Blu-ray Review: The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005)

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I’m just going to go ahead and blame it on Bagger Vance. The only thing worse than watching golf on television is watching a really dull movie about golf. And sure enough, this was precisely the case when I brought my golf-loving grandfather to the theatre in 2000 to see Robert Redford’s The Legend of Bagger Vance and realized that not only was I bored out of my mind but my grandpa had actually fallen asleep while we’d been sitting there in the futile hope that something interesting would happen. And for those of you who suffered the same fate, I think it's safe to say that, man, nothing ever did.

Famously described by Mark Twain as “a good walk spoiled,” I must admit that I’ve never been a fan of traditional golf myself aside from, of course—much like getting a kick out of going with my niece and nephew to Chuck E Cheese to play Skee-Ball and shoot hoops—using every opportunity I could come up with to hit a mini golf location while growing up.

There was just something so satisfying about putting a ball through a paint-chipped ‘70s style Flintstones meets fairy tale land that never quite resonated with me in the official version of the game. Mainly it's because golf always seemed like a stuffy pastime considering that the the sport has been dominated by the privileged, wealthy, and mostly white middle aged male demographic (before of course, Tiger Woods became the notable exception).

After suffering through the mind-numbingly anticlimactic work that was Bagger Vance, I wasn’t exactly up to checking out a 120 minute period film about the sport when actor turned filmmaker Bill Paxton’s The Greatest Game Ever Played hit theatres in 2005. However, at least the 2005 film had the bonus that Vance didn't since Bagger again condescendingly cast a talented African-American actor (Oscar nominee Will Smith) in a stereotypically thankless role of helping white people find their way a la Whoopi in Ghost or Don Cheadle in The Family Man.



Yet this was definitely not Bill Paxton’s fault as I’d been a huge fan of the risk-taking actor who's consistently and passionately pursued lower budget indie films as well as larger studio works moving from One False Move to Apollo 13 to A Simple Plan before directing the incredibly underrated and intelligent shocker Frailty.

Likewise, I was also impressed by the employment of an old professor’s filmmaking colleague and friend—the talented cinematographer Shane Hurlbut --whose versatility and ability to light up sequences so that they simply popped as he did in HBO’s lauded The Rat Pack led to higher profile pictures sharpening the gorgeous oceanic landscape of Into the Blue, the overlooked rom-com Something New as well as We Are Marshall, Semi-Pro, Swing Vote and most recently Terminator: Salvation.

And now thanks to Walt Disney’s underdog sports themed double release of this film along with Gavin O’Connor’s Miracle onto Blu-ray this month--no doubt to tie in with Father’s Day-- I was finally given the push I needed to take a chance nine years after the Bagger incident had occurred when the studio kindly sent me this film for review.



Still dubious that I’d enjoy a golf movie—even one that starred the [then] up-and-coming charmer Shia LaBeouf who is currently attempting to break box office records this week with the release of Michael Bay’s sequel to the smash hit Transformers-- I’m thrilled to admit just how wrong I was when I became utterly mesmerized by Disney’s film which deservedly earned Paxton’s first studio helmed effort a Heartland Truly Moving Picture Award.

Described by the filmmaker as not just a true story “that everyone could relate to” but also one that is likewise “the first underdog story in American sports"-- his passion to make the movie for the studio that crafts underdog stories better than all the rest (Invincible, Glory Road, Remember the Titans) shines through right from the beginning of the piece.

The work which screenwriter Mark Frost adapted from his book chronicles the unlikely match-up of amateur twenty year old golfer Francis Ouimet (LaBeouf) who managed to battle his golfing idol—the British champion often dubbed the game’s best player in Stephen Dillane’s Harry Vardon—for the ultimate victory to win the 1913 U.S. Open Championship.

Much like Miracle, which found our young American and relatively inexperienced players psychologically and physically outmatched, LaBeouf’s Francis Ouimet—a former caddie and son of two immigrants—is equally out of his league, trying to better his game by studying the one perfected by Vardon which he’d broken down in his nonfiction work on his golf methodology.

However, while we never got to meet the opposing team or see them as anything other than the opposition in Miracle—the fascinating thing about this film is that Paxton and Frost take the time to fully develop both characters whom we realize have much more in common than one would assume. Moments into the movie we discover that both grew up as poor underdogs near golf courses (or in Vardon’s case being evicted from his property as a child so that a course could go where his home had been) and later they realize that despite being naturally gifted with a club and a ball, they’ll never be respected as “gentlemen” of the game.



The emphasis on class differences and the elitism of some in the field in their treatment of the players as they climb the ranks hoping to be treated as equals makes the nearly one hundred year old story still resonate quite strongly today. Furthermore, it’s even given a great Disney outsider addition when Ouimet hires a fifth grade, ten year old caddie named Eddie (Josh Flitter) who almost manages to steal focus from the entire movie towards his adorable, supportive presence.



Yes, of course there’s a few plot points that feel a bit forced to make certain that the movie completely follows the genre mandated pattern such as Ouimet’s crush on the wealthy club owner’s daughter that’s cast aside when the game begins in addition to a few other minor crises about their struggles to prove themselves worthy and overcome the psychological aspects and feelings of insecurity. However, the filmmakers bravely switch up the typical presentation of these events.



Unafraid of venturing into the fantastical area of magic realism that one has a license to incorporate into filmmaking-- Paxton makes the intriguing, assured and incredibly effective decision to bring their insecurities to life visually via Vardon’s memory of the men in black hats who took over his land as a child when his nerves threaten to overtake him on the golf course.

Equally powerful in his decision to make sure the game never comes off in easy quick shots of the ball flying through the air and a cut to where it lands, in the last almost full hour of the film which brings us right inside the game, Paxton illustrates his commitment to “celebrate” the beauty of golf as a game by bringing in a “sequence conceptual consultant” to film CGI enhanced shots.

Thus he enables us to view golf in an entirely unprecedented way often with a constantly moving camera. Making it just as appealing as a brightly colored mini golf course, the filmmakers use rapid editing and the seamless movement of slow motion to fast motion as we zoom in to see a lady bug on a ball, we feel like we’re soaring through the trees along with the golf ball, and go underneath the tee to watch a swing from a vastly different angle.

In doing so, Paxton, Hurlbut, the technical consultants and his editor Elliott Graham take a "kids in a candy store approach" to cinematic trickery in a technically imaginative style with the decision not to let the 1913 setting pigeonhole them to a classic period production feel.



Although some may have a problem with the anachronisms they infer from the “show-off” style—by pulling out all of the rabbits they can find in the black hats of the men that haunt Vardon--Paxton has set his film apart in a way that not only manages to entertain on a higher level than most by-the-numbers underdog stories but also as a work of art that I feel should be mandatory viewing for film school editing, special effects, and cinematography courses.

And now it's heightened even more so on Blu-ray in the longstanding, typically exceptional Disney tradition of an ultra clear transfer of the film to its full HD 1080 pixels. Further boasting sound that manages to capture everything from the wind blowing leaves on trees to the sound of the ball moving through the air—it’s the best way to experience the picture in tandem with numerous extra features including two separate commentary tracks, a rare news archived video of Ouimet in the ‘60s, and behind-the-scenes footage wherein Paxton thanks every single major crew member by name.



Still, far from just dazzling us with what they can do in a way that LaBeouf likened to Paxton’s decision to shoot it “more like a war film”-- with the use of mini remote controlled looking airplanes attached to cameras and choreographing everything in addition to story-boarding the scenes to break it down again and again-- admirably throughout the film, The Greatest Game Ever Played always remains emotionally satisfying from start to finish.



Much more than just a golf movie and one that honestly manages to top most of the other Disney features from the underdog true sports sagas they’ve become as known for as animation—Paxton’s film is a remarkable hidden gem that’s well worth your time, even if you’re still suffering from post-traumatic Vance disorder.

DVD Review: Savage Grace (2008)

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The Independent Spirit Award
Nominated Film

Arrives on DVD
12/23/08

Read the Book

"I'll give you all I've got to give
If you say you love me too
I may not have a lot to give
But what I've got I'll give to you
I don't care too much for money
For money can't buy me love."
-- The Beatles, "Can't Buy Me Love"
(1964)

The thing about the Bakelands is that they knew damn well that money couldn't buy them love from others but did everything within their power to buy themselves enough to make them love themselves. And to this end they succeeded brilliantly... at least for awhile whether it was in the form of fancy parties, gorgeous couture, expensive jewelry, lessons in the fine arts, languages and ultimately in the form of travel from one country to the next when they inevitably wore out their welcome nearly as quickly as they arrived.

"Known everywhere, [and] loved nowhere," as Roger Ebert wrote, the tragic tale of the Bakeland dynasty, with money being inherited down three generations from their Bakelite plastics empire which was "used in everything from cooking utensils to nuclear bombs," provides incredibly provocative, kinky, and overwhelmingly tragic storytelling fodder for director Tom Kalin and screenwriter Howard A. Rodman (working from Natalie Robins and Stephen M.L. Aron's award-winning book of the same name).

Alternately as plastic as Bakelite utensils themselves and as radioactive as their deadly weapons, in a behind-the-scenes featurette, Kalin discusses his decision to break down the enormous source material into five distinct "days" serving as near chapters for his Greek tragedy construct as he moves from what he considered to be the "key turning points in the story" as it spans several decades.

Beginning in post World War II New York, its initial conflict seems to fixate on the tense marriage between Brooks Bakeland (Stephen Dillane) and Barbara Daly (Julianne Moore) as in the opening scene she manages to wheel and deal her way into putting together an extravagant guest list for a dinner in a classy restaurant and uses her same smooth feminine wiles and titular savage grace to bend everyone (including her husband) to her will. While they parade around elegantly attired, their manners crumble over dinner when Barbara begins asking salacious questions of their guests. Barbara-- a woman who aspired to socially climb with the best of them yet managed to push everyone away with her tenacity and lack of tact-- a switch seems to flip in Barbara at any given moment from the height of external sophistication and poise to narcissistic confrontation and hedonism without any warning.



The problems within the marriage and in both Brooks and Barbara who seem a bit thinly drawn in the ninety-eight minute running time only escalate as Kalin moves locations and time periods and leads us into their world from the point-of-view of their son and the film's narrator, Tony (Eddie Redmayne). Although forced out into the world and able to effortlessly grasp languages and societal rhythms in Paris, Spain and London, the contradictorily fragile and sheltered son forms a creepily close bond with his mother Barbara that moves from simple over-coddling to eventually incest as he ages into a homosexual and both find themselves sharing her most loyal "walker" Sam (Hugh Dancy).

With Tony's father out of the picture after he manages to seduce a young Spanish beauty that Tony has brought home in the '60s, Barbara and Tony grow increasingly needy and codependent in a relationship that feels even more sinister than the ones penned by Tennessee Williams at his most provocative and indeed at times, the film's self-consciously flowery and honey-tinged dialogue seems as though it were trying to weave gold from the dirt in the manner of Williams (especially Suddenly Last Summer and The Glass Menagerie), Albert Camus' absurdist morality tale The Stranger, Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, the Greek tragedies of Sophocles, and the films of Douglas Sirk which were used to stunning effect for both Grace actress Moore and its producers on the far superior Far From Heaven.

An uneasy and extremely disturbing exploration of "what humans are to one another" and "how attached and detached" they can be at the same time as Dillane notes in a DVD extra-- while the actors are all uniformly excellent, Kalin's direction is solid and the film is almost the most unsettling in how gorgeous it looks with the combination of set, costume, lighting, cinematography, and production design despite the horrific goings on. Yet ultimately it's far too cold in its execution to earn anything more than just startled fascination.



In addressing the key turning points as Kalin aspired-- he and his writer Howard A. Rodman nonetheless failed to flesh out the characters in a way that even begins to foreshadow Tony's underlying violent tendencies or schizophrenia (although the symptoms of mental illness seem prevalent in his parents) and we're never completely sure what the thesis of the film is aside from wanting to craft a visually beautiful yet incredibly haunting tragedy of the bold and beautiful and/or rich and famous.

Always riveted by fact based pieces such as Capote's In Cold Blood as he notes in the IFC Channel Special extra on the stunning DVD transfer from The Weinstein Company, Genius Entertainment, and IFC Films, with Savage Grace, director Tom Kalin releases his first film in fifteen years after his critically acclaimed feature Swoon, which chronicled the thrill-killers Leopold and Loeb formerly made famous in Alfred Hitchcock's fictional Rope.

And while he's an undeniable talent who seems to have a great eye for exploring American scandal and Grace is an impressively well-made feature that will inevitably get you thinking, it's much more surface-level in its approach. For, without enough depth below the surface as he builds and builds a tale of an empire except instead of a brick foundation, it tumbles down like a house of cards. Ultimately, we're given an arduous third act with a rushed conclusion and not enough psychological exploration of the three Bakelands to evoke much more than pity, a terrible unsettled feeling, and fascination of the way that money can't even buy three such shallow people anything close to love-- not from others-- but from themselves.