Darren Aronofsky

CAUGHT STEALING: Aronofsky picked off first base

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Photo caption: Liev Schrieber, Austin Butler and Vincent D’Onofrio in CAUGHT STEALING. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

Caught Stealing is a genre picture by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan, The Whale), who must have thought he was slumming by directing a genre movie. This is a darkly funny, violent thriller, the kind of movie that I almost always enjoy. But Aronofsky, working off a screenplay by Charlie Huston, has wasted a superb cast and a Hollywood-level budget on a movie so ordinary, that it’s not even worth streaming. It’s not even as good as Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t or half of the fare on BritBox.

It didn’t have to be that way. As I watched Caught Stealing, I kept thinking of director Steven Soderbergh, who has made Oscar movies like Sex, Lies and Videotape, Erin Brockavich and Traffic, but now churns out genre movies like Kimi and No Sudden Move that may be less artsy but are solid entertainment. Or Richard Linklater, who could make the Before Midnight movies and Boyhood, the very best American cinema of our century, and still entertain us last year with Hit Man. Hell, Rian Johnson and Questin Tarantino ONLY make genre movies – and they’re wonderful. But the director has to love and respect the genre.

In Caught Stealing, Austin Butler plays Hank, a guy who has run away from his past to bartend at a scruffy Lower Manhattan bar in the early 2000s, in a neighborhood that people hoped that Giuliani would clean up. His dodgy punk neighbor (Matt Smith) has to suddenly leave town to visit his stricken father in Britain, and asks Hank to care for his cat. Unsurprisingly, lots of dangerous people show up who think that the neighbor has double-crossed them and that Hank must know where the loot is hidden. They beat him up, and threaten to kill him and his loved ones. This results in lots of chases through NYC as Hank, some scary Russian mobsters, a pair of Hasidic gangsters and a tenacious cop all pursue each other. There’s a bit of sex, lots of violence, and some mild laughs. There’s not a surprising or unpredictable moment here.

Austin Butler is an appealing hunk who was excellent in The Bikeriders and plenty good enough in Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood and Masters of the Air. He even dared to play Elvis Presley and was not the reason that Elvis was bad. Same here.

It’s an impressive cast, with Matt Smith (funny to see The Crown’s Prince Philip sporting a giant mohawk), Liev Schrieber and Vincent D’Onofrio, and Carol Kane and Laura Dern have brief cameos. But the performances by Regina King, Zoe Kravitz and Griffin Dunne are so good, that justice requires them to work in a better movie.

The movie/s title comes from Hank having sabotaged a once promising baseball career, but Darren Aronofsky didn’t even make it to the bag at second base – he was picked off at first.

THE WHALE: regret to redemption

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Photo caption: Brendan Fraser in THE WHALE. Courtesy of A24.

The emotionally powerful The Whale depicts a week in the life of Charlie (Brendan Fraser). The first thing we notice about Charlie is his obesity – his 600 pounds makes getting out of a chair a major challenge, and there’s just no way he can bend over to pick anything off the floor.  Refusing to seek medical attention despite labored breathing and catastrophic blood pressure, Charlie has exasperated his friend/caregiver Liz (Hong Chau), a nurse. He has congestive heart failure, and both Liz and Charlie know that he may be in his last week of life.

He is a grotesque, but unlike Quasimodo or The Elephant Man, he’s a grotesque of his own making. Charlie is grieving from a loss nine years before and is regretting a failed relationship with his child; he has reacted by emotionally eating himself to near-death. He no longer ever leaves his apartment, where he works remotely by teaching a college writing course on-line.

Charlie is a man of immense sensitivity, unusually moved by the sporadic snippets of crude honesty in his students’ writing. He is so sensitive that he is swallowed by grief, and cannot handle the anger of others. Charlie is constantly saying “I’m sorry”, but there are two things that he is decidedly not sorry for – fathering a daughter and falling in love with a man.

Charlie’s sad routine is interrupted by a visit from the young door-to-door missionary Thomas (Ty Simpkins), and then by an appearance from his estranged daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink), now a seething teen. It’s only a mater of time before Liz brings by his ex-wife Mary (Samantha Morton), too. Will Charlie mend his relationships? Will he find inner peace? Will he even survive?

What makes The Whale an exceptional movie is Brendan Fraser’s unforgettable performance as Charlie. He’s not just impersonating an extremely obese person; he’s portraying a complex character- a man who is weakened by self loathing and physical disability, but whose passions and humanity gleam through. Encased in a latex and CGI fat suit, Fraser makes us understand Charlie with his own beautiful and expressive blue eyes and with Charlie’s lurching and plodding.

Fraser has always been an appealing actor, and one of great humor. 25 years ago, the strikingly handsome Fraser used his physicality in The Mummy franchise and, literally in a loincloth, in George of the Jungle. It’s useful to remember that he did a serious art movie, Gods and Monsters, in that period, too.  His build, rangy then, has since morphed into burly, and in last years thriller No Sudden Move, to hulking. 

Of course, Fraser will be nominated for an Oscar, because the actors who vote for awards love performances with major physical transformations. But it’s important not to downgrade Fraser’s performance because of that phenomenon – this is a remarkable exploration into a character’s inner life.

Hong Chau has been doing strong and versatile work lately (Driveways, The Menu); her Liz is an uncommonly good and award-worthy performance. 

Samantha Morton is piercingly credible as the ex-wife.  (Where has SHE been since Minority Report and In America?)

The story is a play by Samuel D. Hunter. Darren Aronofsky, a director known for making splashy, pedal-to-the-metal movies (Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan) has the artistic judgment to keep the camera in Charlie’s dank, claustrophobic apartment and let Hunter’s dialogue reveal the characters.

While The Whale is one of the best films of 2022, it has its flaws, especially Sadie Sink’s not-very-textured performance as the daughter (and I didn’t find Ty Simpkins very compelling, either).  The thread about the young missionary Thomas has at least one contrivance too many. Also, the weepy soap opera music cues underneath The Whale’s most emotionally powerful moments are unnecessary, distracting and unforgivable.

The scenes where Charlie is gorging himself are tough to watch.  I saw The Whale at a theater that is essentially next to my favorite French restaurant, and I like to cap a morning movie with a lunch of salade lyonnaise and steak tartare; but emerging from The Whale at lunchtime, I just couldn’t do that.  I recommend this film, but not for a movie/dinner or dinner/movie date.

Nevertheless, this is still one of the year’s best films because of Charlie’s compelling story and Brendan Frazier’s magnificent portrayal.

DVD of the Week: Black Swan

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Natalie Portman won the Best Actress Oscar for playing a ballet dancer who competes for the role of a lifetime.  Her obsession with perfection  is at once the key to her potential triumph and her potential ruin.  Barbara Hershey brilliantly plays what we first see as another smothering stage mother, but soon learn to be something even more disturbing.  Vincent Cassell (Mesrine) captures the charisma of the swaggering dance master who pushes the ballerina mercilessly.  Portman’s dancer has the fragility of a porcelain teacup, and, as she slathers herself with more and more stress, we wonder just when, not if, she’ll break.  The tension crescendos, and the climactic performance of Swan Lake is thrilling.

Fresh from The Wrestler, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is another directing triumph.  In fact, parts of Black Swan are as trippy as Aronofsky’s brilliant Requiem for a Dream.

Black Swan is also on my list of Best Movies of 2010.

This Week's Movies to See Right Now

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Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhardt in Rabbit Hole

This week’s must see film is Rabbit Hole, an exquisite exploration of the grieving process with great performances by Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhardt, Diane Wiest, Sandra Oh and Miles Tenner.  Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is a rip roaring thriller and a showcase for Natalie Portman and Barbara Hershey. Fair Game, the Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson story with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, is also excellent.  For some delectable food porn, see Kings of Pastry.

Morning Glory is a passable comedy, as is Love and Other Drugs.

There are some Must See films still kicking around in theaters this week: Inside Job, The Social Network and Hereafter. All three are already on my list of Best Movies of 2010 – So Far.

The Town is hanging around theaters and, without strongly recommending it, I can say that it is a satisfying Hollywood thriller. If you’ve seen the first two Lisbeth Salander movies from Sweden, then you should complete the trilogy with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

I have not yet seen The Fighter, The Tempest or The Company Man, opening this weekend. You can see the trailers at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD of the Week is Inception, perhaps the year’s best blockbuster. My top two American films of the year are now available on DVD – the indie Winter’s Bone and Pixar’s Toy Story 3. For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.

Movies on TV include Stagecoach, A Shot in the Dark and The Searchers on TCM.

Black Swan

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Natalie Portman plays a ballet dancer competing for the role of a lifetime.  Her obsession with perfection  is at once the key to her potential triumph and her potential ruin.  Barbara Hershey brilliantly plays what we first see as another smothering stage mother, but soon learn to be something even more disturbing.  Vincent Cassell (Mesrine) captures the charisma of the swaggering dance master who pushes the ballerina mercilessly. Portman’s dancer has the fragility of a porcelain teacup, and, as she slathers herself with more and more stress, we wonder just when, not if, she’ll break.  The tension crescendos, and the climactic performance of Swan Lake is thrilling.

Fresh from The Wrestler, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is another directing triumph.  In fact, parts of Black Swan are as trippy as Aronofsky’s brilliant Requiem for a Dream.  I expect Aronofsky, Portman and Hershey to be nominated for Oscars.