Movie Review: Blood and Chocolate

Blood and Chocolate (2007) 

Directed by Katja Von Garnier 

Written by Ehren Kruger, Christopher B. Landon 

Starring Agnes Bruckner, Hugh Dancy, Olivier Martinez

Release Date January 26th, 2007

Published April 15th, 2007

Agnes Bruckner is a big favorite in the geek community. Her horror movie resume including the cullty, Lucky McKee movie The Woods and the 2005 bomb Venom, have helped her garner her own minor cult. With the wide release of the werewolf flick Blood and Chocolate Bruckner has her highest profile role to date. If only it were a better movie.

Unfortunately for Ms. Bruckner, Blood and Chocolate is more notable for it's goofy title than for it's PG-13 scares.

Vivian (Bruckner) is destined to be the leader of her clan, whether she wants to be or not. As a big anniversary approaches, Vivian is awaiting word of her fate from Gabriel (Olivier Martinez), the current leader of her clan, as to whether she will become his wife. Vivian is a lugaroo, better known as werewolf and according to prophecy she will lead them back to a prosperous existence out of the shadows.

Vivian could care less about prophecy. She has no taste for the hunt and absolutely no interest in be married to Gabriel. Nevertheless, Vivian seems resigned to her fate until she meets Aiden (Hugh Dancy), a writer who arrived in Bucharest to write a graphic novel about the legends of the lugaroo. He believes that the lugaroo are extinct but were at one time a noble race that lived at peace with non-werewolves.

He has no clue that Vivian is a lugaroo and she has no intention of telling him but when his stories get back to Vivian's clan they fear she has told him their secrets. When the clan decides they must kill Aiden to protect their secrets; Vivian must decide between her budding new romance and the legacy of her family and what is perceived as her destiny.

Director Katja Von Garnier is a talented artist whose American debut, the HBO TV movie Iron Jawed Angels, was an accomplished, in depth portrait of the birth of American feminism. A werewolf movie is indeed a bit of a departure but there is a slight feminist undertone to Blood and Chocolate, it's only a touch the girl power, pop feminism of the Spice Girls variety, but it's there.

Like most pop entertainment of the PG-13 variety, Blood and Chocolate is better at referring to depth than it is at exhibiting it. Whether it is passing glance at feminism or an averted gaze at literary classics  like Romeo and Juliet, Blood and Chocolate is puddle deep with lake ambitions.

Agnes Bruckner definitely has star quality but she needs to find better roles. She was terrific in the indie drama Blue Car but has since drifted to teen horror films, The Woods, Venom, that are serving to type cast her as a horror film hottie. While she can continue to get steady work in this genre for years, based on the small cult that has embraced her, she has the talent to work beyond mindless pop entertainment like Blood and Chocolate and should move on soon.

The other star of Blood and Chocolate is not Hugh Dancy or Olivier Martinez, two nice looking but innocuous actors, it's the city of Bucharest Romania. Though the name is not exactly pretty, the city is exceptionally filmable. With it's gothic architecture and ancient churches Bucharest has an eery beauty that is both inviting and menacing.

It helps that it's also one of the cheapest places in the world to film a movie, thus why dozens of Hollywood features have fled to Romania in recent years.

So what about this odd title, Blood and Chocolate? Well, Bruckner's Vivian works in a chocolate shop. Sadly, the title has no relation to the classic Elvis Costello tune of the same title. And that is where the title significance ends. All part of the odd soft headed hodgepodge that is Blood and Chocolate yet another mindless, PG-13  pop horror confection.

Movie Review: The Woods

The Woods (2006)

Directed by Lucky McKee

Written by David Ross

Starring Agnes Bruckner, Patricia Clarkson, Bruce Campbell, Rachel Nichols

Release Date September 26th, 2006 

Published December 29th, 2006 

Lucky McKee's debut feature May should have made him a star director. With rave reviews from Roger Ebert, Ainitcoolnews and several other high profile outlets the film had killer buzz and somehow never made it past a couple hundred theaters. The botched release of May did no favors for McKee's follow-up a boarding school set creepfest called The Woods.

Havng been completed in 2004, the film was shelved when M. Night Shyamalan briefly considered the title The Woods for his own film which later changed to The Village. The Woods ended up temporarily without a studio home until MGM snapped it up. Then the film was lost in that company's collapse. Two years later the film is now found dumped unceremoniously on DVD and another brilliant example of talent of Lucky McKee goes unnoticed.

Agnes Bruckner (Blue Car) stars in The Woods as Heather a troubled teen who finds herself being dumped into a creepy all girls school after she nearly burned her house down. The Falburn Academy is located in the middle of a forest that has a creepy legend attached to it. It is alleged that some years ago three girls were found in that forest and taken to the school. There; the girls were suspected of being witches and were subjected to horrible taunting.

Somehow, after escaping back into the woods, the three girls turned their classmates into their co-conspirators and returned to the school late one night to murder the headmistress with an axe. Even before hearing this legend; poor Heather has seen this story play out in her dreams. Heather isn't the only one hearing voices; her bitchy rival Samantha (Rachel Nichols) and her only friend Alice (Emma Campbell) hear them as well.

All of this is somehow tied to the creepy faculty lead by headmistress Ms. Traverse (Patricia Clarkson). The headmistress pulls Heather and two other scholarship students out of class often to work privately. These private lessons often lead to inexplicable supernatural occurances all of which are somehow linked to the legend of the woods that surround the school.

The story of The Woods is rather convoluted and often misunderstood. Working from a script by David Ross, director Lucky McKee seems far more interested in his directorial toys than with telling a creepy compelling story. The difference between the Lucky McKee of May and the Lucky McKee of The Woods is this time McKee did not write the script. First time screenwriter David Ross has a good sketch of a horror movie idea but it never comes together.

This may be why McKee throws himself so much into the technique of filmmaking and ignores some story aspects. There are gaping holes in this plot and occasions when the younger actresses, Agnes Bruckner especially, seem lost. That is as much McKee's fault as Ross's

There is no denying that McKee's direction is first rate. The look he achieves for the film, with the help of cinematographer John R. Leonetti, eerily evokes the 60's and 70's work of Dario Argento and Roman Polanski. Pay close attention to the clever and creepy way McKee uses sound in The Woods. Listen to how certain effects are used, how footfalls are occasionally louder than need be, the way wind and rustling leaves so deftly mix with the film score. Sound design is an underappreciated art but in the hands of a master like Lucky McKee it certainly gets its due.

Kudos to Lucky McKee for hiring Bruce Campbell to play Heather's father. Just when you think its only a cameo, McKee brings the greatest B-movie actor alive back into the action late in the film. If only he had access to a chainsaw; I might have found fanboy nirvana.

The one actor who thrives in The Woods is Patricia Clarkson whose perfectly measured gentility never boils over into cackling villain overkill. Clarkson's headmistress is far more intriguing for being serene and eerie and that is just how Clarkson plays it. The oscar nominee brings gravitas to an otherwise B-movie cast and her presence raises the level of the actors around her.

The Woods is a rare example of how great direction can be a form of popcorn entertainment. For fans of the techniques of filmmaking a movie like The Woods is as enjoyable as any average good movie. Lucky McKee's little filmmaking touches, his use of sound, his evocative visuals, his numerous homages to genre veterans, all of these things are so clever and entertaining that I can forgive the rather mundane story he's telling.

Not nearly the masterpiece that was May, The Woods is an example of the talent and potential of Lucky McKee. He should probably stick to self generated material from now on in order to keep himself interested in all aspects of filmmaking. His storytelling in The Woods suffers mostly for lack of attention as much as not having great material to work from.

Flawed but still quite engaging, I am recommending The Woods but be sure to see May first. That way you will have a full understanding of just how talented Lucky McKee really is.

Movie Review Murder by Numbers

Murder by Numbers (2002) 

Directed by Barbet Schroeder

Written by Tony Gayton

Starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Gosling, Michael Pitt, Agnes Bruckner, Ben Chaplin, Chris Penn

Release Date April 19th, 2002 

Published April 18th, 2002

Director Barbet Schroeder began his career as one of the leaders of the French new wave in the 1960's. Writing for Cahiers Du Cinema, Schroeder expounded a style-over-substance approach, a free form of filmmaking that was about artistry more than story and character. Since coming to America in the early 70’s, Schroeder's style has become much more generic. It’s been mostly straight thrillers with conventional thriller plots and characters that, while proficient, weren't the genre busting style he had developed early in his career. Murder By Numbers is Schroeder’s latest by-the-numbers thriller that, while proficient, isn't Earth shattering.

Sandra Bullock stars as a hardass detective investigating an unusual murder that seems to have no motive. What Bullock and her partner, played by the personality challenged Ben Chaplin, don't know is the murder was committed as part of a suicide pact between two overpriveleged teens who thought it would be fun to try to commit the perfect murder. The teens, played by Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt, gorge themselves on forensic science books and the study of investigation, careful not to leave any clues. Of course what fun is committing the perfect crime if you can't take credit for it, so the boys begin to tease the detectives by dropping little hints, all the while setting up someone else to take the fall. Gosling's character, while not wanting to go to jail, still would like to be acknowledged for his brilliant scheme while Pitt quarrels with his own guilt.

The plot is strong but the characterizations are a little thin, especially Bullock who delivers a good performance but her character seems somewhat hard to believe in the muddled narrative. She's supposed to be this tough cop who other cops think is one of the guys yet at the same time she is intimidated by Gosling, who is not exactly menacing. The motivation for her being intimidated is explained later but by then it has already disrupted the characterization and rendered her unbelievable.

The standout is Michael Pitt who is on his way to an Oscar nomination with previous performances in Hedwig & the Angry Inch and Bully. He is building quite a resume with Murder By Numbers, an effective foray into the mainstream. The film itself could have benefited from being a little less mainstream, a little darker. As it is, it comes off a little too slick and somewhat shallow. Murder By Numbers is an okay film but it’s best to wait to be seen on DVD.