames capture their dance. The scene is never gratuitous, refusing to revel in the flesh, eroticism purely by association. It is as close to perfection as it gets.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Classic Scene #5: "Can I buy you a drink?"
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Classic Scene #4: "I'm in my prime"
Doc Holliday shows off his shot glass skills in Tombstone.
Appaloosa is out this Friday in Australia and I haven't got to see it – being a huge fan of the Western genre I'm somewhat irked even though I've only heard middling things about this Ed Harris directed film. In meantime I thought I'd just throw out a scene from a film that may not be significant in the Western canon but is certainly a lot of fun and features a remarkable cast that includes Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday, Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp, Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton as Earp's brothers, Michael Biehn, Terry O'Quinn, and even Billy Zane is in there.
The scene in Tombstone that always sticks out in my mind is not the gunfight at the O.K Corral, which is great by the way and has some revisionist element to its execution, but the scene in which Biehn as Johnny Ringo and Kilmer as Holliday face off for the first time in the saloon where the Earps are running cards. The setting is about as far from Deadwood as you could expect, plenty of colourful 90s blockbuster glam in there, but what makes the scene is the pure charisma of Kilmer as Holliday.
The Clatons show up to warn the Earps about trying to enforce the law in Tombstone and instead it turns into a pissing contest in Latin between Ringo and Holliday as the two of the most reputed gunslingers in the west, "watch it Johnny, I hear he's real fast," warns Curly Bill (Powers Boothe). Ringo pulls his gun on Holliday, who doesn't react knowing that he's just posturing and showing off how fast he is, then does all manner of twirling and spinning impressing everyone in the crowd. There's great shot of Bill Paxton who's eyes can barely keep up with Ringo's gun.
After his display Holliday dissolves all the tension in the room and shows he has no need to rise to Ringo intimidation by showing his own skills spinning his shot cup on his finger before pretending to holster it. It's a great moment of humour, charisma, machismo and some downright cool gunplay. Val Kilmer completely steals this whole movie and really lays down one of my favourite portrayals of a Western icon. Check out the scene after the bump with a little translation from Google of their chat in Latin.
Doc Holliday: In vino veritas.
"In wine is truth"
Johnny Ringo: Age quod agis.
"Do what you do"
Doc Holliday: Credat Judaeus apella, non ego.
"The Jew Apella may believe it, not I"
Johnny Ringo: Eventus stultorum magister.
"Events are the teachers of fools"
Doc Holliday: In pace requiescat.
"Rest in peace"
Monday, March 2, 2009
Classic Scene #3: "It's pretty good isn't it"
'The Jaguar Shark' scene in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
I promise to run a scene that isn't a ending next time round, but the moments I found myself thinking about today were the huge spoiler scene in LA Confidential and the ending of The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004). Whilst The Royal Tenenbaums is easily be my favourite Wes Anderson film The Life Aquatic might be the one I hold dearest. Maligned and underappreciated on its release, this is a film that will reward those who return to it and could even be a most necessary film for anyone who finds doubt in their purpose or generally suffering from melancholic maladies.
Watching Life Aquatic the first time round I confess was roundly baffled by the point so close the movie itself skirted with meaninglessness in its whimsical meanderings, entertaining and colourful though they certainly were. I got that this was a Moby Dick parody about revenge and one man facing the reality that he is over-the-hill, broken both emotionally and in practicality, chasing little more than his own lost dreams. But until the end it all seemed somewhat hollow, all style and literally no heart only a malaise. Rarely have I experienced all the pieces of a character puzzle so subtly and melodically fall into place as the Life Aquatic's climactic scene, which took me to a place I never expected and landed a heart-rendering sucker punch squarely on my gut.
This is a fragile piece of cinema no doubt, a portrait that takes its time to unfold. Bill Murray was in a class of his own at the time, but the emotion he packs into a character so tired and so stiff totally sweeps me off my feet every time I see this scene. Upon finally discovering the Jaguar Shark deep in the ocean accompanied by his team, estranged-wife (Anjelica Huston), journalist (Cate Blanchett) and rival (Jeff Goldblum), Steve Zissou no longer wants to blow it up, "we're out of dynamite anyway," he quips. When he wonders out loud if the shark remembers him and the emotion squeezes its way onto his face we recognise a profound moment in this character's essence of being and the deep sadness that comes with the realisation of dreams that were never really about the object of the obsession, rather they are just the symbol of something much deeper and personal.
And all this occurs to the wonderful 'Staralfur' by Sigur Ross, a band whose musically I could quite fittingly lose myself for in eternity. Enough from me, check out the scene below and tell me what you think...
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Classic Scene #2: "What do you want?"
Okay, so we're starting back up Classic Scene here on Dark Habits and I thought given I'm still living in Australia I would cast an eye back to something with a bit of Antipodean flavour. Crocodile Dundee might not be a film many (any?) people consider a classic but I would argue that Paul Hogan's portrayal of exotic Aussie bloke Mick who's-one-with-the-bush is a caricature worthy of classic status. More than that even, Crocodile Dundee is also a bloody good love story half set in the home of the romantic comedy New York City...
No doubt most remember the scene in which Linda Kozlowski got attacked by the croc whilst wearing that slip of a swimming costume or perhaps Mick showing us what a real knife looks like, but for me it's the ending that gets me every time. Accompanied by a wonderful emotion score that never fails to carry me away in the moment underpinned by dramatic tension of potentially losing someone you care for without ever telling them you love them; it might be the stuff of Hollywood but damn if it isn't executed well here.
There's character arc in Kozlowski's Sue Charlton fighting off a harasser by kneeing him in the balls (check out the breakdancing who glides out the way in the background) and there's a genius subtle streak of comedy from the supporting players especially in the game of Chinese whispers. First the helpful concierge with that knife, and the New Yawk construction worker who gets to tell Mick he loves him, and then my personal favourite Sullivan Walker credited as Tall Man. When Sue answers his question "what do you want", he turns with a facial expression that speaks a thousand words for the briefest of moments that says 'this lady's crazy but I'm gonna to roll with it'. Finally, when he turns and asks "why not" he is the screenwriter's tool and the audience at once.
In a city like New York, where the personal and private becomes public the finale is all the more enriching for the shared experience. A moment on the subway when angry, sweaty and invaded commuters come together to the point which they will cheer and clap a guy in pointy leather boots walking across their heads.
Happy endings might often be the obvious endings, but sometimes they are also the perfect ones.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Classic scene #1: "But not a snitch"
A new series from Dark Habits. I thought about keeping it purely to classic monologues, and I think by and large I will try, but there's just so many wonderful moments, jokes, gestures and sequences in film history that I'd rather not limited the scope of discussion.
The first scene I've picked is purely because it is one of my favourites: Lt. Col. Frank Slade's (Al Pacino) character reference for the young Charlie (Chris O'Donnell) at the end of Scent Of A Woman (1992).
There's no doubt that Al Pacino chews up the scenery in this classic coming-of-age movie, but is there anyone on the planet that can chew it up quite as well Sonny? I don't think so.
From the moment he is rammed down our throats, Frank Slade sets a new bar for the definition of an asshole. Miserable, full of hate and anger, Slade rallies against everyone who comes his way. Charlie is the prep school boy charged with babysitting this big cry baby with a filthy mouth and bad attitude, for one weekend in New York City. Booze, hookers, fast cars and suicide are on Frank's mind, but Charlie has his own problems to deal with. On the verge of being kicked out of school, Charlie must decide whether to jeopardise his future or snitch on his classmates who have done something unbecoming of 'Bairdmen'.
The movie won Pacino his long-deserved Oscar even though it was almost certainly one of those awarded as career recognition – like Scorsese for The Departed. But I for one love seeing the old man flexing his chomps in outrage in this crowd pleasing finale.
Well, you don't need me to ramble on about it. Just watch for yourself:
