Eleven (count ’em, eleven) main characters traipse through Paris, London, Bratislava and Denver and each faces choice that can change the direction of a life. Unfortunately, we don’t care that much about any of the characters and their stories aren’t that compelling or even original. It’s not a bad movie, but the story (stories) make it a snoozer.
360 is otherwise well-made by acclaimed director Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardener) and well-acted by an international ensemble cast that includes Jude Law and Rachel Weisz (completely unrecognizable behind a full set of bangs). The two most interesting characters are the father of a missing crime victim (Anthony Hopkins) and a convicted sex offender in a very fragile recovery (Ben Foster). Foster (The Messenger, Rampart, 11:14) is one of my favorite actors, as is also Jemel Debbouze (Let It Rain, Angel-A, Amelie). But even these actors can’t really punch up a story that isn’t there.
William Colby was a daring saboteur in World War II, an effective espionage agent in the Cold War, an architect of an especially brutal aspect of the Vietnam War and, in the post-Watergate 70s, the nation’s top spy and the Director of Intelligence who made public the CIA’s historic misdeeds. His son, Carl Colby, explores the man who lived that life in The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby (2011).
Carl Colby makes use of family photos and filmed interviews with Colby’s colleagues, rivals and observers beginning with his secret missions in WW II. Chief of these is Barbara Colby, William’s wife of 39 years and Carl’s mother. The talking heads also include the likes of James Schlesinger, Robert McFarland, Brent Scowcroft, Bob Woodward, Seymour Hersh and even Oleg Kalugin (the KGB’s chief spy in the US). We also hear the White House audio of Colby, along with JFK, RFK and Averell Harriman, discussing the upcoming overthrow of Vietnam’s Diem government.
Carl Colby admires his father’s smarts, toughness, principles, physical bravery and compulsion to serve. He also recognizes the impact that such devotion to duty has on family responsibilities. “It’s a terrible thing to say, but sometimes I think I would have rather worked for him than be his son,” Carl said. “I would have been closer to him.”
Carl Colby interviewed his father’s second wife but did not use the footage in the film, and he did not interview his siblings. As discussed in this Washington Post article, those family members disagree with the film’s portrayal of Colby as an absentee parent and a suicide victim.
But those are comparatively minor parts of the story. The most historically significant (and interesting) segments are:
Colby’s successful secret support of Italy’s Christian Democratic Party, resulting in election victories over the Italian Communist Party.
His inside view of the November 1963 anti-Diem coup in Vietnam (which Colby opposed).
His decision to resist the Ford Administration and lay bare the CIA’s “Family Jewels”, the past illegal activities, including assassination attempts and domestic surveillance. Not surprisingly, the always smirking Don Rumsfeld, Henry Kissinger and Dick Cheney are the bad guys in this episode.
The Man Nobody Knew is available on DVD and on Netflix streaming. Incidentally, it now #6 on my list of Longest Movie Titles, between Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969) and Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996).
Emile Hirsch, Gina Gershon, Thomas Haden Church and Juno Temple in KILLER JOE
Killer Joe, which opens this week, is NC-17 for a reason and will either thrill or disgust you; that notwithstanding, it pops and crackles with excellent performances by Mathew McConaughey and Juno Temple.
The Intouchables is a crowd pleasing odd couple comedy – an attendance record breaker in France.
Farewell, My Queen is a lavishly staged and absorbing French drama of Marie Antoinette’s Versailles at the onset of the French Revolution; it features excellent performances and was shot at Versailles itself.
Dark Horse is an engaging dramedy from writer-director Todd Solondz (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness); it has his trademark quirkiness, but without the trademark perversion.
The wistfully sweet and visually singular Moonrise Kingdom is another must see. Adults will enjoy Brave, Pixar’s much anticipated fable of a Scottish princess, and it’s a must see for kids. To Rome with Love is an amusing Woody Allen comedy, but not one of Woody’s masterpieces. If you really like Neil Young, then see Neil Young Journeys. The exceptionally popular The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is continuing its long run in second-run houses.
The Dark Night Rises is too corny and too long, but Anne Hathaway sparkles. Magic Mike has male stripping, but no magic.
My DVD pick this week is from Turkey, the long, enthralling and profound Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. I must add that The Movie Gourmet is the only place where you can read about Killer Joe and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia in the same week!
Here’s a movie that will either thrill or disgust you. Either way, you sure ain’t gonna be bored.
In Killer Joe, Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon and Emile Hirsch play a white trash family with a get rich quick scheme. They give a hit man (Matthew McConaughey) the teen daughter (Juno Temple) as a deposit. They’re all as dumb as a bag of hammers, so what could go wrong?
Killer Joe was directed by William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) and shot by cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Right Stuff, The Natural) in just 20 days. These guys know how to tell a story, and Killer Joe pops and crackles.
Killer Joe is rated NC-17 for good reason and Friedkin accepts the rating without complaint. Indeed, Killer Joe has its share of Sam Peckinpah style screen violence and an unsettling deflowering scene. But the piece de resistance is an over-the-top sadistic encounter between McConaughey and Gershon involving a chicken drumstick, at once disturbing and darkly hilarious. But Sam Fuller and Quentin Tarantino would have loved it, and so did I. Nevertheless, some viewers will feel like they need a shower after this movie.
The cast does a good job, but the picture really belongs to McConaughey and Temple. McConaughey is currently recalibrating his career a la Alec Baldwin – he’s moving from playing pretty boys in the rom coms to taking meatier, more interesting roles. He is both funny and menacing as Killer Joe (and I liked him in Bernie and Magic Mike, too). I’m really looking forward to seeing him in Mud and The Paperboy.
The movie slowly makes Juno Temple’s character more and more central, until she takes command of the denouement. Temple is always sexy (Kaboom and Dirty Girl), and here she is able to ratchet down her intelligence to play a very simple character, always exploited by others, who is finally empowered to take control.
I saw Killer Joe at a screening where Friedkin said that the screenwriter saw Juno Temple’s character as the receptacle for all feminine rage. Friedkin himself sees it as a Cinderella story – just one where Cinderella’s Prince Charming is a professional killer. hat’s all pretty deep sledding to me – I see Killer Joe as a very dark and violent comedy – kinda like In Bruges with twisted sex.
