Blu-ray Review: Enemy at the Gates (2001)

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“I am a stone,” Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) repeats meditatively while on sniper patrol in director Jean-Jacques Annaud’s most unusual World War II film-- 2001’s Enemy at the Gates.

Despite the way it soon veers into unique territory--shortly into the work there’s an obvious nod to the opening sequence of horrifically intense combat devastation that puts viewers right in the midst of battle as witnessed in Steven Spielberg’s bravura opener to Saving Private Ryan which was the most effective and tightest piece of cinematic craftsmanship contained in that particular film.

However, Annaud’s contemplative work fixates more on the individual experiences of Law’s “lone wolf” sharpshooter Zaitsev in a stark contrast to the more traditional devotion to one specific Band of Brothers that we’re repeatedly presented with throughout the genre.

Despite its absence of a traditional credit, the film co-written by Annaud and Alain Godard drew inspiration for the title from as Variety reports William Craig’s book by the same name which centered on “a duel between a Russian shepherd and a German nobleman during the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43)." Yet when the screenwriters discovered several differing accounts throughout the official Zaitsev files, they decided to employ artistic license in basing the work on actual individuals but presenting the narrative in a way they saw fit.



Much to its benefit, this decision resulted in the creation of an ideal rival for Zaitsev’s sensitive but naturally gifted shooter who’s racked up well over two hundred kills. The "villain" of the piece arrives in the form of Ed Harris’s brilliantly acted (yet most likely composite character) Major Konig who is brought over from Germany to try and put a stop to Zaitsev. His goal in doing so is not just because of Zaitsev's talent but because he’s been crafted into a Russian propagandist folk hero in order to rally Stalingrad into what would become one of the greatest turning points of the battle to halt Hitler’s Germany from gaining even more territory.

However, on the less effective "creative invention" side, the film fumbles in its development of a believable and engrossing love triangle. Although again they based the participants on real people including Law’s Zaitsev who was in fact romantically linked to Rachel Weisz’s highly educated scholar turned soldier Tania-- and you can never go wrong by inserting a Fiennes brother into the romantic mix (in this case Shakespeare in Love’s smoldering Joseph)—the movie screeches to a halt whenever this becomes the main focal point. It's exacerbated sadly by the awkward dialogue with which Fiennes’s political soldier turned expert journalistic propagandist Commisar Danilov is saddled that weakens his characterization considerably.

Following a breathtaking and overwhelming battle sequence that rivals Saving Private Ryan for its authenticity and ability to transport us right into the start of the earliest battles in Stalingrad as soldiers are ominously advised that one man will get a rifle and the other one will follow until the first dies and he takes over—Zaitsev and Danilov encounter one another underneath a pile of corpses.

While the nervous yet determined Danilov secures a rifle-- determined to pick off a handful of German soldiers to avenge the deaths of the hundreds of his comrades within close range-- the lower-ranking Zaitsev intervenes, offering whispered advice, admitting he can shoot “a little” before he takes over the assault. And in a dazzling feat of bravery, he manages to stay calm under pressure in his stoic or stone like level-headed approach, executing them coolly and quickly at precisely the same moment explosions go off to ensure their survival.



Forming an instant brotherly bond and intellectually daring to go against the traditional wisdom of trying to use fear and threats to spur his countrymen onward, Danilov decides that in the darkest time what Stalingrad really needs is hope and a hero in which they can believe. Working in tandem with Zaitsev as they respond to scores of fan letters-- sort of like an early, war-time version of an agent or PR man and similarly in a way that makes them seem at times like one individual with two heads—Danilov continues his mission by printing off a series of articles complete with tallies of Germans killed, and photogenic black and white hero shots of Zaitsev.

While the more humble Zaitsev worries that his friend is exaggerating his skills far too much and he can’t possibly live up to the legend circulating throughout the ranks that garners a favorable response from Bob Hoskins’ Nikita Kruhushchev—he’s persuaded by Danilov that he believes in him completely. Although the highly effective propagandist tool instantly gives everyone something to believe in and the idea that they can stop the menacing force of Hitler’s better-equipped and more experienced soldiers, it also raises not just Zaitsev’s anxiety level but the stakes as well when Germany sends in Harris’ daunting Konig to take him down.

Despite the fact that this is a stellar set-up and that Weisz is always a welcome presence, Enemy at the Gates loses its momentum when Danilov and Zaitsev set their sights (romantic rather than rifle-based!) on Tania which finds Danilov growing increasingly more unlikable as the lovely Weisz gravitates physically and emotionally to Law’s quiet sniper.

Like a one-man roller-coaster, Fiennes’ Danilov soon resorts to foolish attempts to try and point out Zaitsev’s inferior education and their differences in class as reasons why his own survival as well as Tania’s are far more important than Zaitsev that goes against his earliest character development.



And while personally this seemed merely unpleasant and implausible as the film moved along and Danilov became so irrational that he felt more suited to a weekday soap opera-- intriguingly and with solid logic-- The New York Times pointed out that (although I feel it was probably not their intention) his evolution personality-wise “comes close to anti-Semitic caricature,” which “evokes some ugly, ancient prejudices,” that nonetheless even the journalist notes was most likely not the purpose of writers Annaud and Godard.



However, much to his credit--while quietly Harris manages to steal the whole movie especially in a series of escalating sequences where he bribes a child he knows is working both sides for information-- Fiennes soldiers on indeed. Surviving the enemy of the ridiculous of script, his performance is an admirable achievement that seriously displayed his first-rate skills opposite a (then) newcomer Jude Law whose mind-boggling talent has grown over time and was best evidenced in another “cat and mouse” effort opposite Michael Caine in Kenneth Branagh’s remake of Sleuth.

Still upon seeing it again for the first time since it’s theatrical run and aside from the fact that the romantic plot should’ve been caught in the crosshairs of a sniper in its screenplay form--there’s more than enough plot here for the filmmakers to utilize for the film that salvages it and then some.

While the sound balance is a bit off and you find yourself reaching to adjust the volume often to find a suitable mixture of explosions and dialogue, the Blu-ray which also contains some standard edition bonus features is most effective as a sort of chess match. Or, a war film as whittled down to its essence as many have likened—a “cat and mouse” situation as Law and Harris are filmed in extremely tight, blue-eye filled close-ups which comprise an eerie mirror image as they try to find an opening for a clear shot, reminding themselves like Law’s “I am a stone” mantra to remain perfectly still in the meantime.



Yet in spite of its structural flaws and a score that sounds all too familiar (Schindler’s List and Private Ryan came to mind but if anyone knows what it is, e-mail me since it’s driving me nuts), the film succeeds in its unusual approach. Instead of fixating on a group dynamic, comprising it as a man verses man battle-- not to mention featuring a woman in the part of a soldier as opposed to a worried wife-- and centering it in Stalingrad helps make Gates highly entertaining and quite distinct in a crowded sea of WWII movies.

Working with his The Lover cinematographer Robert Fraise in this exquisitely beautiful picture—that save for a few noticeable blood splatters which hit the lens and thus pulls you out of the moment, calling attention to the work as a “movie”—it’s a striking achievement in its sheer scope as the most expensive British production ever made (upon its release) and one that offers a unique Russian point-of-view of the fight to save Stalingrad.

Although at times the colors seem a bit soft in the visual transfer-- which if memory serves correctly were originally present in the film print as well since they were shooting without a large emphasis on artificial light to keep everything naturalistic with some tension filled moments of hand held battle shots—the Blu-ray excels in its three-dimensional picture quality.

Moreover, this is evident right from the start as the soldiers attempt to stay alive huddled in boats as they cross the sea only to struggle to stay alive on land in one of Annaud’s most riveting sequences that fortunately is addressed in a bonus feature indicating just how many explosions were actually going off (triggered by stunt men) at the time to fully immerse the actors, filmmaking team, and indeed the audience in what the chaos of war is like.

And while here, his film does as mentioned earlier draw comparisons to Ryan and several other epic battle pictures—Gates seriously entices once it settles into a suspenseful and more intimate (yet no less deadly) exploration of the side of the war waged by snipers who must stay awake for hours or days waiting for the right moment to squeeze the trigger before the other one does it first. Hence, "I am a stone. I am a stone."

Movie Review: The Brothers Bloom (2008)

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"I wanted to make a movie that is essentially very good-hearted. It's about life being this grand story that you can tell. We can't control what the world gives us, but we can control how we tell it back to ourselves, our story. And if you tell it well, and tell it as a beautiful worthwhile adventure, in a way that's what you can make your life into."

-- Writer/Director Riann Johnson

(As Quoted in The Brothers Bloom Production Notes)

As a child, Riann Johnson was enchanted by the tales of comedic adventure and the con man landscape discovered while watching The Sting and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. So when it came time for the filmmaker's hotly anticipated sophomore project following the smash success of his Sundance award winning Brick, Johnson decided to make his own version of a quirky globetrotting humorous con tale.

Essentially it's a film that blends together the fields of magic and the con trade to literal visual sleight of hand by the characters who populate the brightly colored landscape as well as in the complex, multi-layered screenplay. Moreover the fascinating thing about Brothers Bloom is that as Johnson himself noted "eventually it evolved into a film about storytelling and the way we use storytelling in our lives."



Likewise, the acclaimed Oscar nominated and Oscar winning cast seemed equally intrigued by the idea of the film's notion that we are constantly telling our own story since as actors they routinely must "con" or fool audiences into buying into the fact that they're someone completely different for two hours. However, to dub Bloom simply a "con" movie is to miss the point entirely.

Essentially, The Brothers Bloom works successfully as a movie that celebrates film and humanistic storytelling, all the while somehow managing to intermingle a wonderful and offbeat appreciation for a truly unique set of characters. Having been delayed for release since last Fall, Johnson's film finally lands in theatres this week in my neck of the woods opposite the titan that is Terminator Salvation.

Yet seeing the two movies just one day apart, I can honestly say that not only is Bloom far superior to the mega-budget, big studio blockbuster franchise picture but it's also my favorite sleeper film of the summer so far and one that should appeal to fans of last year's irresistible Son of Rambow.

Obviously influenced not just by The Sting and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels but initially in its narration by Ricky Jay (Magnolia narrator, real-life magician, and frequent David Mamet player) it seems to be also drawing from the well of Mamet, Paul Thomas Anderson, and most pointedly Wes Anderson. In fact, when it started, it seemed like the next installment from Wes Anderson, before he went off the deep end with Life Aquatic and Darjeeling Limited. And intriguingly as it stars his Darjeeling lead Adrien Brody, I couldn't help but wish that this superior film would have been released in Darjeeling's place.

Like the aforementioned title, the dynamic centers on brothers although this time and for good measure, we're only introduced to two in the form of Stephen (What Doesn't Kill You and Zodiac star Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody).



Having survived a rotten youth going from one foster home to the next-- it isn't long before they realize that they could become the architects of their own lives. This epiphany comes from Stephen's decision to look out for his younger brother by engineering stories (cons really) that "Bloom" likens to Russian novels. And similarly, it's curious right from the start that Brody's character is never saddled with a first name since overall, it's that problem that we're faced with twenty-five years later as we catch up with the Brothers Bloom.

By adulthood, we discover the Brothers have come a long, long way from suburban playground cons to major larceny and "fake deaths" complete with pyrotechnics courtesy of their "fifth Beatle," the mostly silent Bang Bang (Babel's Rinko Kikuchi). Yet once again and mirroring his endless wish, Brody's Bloom tells his brother he wants to quit the con.

It seems that Brody is tired of waking up next to people who think he's someone else and realizing that he actually has no identity other than the one supplied for him in the elaborate, highly literary puzzling cons Stephen creates wherein his brother promises "everyone gets what they want."

Yet, as far as Bloom is concerned, he tells his brother that all he wants is "an unwritten life." Not content to just write him out completely however, the two split ways temporarily until Stephen and Bang Bang entice Bloom to get involved in the old genre favorite of the final, ultimate score that will set them up for life.



Leaving an exotic foreign locale for New Jersey (!), Bloom quickly meets and is disarmed by their newest mark, Rachel Weisz's Penelope. A thirty-three year old, exceedingly shy, epileptic recluse, Penelope "collects hobbies" ranging from pinhole photography in watermelons to learning fourteen languages when she isn't busy crashing her Lamborghini into inanimate objects in lieu of parking.



Figuring that with her driving skills, the crash would be the best way in, Bang Bang and Stephen gleefully send Bloom riding a banana-seated bicycle down a hill where she indeed strikes him, before things go wrong, her epilepsy kicks in, and ultimately Penelope is the one who winds up in the hospital costing Bloom his much needed sympathy points to ingratiate himself into her life.

However, somehow it works as she asks him for a ride back to her place and after a series of strange exchanges she's ill-equipped to handle (unaccustomed to having conversations with others), soon the two bond enough for Penelope to impulsively decide to tag along with the Blooms and Bang Bang-- whom she assumes are antique dealers-- on an overseas adventure by freighter to Greece.



Working in a few other players to help set up a trap to ensnare the wealthy heiress into handing over a large amount of money, the men are stunned when Penlope is not only into the con but so gung-ho she begins taking risks and taking charge. And more importantly, she displays a new side of herself that reveals she's no stranger to making up beautiful lies which helped bolster her mood from an isolated childhood.

Filled with gorgeously breathtaking scenic shots as they hop from one country to the next involving as Johnson notes, "steamer ships across the Atlantic and trains through the Hungarian mountainside and ports in Greece and gritty alleyways in St. Petersburg," the film is bursting at the scenes with as he explains, "all sorts of highly romanticized stuff that has much more to do with an American's fantasy of Europe [than the actual Europe]".

Likewise, fantasy and imagination seem to be the film's driving force as the train utilized purposely recalls the 1940s, the ship echoes the 20s and despite its contemporary setting, The Brothers Bloom offers a liberating and tremendously spirited, picturesque, and dazzling view of characters and situations.



Always presenting situations with a "wink" to the audience such as the homage to Wes Anderson, some great camera work that moves forwards and backwards quickly while panning from one extremely long shot to the right as a character is picked up and followed from the left-- it's a fluid, fast-paced work that exceeds Johnson's innovative high school film noir debut feature, Brick.

Viewers familiar with his previous movie will instantly recognize the cast as we see the brothers celebrate an early successful con with a film style "wrap party" and actors like Joseph Gordon-Levitt are captured for a split second onscreen. And although again, Johnson is taking the established rules of a genre piece like the "con man" movie-- he gets extra points for carefully leading you down many paths throughout as initially we feel that one character may be in on the con, another could be truly running it, and someone else is unexpectedly being had, which consistently changes throughout.



Admittedly, while it ends precisely in the manner I assumed it would (for one character in particular) as Johnson's clever screenplay inserts snippets of dialogue that pay off later in a multitude of unexpected ways-- it's the getting there that makes Brothers Bloom a true delight. However, a few of my film critic colleagues felt that the film had one final magic act too many in the closing twenty minutes. And partially they're right, since indeed once the film goes in a decisive direction after what you assume was possibly a good place to stop it, it takes a minute to see what purpose it will ultimately serve to continue the running time.

Yet contemplating it now again in retrospect-- I believe it served Johnson's thesis and made a fitting Russian novel like bookend of his own. Since at its heart and more than just a con movie, Bloom is a story about two brothers who made up beautiful stories of adventure and success just to keep themselves moving forward, empowered, and not looking back so the story had to continue until it finally stops by the decision of the author.



A stunner of a picture-- it's one that additionally benefits from offering the two women truly great, offbeat roles (Kikuchi in particular makes a great mysterious Bang Bang who gives off much more spark with Ruffalo than Cato did for Peter Seller's Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther series to name another possible homage). And while Johnson's film on the surface may resemble a classic con picture or feel like it's in the mold of the Wes Anderson universe (back when his films were good and he penned them with Owen Wilson), it's a triumph that goes beyond homage and into blissfully entertaining originality.

New on DVD for the Week of 11/23/08

DVD Pick of the Week:

Bottle Rocket

Bottle Rocket [Criterion Collection]

Composing the Beatles Songbook: Lennon & McCartney (1966-1970)

Fred Claus

Hancock

The Kingdom [Blu-ray]

Meet Dave

Space Chimps

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DVD Review: Fred Claus (2007)

Flying onto DVD & Blu-ray on November 25




Click Here to View the Trailer & Photo Gallery

Talk about the ultimate black sheep-- Jan Brady has nothing on Fred Claus. The older brother of the boy who would become St. Nicolas, Fred discovered at a young age that sainthood is a tough act to follow. Driven to rage by being constantly overshadowed by his brother's accomplishments and given an annual reminder of his success with the incessant caroling, holiday displays and more-- Fred (played by Vince Vaughn) decided that since he didn't want to join the family business making toys at the North Pole, he'd move to Chicago and become the polar opposite of his brother Santa (Paul Giamati).

Instead of selflessly delivering goods, Fred becomes a repo-man, taking away flat screen televisions and elaborate presents he sometimes moves directly into his own apartment and delivering monologues to his young neighbor Slam urging him not to "drink the Kool-Aid" that is Christmas by being "a cheerleader for Santa Claus," whom he likens to a megalomaniac embodiment of a shell game con artist. An inconsiderate and absent-minded boyfriend to the lovely British meter maid Wanda (Rachel Weisz taking on a Dickensian, wrong-side-of-London accent), when Fred ends up in the slammer following a hilarious confrontation with a veritable army of Salvation Army santas (that seem to be as stealthy as soldiers), he's forced to call his brother for help.

With St. Nick's wife Annette (Miranda Richardson) trying to convince her "closet-eater" husband to practice tough love which doesn't quite fit the saintly mandate, Santa strikes a deal with his brother offering him financial assistance for an upcoming business venture if he'll come work for the handout at the North Pole. Grudgingly, Fred agrees and predictably, he wreaks endless havoc from taking out his frustration with carols by inspiring an impromptu Elvis Presley dance party to helping a shy Elf (Christopher Guest and Kath and Kim scene stealer John Michael Higgins) make a love connection with the mathematically gifted yet Victoria's Secret styled hot elf (Elizabeth Banks) to getting in a wicked snowball fight with his brother until ultimately the family stages an intervention.

By this point the film which seems to draw a large majority of its humor from taking a cynical view of the holiday with mean-spirited jokes (think Bad Santa-- the PG rated version) begins to grow long-winded, not sure whether or not it's masquerading as a comedy about sibling rivalry a la Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly's Stepbrothers or as a companion piece to the much lighter, brighter, and surprisingly contemporary yet nostalgic Will Ferrell vehicle Elf.

The beautifully packaged DVD and Blu-ray disc from Warner Brothers which offers feature length commentary by its filmmaker David Dobkin also adds more than twenty-five minutes of additional scenes, some of which further shift the story's theme from "naughty" to "nice" as well as the opportunity to view it in either its theatrical widescreen aspect ratio which is enhanced for widescreen televisions or in a formatted full-screen version to fit the standard square shape. Additionally, offering both language and subtitle options for English, Spanish, and French speakers-- one of the true audio highlights in its sharp Dolby Digital 5.1 surround is the movie's terrific soundtrack which contains not just holiday classics but other less-than-predictable songs which make the film much more effective including The Byrds' cover of Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages," although only certain numbers made it onto its incredible companion album you can explore below.

Filled with Vaughn's trademark whirlwind monologues and seemingly spontaneous references and jokes that make even uneven films like The Break-Up work, he elevates it well and the Jingle All the Way meets National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation inspired chaotic chase through the streets early on is a complete joy as is a ridiculously creative and funny meeting for Siblings Anonymous where recovering siblings like Frank Stallone, Roger Clinton, and Stephen Baldwin air their frustrations with their famous brothers. Yet, while that is hands-down one of the most ingenious portions of the film, especially when Stephen nearly comes to blows with Fred Claus until he begins repeating his mantra, "that's not Alec," the jokes and tenor of a film which finds Santa being threatened by a struggling economy when efficiency expert Kevin Spacey arrives all too ready to fire him with a three strikes system, doesn't quite know which audience for which it's playing.

Far too nasty for young children and with jokes such as the "I'm a recovering sibling" scene that are sure to go over their head-- it seems like it's shooting for the demographic Vaughn usually reaches of young men who latched onto his frat-pack comedy alongside Owen Wilson--Wedding Crashers (from Claus director David Dobkin who also directed Vaughn in the darker indie Clay Pigeons). Yet, in its indecision in awkwardly moving from a storybook like opening (similar to Elf which was made by his Swingers pal Jon Favreau) to an angry, embittered tale of family dysfunction that always comes to the front burner during the holidays, it loses some of its focus in an overly long second half.

Additionally, while we know it's Fred's story after all as our narrator reminds us, it is a Christmas movie and unfortunately, wastes its lovable Sideways and American Splendor curmudgeon star Paul Giamatti as a spineless Santa who eats his feelings to such an extent that he's developed acid reflux, insomnia, and problems in the sack. The same goes for the film's other Oscar winners and nominees like Kathy Bates, Miranda Richardson, Rachel Weisz, and Kevin Spacey (who does have one brilliant in-joke about wanting to be Superman as a nod to his Lex Luthor role in the newest Warner Brothers film) who aren't given enough to work with and especially in one plot that is endearing, too little time is spent on the cute John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks subplot.

Yet despite its many, many flaws, and an overwhelming urge to go back into the cutting room and trim away at least fifteen minutes, there's enough good stuff in the film to make it watchable and even memorable but it's muddled by its angry script from Cars and Bolt screenwriter Dan Fogelman (who despite this, deserves ample kudos along with story creator Jessie Nelson for a wonderful premise), that I'm guessing went through too many rewrites which led to such a thematically confusing finished product.

While for fans of Vaughn, like myself, who've been enjoying his career ever since he went to "Vegas, baby, Vegas," even though admittedly he seems to play the same character repeatedly (aside from a few wonderful against-type roles in movies like A Cool, Dry Place and Into the Wild), it's worth a look, especially if you have a thing for holiday movies and it makes a nice companion piece to the superior Elf.

Still unfortunately for Claus, Vaughn definitely said it best when he told Favreau he was "so money [that he didn't] even know it" in Swingers as ultimately, it's Favreau's Elf that in the future is destined to become a new contemporary Christmas classic.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

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Soundtrack: Definitely, Maybe Original Score

Composer Clint Mansell is a Definitely; the soundtrack is a Maybe

Review Originally Published at Blogcritics:

Prior to his breakout success composing the score for Darren Aronofsky’s groundbreaking Sundance Film Festival winning directorial debut, Pi, Clint Mansell was best known in his native England as the front-man for his band Pop Will Eat Itself. And although he earned some cult status following the success of Aronofsky’s independent sensation, it wasn’t until he composed not just the score but the masterful track “Lux Aeterna” for Aronofsky’s follow-up Requiem for a Dream that he’d completed the work which would become synonymous with his name.

Arguably one of the most gifted and inventive composers working in the cinematic medium today with “Lux Aeterna” being used in countless trailers, as the official theme for several sporting events and more, nonetheless despite critical acclaim and awards, Mansell stayed true to his indie roots. While he’s earned enough fans that Wikipedia reported Lakeshore Records was forced to issue a second edition of the Smokin’ Aces soundtrack after the filmmaker, Joe Carnahan received “blatant threats” due to Mansell’s relative absence from the original disc release, Mansell still remains one of the industry’s best kept secrets.

Having contributed compositions for such films as Barbet Schroder’s Murder By Numbers (which launched Ryan Gosling), Nicolas Cage’s directorial debut Sonny (starring a then-unknown James Franco), twice collaborating with indie filmmaker Bart Freundlich for Trust the Man and World Traveler, it wasn’t until he reunited with Aronofsky that he earned a Golden Globe nomination for his score to the otherwise largely critically panned film, The Fountain.

However, most recently, he was offered the chance to move into considerably lighter genre territory with the prospect of composing the score for writer/director Adam Brooks’ clever 2008 romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe. To summarize my original review, the film surrounds Will Hayes, a thirty-something father (Ryan Reynolds) who is coerced into revealing the saga of his romantic life to his precocious ten year old daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin). Intriguingly opting to avoid the traditional tale of his courtship with Maya’s mother, Will crafts an impromptu love story mystery that features his associations with the three women with whom he had any serious attachment: Emily (played by Invincible’s Elizabeth Banks), Summer (Rachel Weisz; incidentally Aronofsky’s fiancé), and April (Wedding Crashers star Isla Fisher). Thus, in the end, Will leaves it up to Maya to decipher which one is her mother since the names and some facts have been changed. Ultimately, like 2007’s Peter Hedges’ romantic comedy-drama Dan in Real Life, Brooks’ Definitely, Maybe turned out to be one of the most sophisticated and intelligent offerings for adults in the otherwise predictable genre overly reliant on gross-out gags and clichéd stereotypes.

Eager to work on a romantic comedy “that won’t make you puke,” composer Clint Mansell confessed on his MySpace blog that as the film provided “a new challenge… compared to recent movies,” he’d scored, he was eager to take a “different approach,” adding, “it was just what I was looking for.”

Yet despite my deep admiration and respect for Mansell’s musical genius, I wish I could say that the soundtrack was as memorable as the film but unfortunately it isn’t. Ironically, with a soundtrack that clocks in at less than thirty-four minutes, the problem isn’t with his work per se. No, rather it’s that Definitely, Maybe’s eighteen track disc plays like a clichéd high school tease as just when Mansell's barely exited the set-up and moved into the song itself, the tune is over nearly as abruptly as it began. Despite this, it kicks off on a strong note with the album’s theme-establishing standout track “Will Hayes For President!” which could just have easily been titled “Download This Immediately,” as it’s a great song on its own.

And right away, we realize that we’ve been introduced to a softer side of Mansell than the masculine, hard-edged combination of metal, steel, and computerized techno offered in his earliest work for Aronofsky. In fact, initially, it seems as though he’s working in the same vein as Badly Drawn Boy’s score for the movie About a Boy and Mark Mothersbaugh’s work for Wes Anderson’s first few films (especially The Royal Tenenbaums).

However, some of the deliciously groovy, techno entrenched hooks, romantic guitars, and jazzy drums Mansell utilizes end far too quickly, making us crave longer, more complete tracks to revel in as a rather large majority of Definitely, Maybe’s singles average two minutes or less with a few concluding after just forty or fifty seconds. Thereby, it makes it hard to stay entirely invested or differentiate between some of the titles as a few feel like lukewarm, unfinished exercises in theme variation of the romantic motif he establishes in the first track.

And indeed, in the next four songs, “Here Comes Summer,” “For Emily (Whomever She May Be…), “April (Come She Will)” and “Jane Eyre,” he builds that theme to a passionate effect that’s pleasant to listen to as pianos, guitars, and other instruments are added in to reinvent the same theme but ultimately it still feels like it’s an unanswered musical phrase.

While admittedly, this fits in with the constant questioning the audience and Maya wrestles with throughout the film as we struggle to identify which woman became his mate, however to employ this musically makes it frustrating for listeners who want the phrase answered.

Moreover, I couldn’t help but wonder if additional romantic themes had been introduced (perhaps one for each woman) or some of the tracks which flowed into one another naturally had been joined for the soundtrack, if it would’ve benefited the experience, since it’s hard to imagine roughly thirty-four minutes of music filling the nearly one hundred and twenty minute running time of the film. While some nice playful musical exploration occurs in “Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Man” along with “Summers Over” (one of a few typos included in the track list), the brevity of the disc is bogged down as the same familiar theme creeps into nearly every song.

Although, to be fair, there are a few other standouts on the album, such as the painfully short forty second “Panic Situations” that sounds like vintage Mansell, the cool jazzy cocktail lounge feel of “An Evening At The Odeon” which wouldn’t have been out of place alongside David Holmes’ scores for Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven series, and another download-worthy, full-length track entitled “The Candidate.”

But the thing that’s the most heartbreaking is that some of the tracks such as “Sunday, Sunday” — which is staged like a rock song and would’ve benefited from a longer length and possibly lyrics — would’ve probably made outstanding songs in their own right, yet when they’re all packaged together as a whole, Definitely, Maybe’s Original Motion Picture Score mostly makes for likable background music on a Sunday morning. Needless to say, given the immense talent of Mansell, this is a major letdown. However, this being said, it did make me instantly return to some of my favorite titles from the composer’s catalogue like the incredible “Lux Aeterna” and wish that Definitely, Maybe had been given the “Lux” treatment.

My Blueberry Nights

Director: Wong Kar Wai

As Fabienne tells Butch in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, “Any time of the day is a good time for pie.” This is especially true when one is nursing a broken heart and in the first English language film from director Wong Kar Wai (one of Tarantino’s favorite directors), while love sick alcoholic police officer David Strathairn opts for shots and Otis Redding’s "Try a Little Tenderness" in a Memphis bar, beautiful singer Norah Jones decides on pie in New York with Jude Law in My Blueberry Nights. Gee, no offense to Redding and Strathairn but that seems like a no-brainer to this filmgoer as well, although like Ms. Jones and Mr. Kar Wai (IMDb), I’m not one for blueberry pie.

In her screen debut, Jones turns in a subtle, introspective and competent if admittedly unchallenging performance as Elizabeth, who, heartsick from her badly ended love affair with an unfaithful boyfriend, begins returning to the diner where she not only learned of the infidelity through the loyal owner Jeremy (Law) but also has offered up her keys as the latest set to fill his cookie jar of failed romance. Jeremy, who serves as the genial but unlikely go between for bitter exes, is all too familiar with Elizabeth’s story as his keys were one of the first ones dropped into that sad jar and while nobody ever seems to come back for the keys, Jeremy says that like the untouched, uncut dish of blueberry pie at the end of the night forsaken in favor of cheesecake, he likes to keep the keys and the pie there just in case. Relating to the tale and in need of distraction, Elizabeth’s ritual of coming in for pie ends in a gorgeous succession of shots with an obvious fairy tale homage as Jeremy leans over and upside down, manages to kiss the remaining traces of pie from the lips of the sleeping, heartbroken Elizabeth before she vanishes to Tennessee to get as many miles as she can away from her bad memories of the end of love.

However something unspoken has passed between those pie filled nights and tender conversation, and she continually sends Jeremy postcards and letters from her new life, working two jobs as a waitress in a greasy spoon diner and a bar, both of which are the daily haunts of Strathairn’s Arnie Copeland. Unable to divorce the unfaithful, much younger wife (Rachel Weisz) from whom he’s separated but still madly in love with, Arnie makes a promise every night that he’ll quit drinking, piling his one day AA chips on the bar, but with every time the jukebox record drops Otis Redding’s "Try a Little Tenderness" and Weisz saunters in, that resolution is helplessly abandoned.

After a tragic middle section, the episodic My Blueberry Nights moves out west to the tale of lady gambler Leslie (Natalie Portman) as she and Elizabeth become a mild Thelma and Louise until life catches up with them both. While Leslie’s story seems like an odd fit with the lovesick tales of woe, it does also concern a nonromantic heartbreak and serves as a nice release for audiences who were squirming in their seats, unfamiliar with the slow Kar Wai pacing and obsessions with the ends of affairs.

A Kar Wai fan since Chungking Express who still considers In the Mood for Love to be one of the most romantic films ever made, I was bitterly disappointed by the overly ambitious mess of 2046 that was so awful, it made my loyal film professor and movie going sidekick swear off Kar Wai and decide he would be the one to choose the next several films. And while My Blueberry Nights isn’t in the same league as Chungking or Mood, it’s still intoxicatingly sensual and filled with performers who instinctively feel at ease in Kar Wai’s gorgeous, impressionistic, and unabashedly romantic universe. And hopefully it will make filmgoers not only reach for the nearest slice of pie but hit the shelves of their local movie stores looking for the director’s best.

Note: For an in-depth analysis of In the Mood for Love alongside one of the films it influenced, Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, click here for my article.