Mamet is such a distinctive writer. His dialogues have a strange stilted repetitive stagey cadence that stand alone. Movies become theatric exercises.
People sound like they are reading off cards.
Macy and Montegna are always there, much like Scorsese uses his troop constantly. These plays are always very earthy and are always about people involved in cons or conning themselves. Yet the earthiness is always twilight-zone off somehow, as though we are in a special zoo designed for humans on a different planet, a theme I have seen covered in several other movies.
The actors are here but they aren't here at all in their heads. The off center ideation and skewed plotlines, enhanced by the stilted dialogues, create this effect.
Edmond is another tone piece. A frustrated man dumps his wife and heads out into the city with nowhere to go, and gets sucked more deeply into a violent nothingness. It concludes with the stated speechy idea that our fears conceal our deepest wishes, what we fear is what we devoutly want, that perhaps animals are the alien godlike guardians sent here to protect us, and before crawling into bed with his prison other-race omni-sexual bunkmate, who threatened to kill him on first meeting, they now exchange a tender goodnight kiss.
This will remind some of you of After Hours, Scorcese's odd 1985 film. Or maybe Rosenfield's Twenty Bucks, based on a film from the 30's I forget the name of.
It's surprising lack of predictability is an asset, and if you are into the Mamet, Macy, Mantegna thing, you've got your cup of tea. Bokeem Woodbine brings an interesting presence to this creation.
I always check out Mamet stuff because I think he's brilliant, a sort of modern Franz Kafka. Glengarry is my favorite. This may be his most derivative movie, but possibly also his strangest.
People sound like they are reading off cards.
Macy and Montegna are always there, much like Scorsese uses his troop constantly. These plays are always very earthy and are always about people involved in cons or conning themselves. Yet the earthiness is always twilight-zone off somehow, as though we are in a special zoo designed for humans on a different planet, a theme I have seen covered in several other movies.
The actors are here but they aren't here at all in their heads. The off center ideation and skewed plotlines, enhanced by the stilted dialogues, create this effect.
Edmond is another tone piece. A frustrated man dumps his wife and heads out into the city with nowhere to go, and gets sucked more deeply into a violent nothingness. It concludes with the stated speechy idea that our fears conceal our deepest wishes, what we fear is what we devoutly want, that perhaps animals are the alien godlike guardians sent here to protect us, and before crawling into bed with his prison other-race omni-sexual bunkmate, who threatened to kill him on first meeting, they now exchange a tender goodnight kiss.
This will remind some of you of After Hours, Scorcese's odd 1985 film. Or maybe Rosenfield's Twenty Bucks, based on a film from the 30's I forget the name of.
It's surprising lack of predictability is an asset, and if you are into the Mamet, Macy, Mantegna thing, you've got your cup of tea. Bokeem Woodbine brings an interesting presence to this creation.
I always check out Mamet stuff because I think he's brilliant, a sort of modern Franz Kafka. Glengarry is my favorite. This may be his most derivative movie, but possibly also his strangest.