I´ve read the Spanish main paper´s and magazine´s reviews over the weekend...
Old school critics in Spain hated the movie with a vengeance, but others simply loved Herzog´s vision and Nic´s performance. They say Nic managed to find some tenderness in Terence´s destroyed personality. They´re comparing Nic in this movie to Orson Wells in Touch of Evil, to Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground, and to a lesser extent to Hauser and to Bruno S. in Stroszek and Kaspar Hauser (Herzog´s films of the 70´s). All in all, great compliments for our man.
-- Edited by mara on Monday 11th of January 2010 09:00:25 AM
Ok, I´ll open fire and answer my own questions. In my very personal opinion,
Fish = tenderness
Iguanas = the cruelty of the natural law of the survival of the fittest
Fish tank in last scene = Terence´s mind trying to come to terms with the apparently happy turn of events. I think he´s pondering the irony of it all, hence his final smirk
What about you, guys? I would love to read your thoughts here... Don´t be shy!
-- Edited by mara on Monday 11th of January 2010 08:58:45 AM
Hey, I just had an idea: maybe we could have some fun trying to interpret some stuff from the movie. For instance, what do you think the silver spoon stands for? Or the iguanas? The fish? Come on guys, what do those of you who have watched BL think?
To cut a long story short: I think the movie is brilliant, and in fact I liked it so much that I saw it twice in a row. It was fun to see how diverse people react differently to the same work of art. The first audience were mostly cultured types and they sat through the entire movie in complete silence. The second audience was a younger crowd, with many expats scattered, they were much more responsive and laughed at the right (shocking) moments I believe to fully grasp this movie you have to keep your sense of humor active. Laughing sad, not hard, BTW.
I think Nic shines in his own characteristic way. I think his performance was a tour de force with a touch of the surreal. He accomplishes quite a feat as the Bad Lieutenant: he actually manages to take grace out of a disgusting human being. How can he still ring true through all these weird mannierisms? I´m talking the hunched back, the heroin slurred speech, the coke euphoria, the monstrous crack guffaws. Paradoxically there´s subtletly in there. We are in awe to this guy´s cheeky evilness but at the same time Nic is making us silently root for him, right after watching him do the most abject stuff and oh how he keeps us alert throughout the movie, challenging our suspension of disbelief. As a Spanish critic puts it: Cage puts his OTT antics to good use as a brechtian detachment of sorts. He´s equally vulnerable when he sweetly tells Frankie about his secret childhood spot and when he grossly threatens the life of the two elderly ladies out of rage and frustration. It´s a fascinating performance, and nobody else but Nic can pull it off. Oh, and he actually looks the part with the sole aid of his deranged eyes.
I think the rest of the cast is really good, especially the first man being interrogated and Terence´s stepmom, who were spot on. Eva Mendes turned out a surprisingly decent performance I think.
I loved Mark Isham´s score (this is the same guy who composed the NEXT score, which I loved even more).
Oh, and last but not least: my gratitude to Werner for the surreal stuff and his iguanas stellar moments, they´re truly priceless! Also, he doesn´t try to glamourize the more derelict face of New Orleans, and deals with the corruption with the kind of non-judgemental tone of a documentarian, which is a plus. And the ironic happy ending is a stroke of genius IMHO. Evil people usually get away with it all, but here there´s more than meets the eye, as the dreams of fish would tell us if only we could dream like fish LOL!
-- Edited by mara on Saturday 9th of January 2010 08:33:11 AM
Well, Almodóvar was sitting three rows behind me, but I still could hear his small talk distinctly. I arrived first in line (can you tell I couldn´t wait?) and therefore had to kill time during 10 minutes while people were taking their seats. Then suddenly I heard this guy talking loud, I overheard "the female role is a tie-in" and "but of course we´re very happy for the nomination" and I thought, this is someone from the industry. Which is not unusual in a Madrid theater showing subtitled movies. When I turned round I was starstruck. Pedro Almodóvar watching a Nic Cage movie with me (sort of, LOL!)
( Digression: I heard him once praise Adaptation, which he saw in LA when he received his second Oscar. He said he had appreciated how people in the Academy Awards ceremony supported him, andhowNic and Jack Nicholson had clapped enthusiastically at his Oscar. He said "the first row of the theater at the awards was completely with me". He was never known for his modesty, which is one of his charms, LOL!)
The thing is, I was dying to know what he thought about the movie, and tried to keep up with him while leaving the theater, but lots of people were getting in the way, so I could only hear him say something about "a brilliant mind" before the two guys who were with him whisked him off, that´s all.
But hey, Nic, Pedro Almodóvar actually braced the freezing temps and duly paid his ticket to see your movie in the first showing on opening day! That means his interest was picked. It´s great that pros do appreciate their peers´ fine work!
My own take on the movie in the next post.
-- Edited by mara on Saturday 9th of January 2010 08:41:50 AM
