There's this movie that came out two years ago called The Jacket starring Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley. I remember the first time I saw a preview for it I wanted to see it, but we don't see that many movies in the theater. This is one time I wish I had. The movie moved me in ways I didn't know I could be moved. I don't cry often at movies, but I did at this one.

The storyline is familiar: a man gets a a pseudo-second-chance to help a little girl's life and get closure. By familiar I mean we've seen this plotline employed by the likes of films such as the holiday perennial It's A Wonderful Life and the lesser known Fluke (about a father who gets reincarnated as a dog). By pseudo-second-chance I mean there is some fortean influence at work that allows these men to help their families while simultaneously getting closure on their own lives via paranormal phenomena.

Okay, so yeah, maybe likening The Jacket to It's A Wonderful Life has turned you off to ever renting it or watching it on HBO. But it's not It's A Wonderful Life. It's a much more beautiful, relevant and poignant film. It calls to question the blurry lines between past, present and future as well as the tenuous grasp we have upon what constitutes as reality and justice.

I haven't seen Adrien Brody in many films, but I do know he has won an Academy Award, and after seeing this film, I suddenly understand why. He portrays Jack Starks, a Gulf War veteran who suffers from a nebulous mental ailment (perhaps Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) after being shot in the head by an Iraqi child being held prisoner. I'm not one for war movies that feature bleeding-heart portrayals of veterans, but this movie, I think both avoids over-sentimentality, but also heartily embraces it. It's a strange contradiction, but it works beautifully. I haven't felt so connected to a cinematic character since... I don't know... Edward northing Narrator in Fight Club? And that was for entirely the wrong reasons. I was more intrigued with where the film would end up than I was in the growth and underpinnings of the Narrator. But Adrien Brody invites me into Jack Sparks. He's foreboding and perhaps unreliable, due to his mental health status and amnesiac tendencies, but even so, I became soulfully invested in what happens to Jack.

But even so, the way Adrien Brody is so engaging almost could be dwarfed by the sheer beauty and desolation of the wintry landscape. This movie is gorgeous and real and raw. The cinematographer, Peter Deming, did a superb job here, considering this is the same guy who did Evil Dead II, Purple People Eater, Drop Dead Fred, Son In Law and Joe's Apartment. But I realize that maybe those films paid the rent. Because the man also did Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, as well as Goldmember, so he's a man after my own heart, obviously. But he's also worked on From Hell (and even though Heather Graham is atrociously bad as an Irish prostitute--who'da thunk it?--the Deming's dark beauty and Johnny Depp redeem the film), Mullholland Dr., and I Heart Huckabees. So the dude's obviously got some street cred.

I realize that the success of a film's acting and cinematography perhaps ultimately lie upon the shoulders of its director. JohnMayburyJohnMayburyJohnMayburyJohnMaybury... I have never heard of this name before: John Maybury. Does he sound familiar to you? Well, I dare you to look at his filmography and tell me that you have heard of Pagan Idolatry or Circus Logic I-IV. However obscure Maybury's past work may be, it doesn't diminish the fact that he executed The Jacket with a poetic precision. Because it's not just the dialog you have to pay attention to, it's everything in the frame. The words, the sounds, the edits... They work together in this magical way. I hope we get more from this guy. I really do.

Labels: movies

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