Action from male and female heroes!
Posted by terrencetodd | Filed under Black Eye, Gigs
27 Monday Apr 2020
Action from male and female heroes!
Posted by terrencetodd | Filed under Black Eye, Gigs
28 Sunday Apr 2019
The term “Stockholm Syndrome” occupies such a curious space in our lexicon. We all know and understand the interdependent co-enabling relationship it defines, but I, for one, have never questioned when and how the term was birthed onto the cultural landscape.
In Stockholm, we’re given an answer. Based on writer-director Robert Budreau’s interpretation of a story from The New Yorker about a 1973 bank heist and hostage situation in Stockholm, Sweden, the term’s origin flounders in absurdity and cross-cultural stereotypes that should have sunk any hopes of ever achieving social and psychological relevance.
This is not to take away from Budreau’s storytelling. As a fan of his 2015 festival feature Born to Be Blue, about a period in the life iconic Jazz man Chet Baker, I certainly went into Stockholm open to his exploration of this signature syndrome. And it doesn’t hurt that Stockholm allows him to extend a creative partnership with Ethan Hawke (who wonderfully embodied the rich and wounded grace of Baker in Born to Be Blue).
Hawke has entered a noteworthy phase in his long career where the roles he’s choosing are in synchronicity with this particular point in his life. He has moved into a full-on adult moment, just shy of what might be considered middle age, which means he hasn’t quite left behind the possibility of portraying a character suffering from arrested development. But he can do so and show us just how ludicrous the person is while still hanging onto a sense of humanity.
This is, in fact, what he does in Stockholm. His character — who initially dubs himself “The Outlaw” when he enters into negotiations with the police after taking over a bank in the titular city — has a long-haired wig plastered on his head held in place with a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and a leather jacket with Texas flag on the back. His duffel bag of equipment for the job includes an automatic weapon and a radio, so he can listen to tunes that calm the less than savage beast lurking within him. The Outlaw fashions himself as a poet — he loves Bob Dylan songs —and a man living in a world losing touch with its principles. Set in the early 1970s, he’s a cartoonish wannabe hippie with a gun and a grin playing games that aren’t as fun or funny as he hopes they are.
His (and the film’s) saving grace is Bianca Lind (Noomi Rapace), a bank employee with a level head and a deeply buried romantic spirit. From the moment he brandishes his weapon, Lind expertly makes all the right moves. She trips the alarm, refuses to back down despite obvious fear, and becomes the focal point of The Outlaw’s attention, which allows the bank customers and most of the other employees to flee. The Outlaw has little need for a large contingent of hostages; he’s barely able to keep himself in check.
When he demands the release of Gunnar Sorensson (Mark Strong) — a master bank robber and his partner-in-crime — it soon becomes clear that he has plans for more than a bank heist. In every exchange with the police, The Outlaw seems to wing it, asking for things as they pop into his scatter-brained head. He wants a getaway car like the one Steve McQueen drives, money ($1 million U.S. dollars, not easy to get and spend during a getaway in Sweden), and a constantly fluctuating array of supplies. It’s obvious the guy walked in without much of a plan, but he definitely has lady luck on his side.
Lind is his charm. Rapace aids and abets Hawke and Budreau as best she can. There’s a lovely and quite erotic exchange between Rapace and Hawke as he explains a plan and helps her slide into a bulletproof vest. That delineates what occurs between captors and hostages once lines are blurred, and Rapace shows how hostages can usurp control with nothing more than an unwavering gaze.
If only the rest of Stockholm had risen to this level. The narrative mimics the ragtag approach of its central figure, and while Hawke does his best to keep him engaging, we don’t truly get the sense that he’s worth spending time with or saving. Ironically, Stockholm fails to live up to the syndrome it inspired. (In theaters) Grade: C-
Posted by terrencetodd | Filed under Black Eye, CityBeat Archives
01 Wednesday Sep 2010
Posted Black Eye, CityPaper Archives
inLisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), now and forever to be known as The Girl, is the most intriguing fictional creation to come along in quite some time. How many cyber-hacker pixies with bisexual tendencies, photographic memories and extremely violent reactions to men who abuse women arrive so fully formed on the screen? I suppose we should thank Stieg Larsson, the crusading Swedish journalist who created this sensational Girl as the centerpiece of his Millennium Trilogy, but we should also cry to the cruelest of Fates who took him away from us before he was able to extend her life even further in print, which would have provided for more movies.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the first book in the trilogy, burst onto screens in the U.S. just a few short months ago, having already conquered the European box office. All three books were adapted fairly quickly, allowing for Music Books Films, the U.S. distributor, to generate serial buzz with a schedule that matches each new multiplex debut with the DVD release of the previous installment. And, of course, there’s increased hype associated with the feverish hunt for the Hollywood version of The Girl to headline David Fincher’s remakes.
None of which would be possible, if The Girl wasn’t THE Girl. And therein lies part of the problem with the second installment in the series – The Girl Who Played With Fire – and the highly anticipated remakes. Dragon Tattoo introduced the troubled savant Lisbeth and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), the journalistic do-gooder intent on toppling all of the corrupt evil-doers in Sweden and maybe even beyond, with style and a thrilling sense of drama as separate and distinct players in a much larger game that unfolded in a tantalizing narrative that strung each strand along before weaving them together. It was a risky gambit that paid off, in part because we knew nothing of Rapace and Nyqvist or these characters.
With Fire, the cat is already out of the bag, so the film and its narrative is much more conventional and our expectations for both the performers and characters are already firmly in place. It is a treat to delve into Lisbeth’s past and see how the tables have turned, with Blomkvist racing in to protect Lisbeth rather than needing her to save his bacon. Larsson wrote these stories with enough smarts to downplay the action heroics in favor of multi-perspective espionage and police procedural elements instead. Even so, when push comes to shove, The Girl is Bourne-ready to give as good as she gets. This installment is not quite as hot as Dragon Tattoo, but the heat is definitely on and ready for her to kick it up a notch or three next time. (tt stern-enzi)