I found another movie on my list of “want to watch” movies the other day on TMC. I’ve found some gems on TMC rather than on the high profile channels Showtime or HBO.
The movie is The Lookout. It is a smart, tense small-town film noir that isn’t flashy or fast paced.
It’s star, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, also was in the move Brick that I liked. (He is probably most well known for his part on 3rd Rock from the Sun.) The director, Scott Frank, was writer for the movies Minority Report and Get Shorty. This is his first movie directing and I think he did a nice job.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the main character Chris Pratt. He was a well to do, former state hockey star with a beautiful girl friend and everything going for him.
In a brief, careless moment of showing off, he was responsible for a terrible car accident that killed two of his best friends and left him with brain damage.
Similar to the movie Momento, Chris’s memory loss gives him the need to write everything down in a notebook.
In particular, Chris has difficulty "sequencing" -- remembering in what order to do things. This makes even opening a can of tomatoes a difficult task, one of hundreds he faces every day.
He works as a lonely night janitor in a small bank and goes to therapy classes. He shares an apartment with a blind man named Lewis (Jeff Daniels). (Jeff is excellent as usual.)
Lewis was helpful with Chris' sequencing problem, explaining how you start with the end result you want and then step by step work backwards doing what needs to be done to achieve each level. (This is helpful at the end of the movie.)
Chris meets up with a some people that want to take advantage of his job at the bank (meaning rob it). They treat him like he is normal. All Chris wants is to meet some people that he can be friends with like before his accident.
The movie has a nice look to it. There are desolate road scenes that remind me of Fargo. The look of the quiet, rural, small town stores at night is right on – down to the yellowish glare the streetlights reflecting off the snowy streets and sidewalks.
3 comments:
wow, that looks right up my alley. That'll be the next movie I see...I love Jeff Daniels (Fly Away Home is one of my favorite movies).
Most movies that I enjoy never seem to be flashy or fast paced...my favorite is A River Runs Through It, so that should tell you something. (Also Legends Of The Fall, Silence Of The Lambs and Rounders...hey, I love poker).
Thanks for the heads up...when Ty & Fiona are back it'll be movie night. ;)
I thought I should say "movie" one more time, just for good measure. I really should learn to edit before I post.
You crack me up. You mentally edit like I do. I'm on the lookout for repeats of words too. (notice double use of You when not needed above - exactly what I meant)
Legends of the Fall is a perfect example of that type of movie pacing. Rounders was a great movie but I dread seeing the scene where they are playing with the state cops - I knew nothing good could come of that.
My favorite Jeff movie is Something Wild with Melanie Griffith (check it out).
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