A Dark Place: Allegheny Andrew Scott

Donnie Devlin should have an advantage when it comes to sleuthing out people’s dirt. He is a garbage man. However, he does not inspire much confidence when it comes to deductive reasoning. You can use the politically correct euphemism of your choice, but he is who he is. Yet, for some reason, Devlin becomes obsessed with the death of a young boy in Simon Fellows’ A Dark Place, which opens today in LA and Chicago.

People make fun of Devlin all the time, but his daughter Wendy loves him, despite being an awkward tweener. Their mutual affection for the Steelers and the Penguins definitely helps. He still harbors romantic delusions regarding Wendy’s mom, Linda, who bitterly resents her fateful drunken hook-up with Devlin. Frankly, that is why it is so hard to buy into Devlin’s all-consuming interest in the premature death of a little boy on his route.

Nevertheless, Devlin becomes convinced there is something fishy about the lad’s drowning death. The comments of his grieving mother further stoke his suspicions. Plus, the lack of an autopsy and the thuggish efforts to warn him off totally signal foul play to any half-awake viewer. Honestly, the way everyone around Devlin buries their heads in the sand starts to really strain credulity.

There is one reason to see Dark Place and it is not the underdeveloped mystery of Brendan Higgins’ screenplay. It is Andrew Scott’s remarkable lead performance. Although the Irish actor is probably still best known for playing Jim Moriarty in the Cumberbatch Sherlock, he is totally convincing as a rust belt blue-collar worker with undefined disadvantages. It really is more of a character study and an acting showcase for Scott rather than a whodunit or a thriller.

Scott also has terrific chemistry with Christa Campbell as his on-screen daughter, which ironically makes it harder to buy into a lot of Devlin’s decisions. In fact, the big payoff the film supposedly builds to is a badly contrived train wreck of cop-outs. Yet, even at its best, Dark Place is an uncomfortable, angst-ridden viewing experience.

Scott’s work is truly award-worthy, but he is undone by Fellows’ slack execution and Higgins’ anemic narrative. As a film, Dark Place takes itself so seriously, it neglects its genre business, while having way too much skullduggery going on to function as a straight awareness-raising drama. It also demonstrates once again how hard it is for films to stick the dismount. Recommended only for Scott’s fans and friends, A Dark Place opens today (4/12) in LA at the Arena Cinelounge and in Chicago at the Facets Cinematheque.

King Lear: Modern and Quicker

The pseudo-historical Leir of Celtic Britain actually regained his throne with the help of the French and his youngest daughter Cordelia, but that was no fun for Shakespeare. Everything about his Lear had to be tragic. That makes it a heck of a role to play. When Sir Anthony Hopkins played “Sir,” the actor preparing to portray King Lear in The Dresser a few years ago, it probably gave a lot of people ideas that he makes good on now. Hopkins stars in Richard Eyre’s modernized and somewhat abridged King Lear (trailer here), which premieres on Amazon Prime this Friday.

It is a slightly dystopian Britain, but the narrative is still Lear. You know, one king with three daughters. He tries to divide his kingdom among the triumvirate, but the youngest daughter, who loves him best, refuses to play that game. A cold war quickly develops between the two ambitious sisters, egged on by Edmund, the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester. Right, that Lear.

For the most part, the stylized setting is rather effective. Eyre’s Lear often shares a kinship with Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus, in the way they depict modern warfare and a militaristic milieu. Plus, many scenes were shot in and around the imposing Dover Castle, which is quite a dramatic backdrop. However, the sequences of the mad Lear scuffling through an open-air shopping district feel like an ill-advised Beckett production.

Regardless, Hopkins is definitely a Lear to be reckoned with, encompassing all the bluster and tragedy that have made the character so iconic. Frankly, it is the Lear we would hope for and expect from him, but he also happens to be fronting an incredibly deep ensemble. You know it is a big cast when a knighted actor and a former Doctor Who appear rather late in the credits (Sir John Standing, memorably dignified as Gloucester’s Butler, and Christopher Eccleston as Oswald, Goneril’s steward).

Emma Thompson, Emily Watson, and Florence Pugh from Lady Macbeth are also arguably quite a dream team as the three daughters. Thompson is wonderfully Machiavellian as Goneril (a name that has fortunately fallen out of favor), while Pugh is quite poignant as Cordelia, but Watson’s Regan suffers when compared to Thompson. Andrew Scott continues to be one of the best character actors in the business with his intense turn as Edgar, Gloucester’s legitimate heir. However, the most likely award nominees should be the two Jims: Downtown Abbey’s Jim Carter as Kent and Jim Broadbent as Gloucester, both of whom give terrific, deeply absorbing performances.

Eyre’s adaptation is really quite faithful, shotgunning every notable plot point into one hour and fifty-five minutes. He also keeps the language and the general tone of Shakespeare’s play, while cinematographer Ben Smithard (whose classy credits include Viceroy’s House and I, Anna) gives it all a sinister sheen. It might be unusually svelte for a Shakespeare production, but it is still a very well-put-together package. Highly recommended, King Lear starts streaming this Friday (9/28), on Amazon Prime.

This Beautiful Fantastic: What Makes Your Garden Grow?

Plants are a lot like animals. Their only purpose is to be eaten. They’re just not as tasty. Yet, for some reason, grouchy old Alfie Stephenson enjoys looking at them in his backyard garden. He is so fauna-crazed, he rats out his oddball next door neighbor to their landlord for the poor state of her untended back plot. She has a black-death thumb, but the crusty old curmudgeon will eventually help her tame her unruly garden in Simon Aboud’s This Beautiful Fantastic (trailer here), which opens today in New York.

Growing up in an orphanage most likely caused Bella Brown’s poor social skills. The OCD and germaphobia developed on their own. In Brown’s case, they are so pronounced, the make everyday living a challenge. Of course, the last thing she wants to do is spend time out in dirty, smelly nature. Unfortunately, she will have to knuckle-down or be evicted. At least, she has some help. Stephenson’s former cook Vernon will feed her well and he will use his dishes to extort some gardening advice from the old grouch.

Of course, Stephpenson will eventually change his opinion of the awkward Ms. Brown. She in turn will take a liking to a similarly eccentric patron at the library, where her employment hangs by a thread. Billy the inventor also provides a seed of inspiration for the children’s book she always meant to write.

In some outlets, TBF has been billed as a fantasy, because Brown spins a yarn about a steampunky Da Vinci-esque mechanical bird, but that rather overstates matters. Nevertheless, it is quite remarkable how well Aboud (Paul McCartney’s son-in-law) minimizes the quirkiness in favor of dry British wit. Naturally, the crafty Tom Wilkinson is his key ally in this respect. As Stephenson, he perfectly lands each and every acerbic line and maintains his dignity during the scenes of melodramatic rapprochement.

Frankly, as Ms. Brown, Jessica Brown Findlay (the Downton Abbey sister who dies in childbirth) is much more closely akin to Ally Sheedy in Breakfast Club than Audrey Tautou in Amélie. On the other hand, Andrew Scott piles on plenty of ah shucks charm as Vernon, channeling the likable Irish everyman of films like The Bachelor Weekend rather than his villainous Jim Moriarty persona.

Yes, it is predictable, but TBF manages to be plucky without ant saccharine sweetness. Again, Wilkinson’s contributions towards this end cannot be overstated. His arch voiceovers are some of the best you will hear in a film all year. Recommended for anyone who wants some polite British comedy with their tea and biscuits, This Beautiful Fantastic opens today (3/10) in New York, at the Village East.

NYICFF ’17: Swallows and Amazons

The cheeky young characters of Arthur Ransome’s YA outdoors adventures were sort of like Tom, Huck, and Becky, if they had a taste for tea and crumpets. Every year, they summered in the Lake District, where they would descend into a state of Lord of the Flies barbarism, but always reverted back in time for their afternoon biscuits. They also try to foil the plans of a ruthless cell of Red Russian spies in Philippa Lowthorpe’s faithfully nostalgic adaptation of Swallows and Amazons (trailer here), which screens during the 2017 New York International Children’s Film Festival.

Father Walker is in Hong Kong tending to the business of empire. Mrs. Walker talks stern, but she is happy to let the Walker brood run rampant, courting death unattended. John Walker is the oldest and the four and therefore supposedly the responsible one. Two girls followed and then a relentlessly bratty young brother. (FYI, the second sister is called Tatty, but her name was spelled with an “i” in the books, leading to all kinds of awkwardness for modern classroom readings).

Both the anti-social Captain Flint and the two Russian spies barged into the Walkers’ train compartment during the trip up, but Mrs. Walker pays them little mind. However, as the Walker kids explore the terrain surrounding Lake Windermere, their paths cross with those of Flint, as well as the devious Lazlow and his henchman. Initially, Flint becomes John’s nemesis, but he will eventually conclude the supposed travel writer is one of the good guys. They will also contend with the Blackett Sisters for primacy on what they like to call Walker Island. Unfortunately, the townies are better sailors than John and therefore stand a better chance of maneuvering their boat, the Amazon around the Walker’s Swallow.

It is refreshing to see a film that unambiguously identifies the Russian spies as the villains. In this case, S&A earns bonus points for casting Andrew Scott, Sherlock’s Jim Moriarty, as Lazlow. However, the tone of the film definitely skews towards the youngster end of the spectrum. Frankly, a lot of those hopelessly dated Disney films Kurt Russell made as a kid have a more mature tone than S&A.

Still, it looks great. Cinematographer Julian Court and production designer Suzie Davies give it a classy period look and texture. As a result, it is definitely more cinematic than your average PBS Masterpiece production. Scott and Kelly Macdonald also soldier on like old pros as Lazlow and Mrs. Walker.

As a junior 39 Steps, S&A will probably charm its 6-12 target demo. It might also make parents wistful for a simpler time when they could turn their grade school children loose for unsupervised overnight sailing expeditions, without anyone lecturing them on their parental judgment. Recommended for young viewers (who are never too young to learn about the clear and present Russian threat), Swallows and Amazons screens this Saturday (3/4) and Sunday the 12^th, at the SVA Theatre, as part of this year’s NYICFF.

Denial: The Lipstadt-Irving Libel Trial

Thanks to New York State’s wise libel tourism laws, reviewers of this film can refer to “historian” David Irving as a holocaust denier secure in the knowledge New York courts will not honor any foreign libel judgments against them deemed inconsistent with our own First Amendment rights. One would think the ugly spectacle of Irving suing American historian Deborah Lipstadt, forcing her to prove the Holocaust happened would have created a groundswell for libel law reform, but alas, it did not. The high stakes court case gets the big screen treatment in Mick Jackson’s Denial (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Irving was once a semi-credible historian, who garnered some favorable blurbs before crossing over to the dark side. By the time Lipstadt’s book Denying the Holocaust was published, he was a fringe figure, but he still had a knack for garnering media attention. In a potentially devastating act of libel tourism, Irving sued Lipstadt’s British publisher, Penguin UK, in British courts.

In an American court, Irving would have to prove Lipstadt’s words were both defamatory and the product of demonstrable malice, but in Britain Lipstadt would have to prove they were justifiable. As a result, Penguin’s legal team, notably including barrister Richard Rampton QC and solicitor Anthony Julius (in/famous for representing Princess Diana), had the responsibility of proving the Holocaust really happened and Irving knowingly and deliberately twisted the historical evidence to the contrary.

Mindful of the David-and-Goliath symbolism, Irving opted to represent himself in court. Again, due to the perversities of the British system, this also gave him some advantages over as Lipstadt as one of the opposing counsel. Still, the old “fool for a client” adage hasn’t remained in this long circulation for no reason.

Denial is at its best when it really digs into the blow-by-blow details of the trial. Rather logically, all of the litigious Irving’s dialogue in these scenes is adapted verbatim from the transcript. Watching the crafty Rampton lure the over-confident Irving into various logical-historical traps is gripping stuff. Unfortunately, Lipstadt’s overwrought outrage almost becomes insufferable. She is an accomplished academic, but Rachel Weiss plays her like a shticky Queens caricature incapable of controlling her emotions or her mouth.

When Weiss shuts up, Tom Wilkinson carries the day, portraying Rampton with all his customary panache and gravitas—and then some. He exudes the intelligence and charisma of a barrister you would want to be represented by. Similarly, as the Holocaust denier, Timothy Spall is aptly wily and sinister, in a tweedy British sort of way. Frustratingly, the terrific Irish character actor Andrew Scott (Jim Moriarty in the Cumberbatch Sherlock) does not have much to do as Julius except trying to rein in Lipstadt.

When it is smart, Denial is an intense and insightful film. When it is emotional, it gets a bit dumb, which goes to show the principles for success are not that much different on film than they are in the courtroom. Fortunately, old pros like Wilkinson and Spall keep things crackling. Recommended overall, Denial opens this Friday (9/30) at the Angelika Film Center downtown and the AMC Lincoln Square uptown.

Tribeca ’14: The Bachelor Weekend

Ever noticed how those crunchy granola camper types are lousy in a crisis, especially in the great outdoors? If you ever have an emergency in the forest look for the city guy. Oh, but “The Machine” is something else entirely. Outdoorsmen and urban sophisticates alike will shrink before his chaotic power in John Butler’s The Bachelor Weekend (a.k.a. The Stag, trailer here), which screens during the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

Fionnan is sort of a Groomzilla. Finding him bizarrely interested in their wedding details, Ruth the bride-to-be presumes on best man Davin to take him on a stag camping getaway. Although Davin knows his chum is hardly the outdoorsy sort, he complies anyway. After all, as everyone but Fionnan knows, he also once went out with Ruth and never really recovered when she dumped him.

However, both men utterly dread her borderline psychotic brother, known simply as “The Machine.” They try to make it look like they have invited the hard-charging U2 fanatic, while holding back key info, like where and when. Nonetheless, The Machine still manages to find his way to the party, arriving in a wickedly foul mood. Let the celebration begin.

Weekend is not exactly a staggeringly original concept, but it is considerably gentler and less raunchy than The Hang-Over franchise and its copycats. Even The Machine turns out to be a reasonably grounded character. In fact, Butler and co-writer Peter McDonald (who also co-stars as the prospective brother-in-law from Hell) pull a bit of jujitsu, shifting viewer sympathies from the uptight Fionnan to the madly roguish The Machine.

Frankly, the biggest question Weekend answers pertains to Andrew Scott’s viability as a comedic leading man. Best known as Jim Moriarty in PBS’s Sherlock (and one of the memorable voices calling in during Locke), Scott fares rather well as Davin. He brings a sad dignity to the film that holds up quite nicely over time. McDonald brings the heat as The Machine, but also throws an effective curve ball or two in the late innings. In contrast, Hugh O’Conor is annoyingly nondescript as Fionnan.

From time to time, Weekend offers some humorous commentary Irish cultural identity amid the bromance. It is good-hearted and reasonably amusing, but not earthshakingly memorable. A pleasant diversion, The Bachelor Weekend screens this coming Tuesday (4/22), Wednesday (4/23), Thursday (4/24), and Sunday (4/27) during this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.