Ji-woon Kim’s The Good, the Bad, and the Weird is a lively throwback to Sergio Leone Westerns—hence the title spin-off—and early martial-arts films. The movie is beautifully photographed and boasts an invigorating sense of adrenaline, but it’s also totally disposable. Given its outrageous-seeming 130 minute-running-time, I am tempted to say that many of The Good, the Bad, and the Weird’s problems that stem from a lack of substance could have been solved had director Kim and editor Nam Na-Young chopped it down by 45 minutes. But never once during the film did I feel as though I was bored—in fact, my senses were challenged with incredible “how did they do that?” imagery every step of the way—so I can’t say that the length was an issue. Instead, I think Kim has attempted to make the type of pulpy, substance-less action-film that only works when the director’s name starts with Quen- and ends with –tin Tarantino.
The premise is even simpler than that of the usual Tarantino film: a mysterious map is being carried and dozens of assassins are vying to steal it because of the treasure it may lead to. The competition is eventually whittled down to three, as you may have guessed: the good guy, the bad guy, and the weird guy. Lots of sweeping shots ensue. There’s a breathtaking sequence early on in which map-hunters are violently knocked off by each other, one at a time. There’s another particularly striking scene that results from a prominent character being kidnapped. Notice that I’m trying to keep the details to a minimum. Truth is: if I were to describe the best scenes in The Good, the Bad, and the Weird, then I would be robbing potential viewers of most of the movie’s charms, which are purely visual in nature. Without its images and its energy, the movie would be nothing. Whereas Tarantino’s Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction achieved substantial heft through well-written dialogue and cultural-commentary, Kim’s effort can only boast pretty pictures. Ultimately, The Good, the Bad, and the Weird, while not without its charms and entertainment-value, is only a motion picture in that indeed consists of moving pictures. 2 Buckets out of 4.
Next up was something much better.
While writer/director James Gray’s knack for crafting distinct moods and tones was readily apparent in last year’s We Own the Night, I would’ve never guessed from watching that dirty-cop flick that Two Lovers would be the poignant experience that it is. Told from the distant, yet still intimate perspective of the introverted, yet still charismatic Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix), who rebounds from a failed engagement by falling in love with two different women (Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw), the movie is erotic and unpredictable—often at the same time.
The titular lovers that Leonard finds himself almost uncontrollably pursuing couldn’t be more different: Sandra (Shaw) is the daughter of a Jewish businessman working to merge his dry-cleaning company with Leonard’s father’s and Michelle (Paltrow) is the drug-addled upstairs-neighbor who’s dating a married corporate-hack but has a subconscious need for chaos that drives her to Leonard. Leonard is trapped in the middle of the two, still not fully recovered from his failed previous relationship and thus allowing the whims of the two women—Sandra is obsessed with him and Michelle texts him late at night when she feels lustful—to influence his own. And despite the fact that Leonard is rather reserved through it all, the viewer feels a deep bond with him – his frustration, his passion, his confusion, his regret, his longing. All the while, he experiences a quietly complex relationship with his parents (Moni Moshonov and Isabella Rossellini), who are the ones who first introduce him to Sandra and would like to see him marry her but silently realize that Michelle is electrifying his existence.
Much of the movie’s poignancy rests in the performances of Phoenix, who crafts a multi-dimensional man out of a sparingly written character, and Paltrow and Shaw, both of whom lure the viewer in just as they do Leonard. But all of the emotions are anchored by Gray’s deft direction. Structurally, Two Lovers is more complex than its simple love-triangle might let on; each time Leonard shifts back and forth between the two women, substantive character-development is achieved. The structure also maintains a sense of suspense that enhances the story: because the viewer doesn’t know which of the two Leonard will ultimately be with—if he ends up with anyone at all—they are able to feel the frustration and passion involved in his constantly switching mindset. Gray also deserves credit for co-writing the movie’s screenplay with Ric Menello, but it’s the way that Two Lovers is assembled that makes it the stirring picture it is. Great acting and filmmaking make this one a must-see. 3-1/2 Buckets out of 4.
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