This is a very strange movie and proof that just because a story is real and based on a memoir, does not mean it will translate successfully on screen. Otherwise said, not everybody's life deserves to be a memoir, or a film.
Joe Warr, played by Clive Owen, is a sports journalist living on the rural coast of Australia with his son only weeks after his wife has died suddenly of natural causes. This is Joe's second family, as he left his first wife and son in London a decade or so earlier when he met and fell in love with his second wife.
Initially, he is overwhelmed with the responsibility of fathering a son without any help from his wife. To cope with this, he sets no rules or boundaries for his son and the two live like pigs in a filthy house. At some point, his first, older son visits and strikes up a friendship with the younger boy, his half-brother. Joe is unable to cope with the two boys and work at the same time, and ends up frightening his older son back to England.
My main problem with the film is that Joe never totally grows or learns any lessons - despite endangering the lives of his son many times. He never comes to the conclusion that, though it was fun to live like animals and children in a big house with no boundaries, it is, in the end, juvenile and unproductive. He never gets control of his ego to turn his friendship with his hot neighbor lady friend into a romance. (This is actually a very frustrating thing, as we are teased with the idea that they will end up together, but the idea is never really investigated deeply and the woman floats off into the ether of the story.)
There is a strange melancholia that pervades the story. There are few happy scenes, but overall it seems like the weight of the world is on Joe's shoulders and he's about to crack. Even at the end, it is not clear that he has figured out a way to make his situation work. Rather, the story just ends, not far from where it began.
Clive Owen is great in this role - just as he is in most roles he gets. He has a certain charm and a certain bad-boy appeal. The problems with his character are more in the writing than in the portrayal. The boys are good too - especially the older son, played by George MacKay.
The photography by Greig Fraser (Again! I guess he shoots all contemporary dramas made in Australia or by any Auzzie directors!) is lovely - though the gorgeous location of Joe's house on the rocky, windy coast makes this a bit easier, I'm sure.
Overall, I'm sure this story is an accurate look into Joe Warr's life, but I don't know why I'm supposed to care about it. It is not entirely interesting and I don't really see a ton of growth out of him. It does not come off as a more typical story of a man who thinks he can do everything, then learns he can't, then figures out how to make it work. Rather, it's the story of a man who thinks he knows how to do everything, then fails, then continues to do things the same way - but this time getting along with his estranged son. Big whoop!
Stars: 2 of 4
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment