Dark Places (6/10): It's no Gone Girl, but still a decent mystery thriller

“The truly frightening flaw in humanity is our capacity for cruelty - we all have it.”

I have a soft spot for mystery films where the audience is kept in suspense and has to try to figure out who committed the crime. Dark Places is such a film. What drew me to this film however wasn’t the genre nor the fact that Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult were going to be in this movie together again after their success in Fury Road, but that the screenplay was adapted from Gillian Flynn’s novel of the same name. Gone Girl was one of my favorite films of 2014 and I loved Fincher’s direction in that film, but above all I thought the screenplay was the best that year. Dark Places was written prior to Gone Girl, and there aren’t as many twists here, but the story still manages to captivate you and leave you in suspense. Dark Places was directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner (Sarah’s Key) and he also adapted the screenplay. The film is flawed and the voice over narration doesn’t work at all, but the story is what kept me interested along with the strong cast. The cinematography is dark and it helps build the overall atmosphere of the movie as the story jumps back and forth from past (a day in 1985 when a horrible crime was committed) to present. The ending was a bit of a letdown, but I enjoyed the fact that I was continuously guessing who the murderer might be up to the final act. 

Libby Day (Charlize Theron) was only seven when her mother and two sisters were brutally murdered in their Kansas farmhouse. She managed to escape and all signs seemed to indicate that her brother Ben (Tye Sheridan) was the murderer. She even testified in court that her brother was responsible, and now 25 years later she continues to be haunted by her past. She’s lived off the life insurance money and donations that many caring people have donated to her, but that money is all gone now and her depression hasn’t allowed her to move on with her life. When a young man named Lyle (Nicholas Hoult) offers her some money to come visit their club, “The Kill Club” she decides to go. They explain to Libby that they are a group of amateur investigators who like to explore unsolved cases. They are convinced her brother is innocent and they offer her more money to begin investigating what happened that tragic night. It’s not easy for Libby to revisit these dark memories of her past which have haunted her, but she begins by visiting her brother in prison (now played by Corey Stoll). He reminds her of some events that took place during that time and as she begins to investigate we are introduced to several flashbacks of what actually happened. Libby’s mother is played by Christina Hendricks, her father by Sean Bridgers, while Chloe Grace Moretz plays Ben’s love interest during the flashback scenes.       

This is a strong cast for a film directed by a relatively unknown director, but considering Gone Girl was such a success I’m sure they were all excited about being a part of this film. Tye Sheridan and Chloe Grace Moretz are two of my favorite young teen actors working today. Unfortunately they don’t get much to do with their characters here. The stand out for me was Christina Hendricks who delivers a solid performance as this single mother of four who is trying her best to keep up float. Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult are also solid, but their performance doesn’t even come close to what they did in Fury Road. The flashback scenes were the highlight of the movie for me, and I didn’t care too much for the present investigation so that might be a reason why I wasn’t blown away by either of Theron or Hoult’s performances. Dark Places isn’t as tightly constructed as Gone Girl and the characters aren’t as interesting, but the mystery still had me engaged during most of the film’s running time. In a better director’s hand this film could’ve been great, but it still managed to be slightly entertaining. 

Lost River (5/10): Gosling's ambitious directorial debut doesn't reach the high standards he was setting for the film.

“The wolves... if they're not already at your door... they're gonna be there very efin soon.”

Lost River has the potential of becoming a cult film in a few years because it is very artistic and far from being a mainstream movie due to its lack of a cohesive narrative structure and its nightmarish atmospheric approach. Ryan Gosling, who is one of my favorite actors, is the writer and director of Lost River, and for a first feature film I must say that he aimed extremely high. He borrows heavily from directors he’s worked with in the past or that he’s admired, so you can see some heavy influences from Refn, Noe, Cronenberg, and perhaps even more from David Lynch. These aren’t directors that are easy to imitate and therefor Gosling struggles to find his own voice although the result is rather unique. Being an actor that many people like the easiest thing for Gosling would’ve been to direct a mainstream film, but I give him credit for trying to make an artistic film that will be appreciated by a select group of people. I didn’t have any funny watching Lost River, but I did find some of the nightmarish scenes quite disturbing so it isn’t one of those movies you easily forget about. I’m not a fan of surrealism so I’m not the greatest judge for a film like this, but I think that it will find its audience with fans of movies like Enter the Void, Under the Skin or any of Lynch’s films. What Rosling is trying to get at under all the heavy imagery he uses is the desolation that the American Dream has on some people when its not achieved.

Perhaps the most difficult thing to do in a review for a film like this is write a plot summary because it would be easy to confuse the reader and make them believe there is some sort of narrative structure to the movie when in reality it’s more about setting a dreamy atmosphere. The story takes place in a fictional town named Lost River where most of the people have abandoned the place after a nearby flood destroyed the city. It is actually filmed in an abandoned town in Detroit and Gosling experiments by having some residents interact with the actors in a couple of scenes. A young teen named Bones (Iain De Caestecker) dreams of leaving the city knowing there is no future there, but his single mother, Billy (Christina Hendricks), refuses to leave the place where she grew up in. Billy is behind on the payments of her home however, and she is forced by a banker named Dave (Ben Mendelsohn) to accept a job at this sort of dark underground freak show that he owns. Bones’ neighbor, Rat (Saoirse Ronan), who lives with her mute widowed grandmother, tells him that the flood has left a spell on the town and that is why everyone behaves so strange in this city. The streets are owned by a violent man known as Bully (Matt Smith) who Bones gets into trouble with. Meanwhile Billy is introduced to the dark underworld where she works where audiences seem to have a fascination for gore. There she meets one of the performers, Cat (Eva Mendes) who shows her how the place works. The film basically follows these characters and introduces us to the nightmarish town accompanied with a vibrant electric score and neon lights. 

The performances in Lost River are solid with Ben Mendelsohn standing out as you can tell he’s having a lot of fun with his character. The film might be all over the place at times, but the talented cast delivers. Iain de Caestecker is the lead actor and his scenes were probably my favorite when it focused on his relationship with Rat and the tension between his character and Bully. Matt Smith is also having a lot of fun with his character and despite not being as menacing a villain his wacky and violent behavior is always hard to predict. As much as I enjoyed Christina Hendricks in the female lead role, the scenes of the dark underworld took me completely out of the movie. It was a freak show that I didn’t care for very much. Reda Kateb has some interesting scenes playing the nice cab driver. There is one scene where he talks to Billy about the American dream which is sort of the underlying message of the film. Overall I felt the movie didn’t balance the two main stories very well and there were scenes that felt disconnected with the rest of the film. Lost River isn’t an easy watch but I still admire Gosling’s effort.

My Review: Detachment (8/10)

¨A child's intelligent heart can fathom the depth of many dark places, but can it fathom the delicate moment of its own detachment? ¨

Detachment is a very interesting film although I wouldn’t say it`s entertaining. It raises a lot of questions and social issues without giving many answers, but it does make us aware of many problems that our society is facing when it comes to the educational system and parents lack of involvement in it. I thought Detachment was a beautiful film and despite it being a narrative it didn’t seem like one; it is sort of poetic at times and has some great use of imagery. Adrian Brody is such a talented actor, and despite winning the Oscar for his brilliant work in The Pianist, I think he is very underrated in Hollywood. He is so good in this movie, and in my opinion it`s his best performance since The Pianist. He was one of the reasons why I wanted to see this film; the other being that it was directed by Tony Kaye, the man responsible for American History X, which is on my list of favorite films. His films are powerful, thought provoking, and Detachment is not the exception. He can make memorable films although you wouldn’t necessarily call them entertaining. In Detachment we are introduced to a very common problem: education. Kaye makes us wonder whether or not education is the teacher or parent`s responsibility. Probably both, but unfortunately neither seem to be doing a great job and our society is losing its educational battle. Kids seem to find values somewhere else and base their self worth on what their friends think of them, meanwhile parents and teachers seem to do nothing about restoring their value. Parenting and teaching are great responsibilities, and as Brody says in one of his monologues in the movie there should be prerequisites to parenting and not anyone should be allowed too.

Adrian Brody plays a substitute teacher, Mr. Barthes, who believes he has the perfect job because he doesn’t have to carry the burden of identifying or carrying for his students. He can travel from one school to another. He is a lonely, quiet, and sad man who doesn’t like attaching to anyone. He seems to have some disturbing memories about his past and doesn’t like to talk about his problems so traveling from place to place is a good way to remain detached to society. His life will change when he gets his latest assignment at a very problematic school run by Principle Carol Dearden (Marcia Gay Harden). The students in this school give the teachers a very hard time and many of them seem to be going through a living hell. Mr. Barthes identifies with some of the teachers and students here. Mr. Seaboldt (James Caan), Ms. Madison (Christina Hendricks), Ms. Perkins (Blythe Danner), Mr. Wiatt (Tim Blake Nelson), and Dr. Doris Parker (Lucy Liu) are all part of the school faculty and all seem to be going through some sort of personal hardship. Mr. Barthes begins to identify himself with some of these people like Ms. Madison who seems as lonely as he is. He also begins to give special attention to one of his students named Meredith (Betty Kaye) who despite being talented doesn’t really value herself. Another person who begins to influence Mr. Barthes is a young hooker named Erica (Sami Gayle) who he picks up from the street and begins to care for as a child. As much as Barthes wants to remain detached to people he begins to identify with many of them and without realizing it attaching to them.

Detachment has a great cast. As I mentioned before this is Adrian Brody`s best work since The Pianist, but I also have to give a lot of credit to young Sami Gayle who delivers a powerful performance as the lonely hooker who is taken advantage of and really has no self worth whatsoever. Director Kaye seems to raise this issue quite a bit since there are many characters who have little or no self value and in a way Brody`s character tries to teach them that they have value and don’t have to live based on the expectations or values given to them by others. James Caan and Christina Hendricks also give believable performances as part of the faculty. They are very different in character, but I think we all can identify them to some of the teachers we`ve had in the past. There are some very strong performances in this film and also some great dialogues. The script was written by first time screenwriter, Carl Lund, and it really is thought provoking. The imagery that Kaye uses is also very beautiful. There is a sense of claustrophobia as we see these long shots closing in on the school hallway, and emptiness when we see the abandoned classrooms. Detachment might not be an entertaining film you can watch with your friends, but it is a very interesting and thought provoking film.

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