Thinking men

Review by Vives Anunciacion
Inquirer Libre June 21 2006

There’s the French film festival currently ongoing at Shangri-La for the subtitle-addicted; for the rest who simply crave for Hollywood movies that are a little outside of the box, here are two worth thinking about.

Inside Man
Directed by Spike Lee
Written by Russel Gerwitz
Starring Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, Clive Owen
PG13 / 129 minutes
Universal Pictures

Dalton Russel (Clive Owen) and his accomplices carefully execute the “perfect bank robbery” in the middle of Manhattan. They hold up the bank, take everyone inside hostage and demand a getaway plane from the police. They do everything very fast, but they hesitate and stall the ending. In this crime caper, everything about the movie is taking control – control over events, over actions, over emotions and even control over fate.

The NYPD negotiator is an upcoming detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) who takes the rule books seriously and tries to keep his cool at all times, even though Russel out-cools him most of the time as they try to outwit each other’s actions in Russel’s carefully-planned operation.

A few complications arise on the appearance of Madeline White (2-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster), a power broker for the elite who is hired to secure from Russel extremely sensitive documents owned by Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer), the bank’s owner. Mr. Case doesn’t want his secrets revealed to the world at all costs, so he hires Madeline to secure these for him from the bank robbers. Ms. Foster looks like she’s enjoying her role as she catwalks in front of armed men double her size – in a movie about male biases, Madeline personifies the phrase “the powers that be.”

This is a dream cast for Oscar addicts, and to watch the three main actors in their elements isn’t only a delight but a marvel. Great ensemble acting, great cinematography. The story plays out like a game of chess between Russel and Frazier, and retains an element of calm as the narrative gently unfolds towards the inevitable end. Now if that hurried ending only made sense…


Kinsey
Written and Directed by Bill Condon
Starring Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Peter Saarsgard
R18 / 118 minutes
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Exclusive At Ayala Cinemas Only

Dr. Alfred Kinsey (Liam Neeson) is the first American to publicly study human sexual behavior and in 1948 created sensational uproar over his book Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Kinsey’s methods and findings were the stuff of controversy, but it was these studies that forced America, and the world, to talk about their sexuality in the open.

The movie by God and Monsters director Bill Condon delicately, if at times lightly, looks into the life of the man whose sole obsession was to put a statistical number beside a person’s bedside manners. So consumed was Kinsey was with his sexual research that he often took the people beside him for granted, especially his wife Clara (Laura Linney), who easily represents the perfect partner any person can dream of. Both Neeson and Linney thresh out their roles with spirit and verve, as Neeson’s Kinsey is remarkably quite different from his Oscar Schindler especially as the character ages in the film. Great music, great editing and another great ensemble cast.

These two movies are worth seeing if it means citing examples of movies that can make the audience think first before giving their opinions. While Inside Man excites as a clever crime thriller, it is also Spike Lee’s more pedestrian presentation on how Americans, New Yorkers at least, deal with everyday prejudices about race, religion and politics. Kinsey on the other hand would want its audience to leave their sexual prejudices and politics outside the cinema and take a clinical watch on how humans enjoy themselves.