Movie Review: Colette

Colette (2019) 

Directed by Wash Westmoreland 

Written by Wash Westmoreland, Richard Glazier, Rebecca Lenkiewicz 

Starring Keira Knightley, Dominic West, Eleanor Tomlinson, Denise Gough

Release Date January 11th, 2019

Published January 12th, 2019 

Colette is a sexy, smart and informative story about a real life figure who deserves a proper remembrance. Sidonie Gabrielle Colette was incredible, a writer, an actress, a pure iconoclast in a time when iconoclasts were some of the most brave people on the planet. Those willing to stand up and be different faced jail, poverty, even death in Colette’s day, even in the supposedly freewheeling Paris of the 19th and early 20th century. 

Keira Knightley portrays Colette as a young woman who had the luck of actually falling in love with the man she was promised to. At the time, most people in Paris loved Henry ‘Willy’ Gauthier Villars (Dominic West). He was a massive personality. Willy was a cultural gadfly, a charming, thoroughly gregarious man of means who never failed to pick up a check and make eyes at every woman in the room, all part of endless cycle of marketing himself as a brand name writer. 

Willy wasn’t really a man of means however. He was actually mostly broke due to his dedication to drinking, gambling and his many attempts to impress women, including his beautiful, much younger wife. Desperately in need of more writing product in the pipeline, Willy finally turns to Colette, the one writer he doesn’t have to pay and won’t hold him up for a payday. When Colette delivers an immediate smash called “Claudette,” their problems should be solved. 

Colette however, isn’t interested in writing, especially in writing something that Willy would eventually take credit for. She wants to have her own life and as their two lives chafe against each other’s needs and desires, the story picks up into a whirlwind of sex and recriminations. When Colette falls for an American woman, Willy encourages it as a way to justify his own infidelity and as a cudgel to get Colette to continue writing. When he decides that he to must sleep with this woman, things begin to get nasty. 

Colette is an exceptionally well told story about young country girl, slowly becoming the woman she was meant to be. Keira Knightley is wonderful with her huge, expressive eyes and effortless wit, she brings forth a Colette that you could never doubt was meant to be a star. If there is one issue with Knightley’s performance it is that she is so much better than co-star Dominic West, an actor inferior in every way to Knightley. 

West’s performance works only in particular context. Willy is intended to be portrayed as a spineless shell and West definitely portrays that aspect. Unfortunately, he’s so lacking in every other aspect that I found it hard to believe that he was this beloved society gadfly. I especially found it hard to believe a woman as incredible Colette could stand this guy for more than a minute. We’d be talking about one of the best movies of 2018 if an actor half as talented as Keira Knightley were playing opposite her. 

Colette was directed by Wash Westmoreland whose previous film was also a showcase for an incredible leading lady. Westmoreland directed Julianne Moore in her remarkable Alzheimer’s drama, Still Alice in 2014. That film could not be any more different from Colette but, what they share is a dedication to showcasing a leading lady in a remarkable performance. Westmoreland has a tremendous eye for moments and both Still Alice and Colette have moments of remarkable power. 

Colette features a moment in which Keira dresses down West’s Willy so much you feel like the actor might not survive. Knightley’s fury is righteous and the emotion is a wallop. Knightley has been accused of being slight as an actress, a shot at her body type more than her acting in my opinion, but here, wow, she is ferocious. Her acting power is devastating and even though West is giving her little to work with, Knightley’s power still resonates. 

Colette is a brilliant showcase for an actress too often underestimated. I can’t claim to have always valued her but in looking back, I can’t think of a single film where she hasn’t impressed me. Even in her best known role, the Oscar nominated Atonement, I didn’t like the movie, but Knightley, I absolutely adored her. She makes movies less than her better and great movies like Begin Again or the criminally under-seen Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, she makes transcendent. 

The real life Colette was a remarkable woman, a brilliant bestselling writer and openly gay at a time when such things weren’t safe. In England she could have been prosecuted for living openly with the woman she eventually came to fall in love with and the two struggled in France, though less than they would have in other parts of the world at that time. Colette persisted and her talent won the day and the movie based on her remarkable life is a loving tribute. 

See Colette for Keira Knightley and appreciate Wash Westmoreland, a director who doesn’t work all that often but when he does, he knows to work with the right leading lady. 

Movie Review Hannibal Rising

Hannibal Rising (2007)

Directed by Peter Webber

Written by Thomas Harris

Starring Gaspard Ulliel, Rhys Ifans, Dominic West, Gong Li, Kevin McKidd

Release Date February 9th, 2007 

Published February 9th, 2007

Writer Thomas Harris is wildly popular and tremendously overrated. Though Harris is the creator of the iconic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, the character only gained its legend through the skilled performance of Sir Anhony Hopkins in 1989's Silence Of The Lambs. Harris has a taste for the macabre and knows how to set a gory scene but as demonstrated in Hannibal Rising, his true talent lies in cannibalizing his past success.

Hannibal Lecter (Gaspard Ulliel) lost his parents to world war 2; but lost his little sister Mischa to murder. Her killers were thieves and opportunists who also looted Hannibal's home after his parents death. Led by a vicious, cold blooded man named Vladis Grutas (Rhys Ifans), this brutish lout did unspeakable things to survive the war but what they did to Mischa is too horrifying to recount.

Vowing revenge on his sister's killers, Hannibal fought his way out of captivity in a russian orphanage and made his way to France where his uncle has passed away but left behind the last shred of family Hannibal has left. His aunt is a beautiful asian woman, Lady Murasaki (Li Gong) who immediately takes to the troubled young teen. 

Hannibal is quick to fall for his aunt and when she is insulted by a butcher at an outdoor bazaar, Hannibal takes a swift and horrifying vengeance. Thus begins the life of one of the most bloody and terrifying killers in history. As luck would have it, the men who killed Hannibal's sister happen to have come to France. What luck.

Directed by Peter Webber, who made the sumptuous period romance Girl With A Pearl Earring, Hannibal Rising is gorgeously crafted. The sets, lighting and period details are spot on. The problems lie in Thomas Harris' script, a truncated version of a book that was truncated in its own right. The story lacks depth, it lacks character detail. The entire story trades on the legend we know from Silence of the Lambs and our fascination with the Hannibal Lecter character created by Anthony Hopkins.

Young French actor Gaspard Ulliel struggles mightily in the role of young Hannibal Lecter. Because Hannibal Rising exists to cannibalize the legend of Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, Ullel is forced to suffer the comparison and he fails miserably. Ulliel is a slight, pale, almost ghostly presence who shows none of the charismatic menace necessary to bring the great Hannibal Lecter to life.

You can't blame the young Frenchman, he was in an untenable situation. No actor could have taken this role and made it work as it's written. This take on the life of Hannibal Lecter that attempts to take one of the screen's most terrifying villains and turn him into some comic book avenger hero, is a complete misfire. Part of the excitement and kink of Dr. Lecter was not knowing why he did what he did. That Lecter might kill a man for offending his taste is horrifying and exciting at once.

Rationalizing Hannibal and applying pseudo-psychology to his actions removes the kink that gave that edge to Hopkins' Lecter. Now, the easy response to that complaint is that this is not Hopkins' Lecter. My response to that is that if you make a Lecter movie it becomes about Hopkins' Lecter, especially when your story has little else to build around.

Hannibal Rising does a disservice to the legend of one of the screen's greatest villains. An almost whiny ringing of hands over the history of Hannibal Lecter, Hannibal Rising trades on the character's history at the expense of his legend. To fault Hollywood for grabbing at cash is a waste of time but when the artists start grabbing at the big money the way writer Thomas Harris has, that is when the art truly begins to suffer.

Movie Review Punisher Warzone

Punisher Warzone (2008) 

Directed by Lexi Alexander

Written by Nick Santora, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway 

Starring Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Julie Benz, Dash Mihok, Wayne Knight 

Release Date December 5th, 2008 

Published December 5th, 2008 

That sound you have been hearing for weeks as commercials aired for Punisher Warzone with the collective America all screaming "WHO" when the name Ray Stevenson was touted. Who the hell is Ray Stevenson? He was one of the stars of HBO's well respected series Rome.

Of course, that show never averaged more than 2 million viewers per airing in its two seasons and only 200,000 of those viewers are likely to be able to recognize good ol' Ray as Titus Pullo. So why does Lionsgate tout Ray Stevenson? Who knows.

They would have been much better off touting the film's extraordinary violence. Punisher Warzone cuts more throats, explodes more heads and spills more fake blood than any three of the Saw films combined. The perverse level of violence and the director's lingering camera as said violence commences reaches an almost entertaining level of kitsch.

Almost.

Ray Stevenson (Yes, that Ray Stevenson) stars as Frank Castle, an ex-special forces soldier whose family was killed in cold blood. Now he spends his days hunting the wicked and has set his sights on the local mob. Led by the sadistic Billy Russoti (Dominic West) this collection of mobsters are some of the most offensive goomba stereotypes in history.

Most of these Italian stereotypes are just cannon fodder for Frank who in the opening scenes swings into action slicing heads, necks and limbs. He is soon swinging upside down from a chandelier shooting a pair of guns that mow down a roomful of gangsters, murdering not just goombas but the laws of physics as well.

It comes down, of course, to a battle between Frank Castle and Russotti who by the end has been renamed Jigsaw, an affront to the exceptional baddie from the Saw movies. There are a couple of cops involved as well, Dash Mihok and Colin Salmon play a pair of the worst cops in movie history.

Director Lexi Alexander shows one thing in Punisher Warzone,  you don't have to be a man to record some seriously hardcore violence. Alexander in fact pushes beyond even her most perverse counterparts, leading one to wonder if her gender played a role in her choice to  include so much violence. If so, what was she trying to prove?

Punisher Warzone is violent in ways so outlandish you almost have to admire it. I don't admire it but I was mildly amused. Unfortunately, director Alexander fails to go for the full on kitsch and the movie bogs down when there isn't blood being spilt. That takes the film from so bad it's good to just plain bad.