TWO NEW FILMS PLAY VARIATIONS ON HOLLYWOOD’S FAVOURITE GENRE
HANCOCK **
DIRECTED BY Peter Berg
STARRING Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman
US 2008 92 mins.
YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN **
DIRECTED BY Dennis Dugan
STARRING Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui
US 2008 113 mins.
What am I? wonders Will Smith as Hancock. Beings like you have always walked among us, comes the reply; people used to call them angels or gods, “now suddenly it’s superheroes”. It’s been a summer of superheroes at the movies – led of course by The Dark Knight but also featuring Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, etc – and there’s more to come, with Watchmen already in pole-position as the big film of 2009. It’s not hard to think of reasons why the genre should be popular – people seeking super-leaders in a time of doubt and uncertainty; yearning for gods as the Western world grows more secular; refusing to grow up, wallowing in the adolescent pleasures of comic-books – but it may be getting close to its sell-by date. You can tell because we’re starting to encounter superhero movies that play with the whole concept of being a superhero – movies like Hancock, which offers the Superhero as Raging Asshole.
Hancock is indeed an asshole. Everyone tells him that, from a little boy he insults to a woman he bothers on the street. Admittedly, he fights crime – but he does it in a drunken stupor, smashing buildings, roads and highway signs along the way. The city of Los Angeles is fed up, especially since Hancock – who flies, needless to say – can’t even land properly, tearing up the asphalt on impact (“It was already like that,” he claims unconvincingly). Enter Ray (Jason Bateman), a kind-hearted PR man who’s so grateful when Hancock saves his life that he offers to change the reluctant hero’s image. From now on he must wear a uniform, like a proper superhero, and say “Good job” to the cops he finds at a crime-scene. The re-branding works, and Hancock is suddenly bigger than Superman.
That’s when the film goes in a different direction – which is not surprising (a) because a major star like Charlize Theron would never have accepted the role of The Wife if it were just a matter of simpering in the background, and (b) because Hancock is something of a one-joke premise. Yes, the reverse persona is amusing – but then what? It’s even more of a non-starter because Hancock is obviously a hero-in-waiting: he’s not a misanthrope, he’s just misunderstood, looking for love (“He just needs people to care,” explains Ray). If he occasionally hurts a baddie, punishes a bully or sticks a man’s head up another man’s backside – and you thought you’d seen everything! – it’s only because they’ve provoked him beyond endurance (like Marty McFly and “chicken”, he can’t abide being called an “asshole”). The film protects Hancock at every turn – just like Hitch (a previous Will Smith hit) protected Hitch, making sure he never loses audience sympathy. Actually, the two characters have a lot in common, both omnipotent when it comes to fixing other people’s problems, lost and lonely in their own lives.
That’s the most fascinating way to look at Hancock – as another chapter in the saga of Will Smith, Unhappy Superstar. As a film, it’s not that great. The first half is too obvious, despite a handful of funny gags; the second half (which I won’t describe, for fear of spoilers) overdoes the special effects and needed more twists and turns. Smith, however, is fast becoming one of the thorniest, most complex personas in Hollywood. Like Hancock, he’s a superhero – the most reliable star in the world, able to create a blockbuster by sheer force of presence. He can do anything he wants. Yet this is the third film in a row (after Pursuit of Happyness and I Am Legend) where he’s been essentially alone against the world. It’s the fourth film (including Hitch) where he’s been seeking love or companionship. It’s the second film that’s culminated in noble, yet melancholy, self-sacrifice. Why the long face, Mr. Smith?
Speaking of complex personae brings us to Adam Sandler, another actor, like Will Smith, who’s usually the whole show in his movies (he also produces them through his company, Happy Madison Productions). Sandler is a stew of contradictions – gentle and goofy, then explosively violent; often homophobic, just as often homoerotic; sticking up for the working-class, yet also fond of celebrity cameos (Mariah Carey and John McEnroe appear in this latest one). His jokes often seem to come straight from the id, without any rational filter. Why, for instance, does Zohan – the hero of You Don’t Mess With the Zohan – have a massive bush of pubic hair? (We don’t see it, but we hear all about it.) Why does this super-stud specialise in elderly and post-menopausal women, the more decrepit the better? I don’t know, but it’s pretty bizarre.
Zohan is a superhero – not for his amorous exploits, but for his work with the Israeli Secret Service; armed only with a terse catchphrase (“Zo let’s go!”), he thumps assorted Arabs including his nemesis, the “Phantom”. But Zohan – like Hancock – isn’t happy. His dream is to be a hairdresser, so he fakes his own death and decamps to New York where he soon finds his stylings (taken from an old Paul Mitchell catalogue) provoke more hilarity than admiration. Still, he starts a new life in the Big Apple, living in a ‘mixed’ ethnic neighbourhood where Jews and Arabs co-exist in mutual suspicion – at least till a ruthless developer who wants to destroy the community and build a mall finally unites the two factions.
First things first: is the film offensive? It’s awkward when a Jewish movie star makes a film about Israel – though of course, like Spielberg’s Munich, it’s impeccably liberal; apart from a forced equivalence, shrugging that “both sides are crazy”, the film is fair. The real problem, politically speaking, is that politics soon fizzle out. The early scenes, in Israel, have some pointed jokes, e.g. when Zohan is confronted by the inevitable rock-throwing intifada kids and not only plucks their rocks out of the air but delights the pint-size Palestinians by twisting their missiles into a rock doggy, in the manner of balloon animals (translation: the problem might be solved if both sides would remember that these children are children). Once we get to America, however, the edge is blunted – and the key scene is perhaps when Americanised Israelis and Arabs start to talk about the Problem, only to segue after 10 seconds into silly chatter about US politicians and their wives. Laura Bush isn’t bad, right? Yeah, but Hilary has that dominatrix thing going on. It’s a fair reflection of how (most) US audiences think about politics, but still quite depressing.
Alas, it’s not just the politics. The film fizzles out in general, after an opening 30 minutes which may be the funniest thing Sandler’s ever done. Clearly, he’s been keeping up with new trends in comedy, getting Judd Apatow (of Knocked Up) to co-write and heeding the success of Borat: funny foreigner Zohan, with his broad accent, addiction to hummus and retro tastes (“Disco!”) owes much to the Man from Kazakhstan. Much of the stuff in Israel is priceless, especially Zohan’s dinner with his parents (his Dad still goes on about the Six Day War). Even in New York, the film is initially funny – but slowly the jokes get thin, then irrelevant, then desperate, with McEnroe and Mariah, a cat-football interlude, Zohan’s bushy pubes and the “Phantom” as Rocky Balboa. We don’t even get a superhero ending – just a puzzling coda where the neighbourhood folk, having defeated the ruthless developer who wanted to build a mall, knock down the neighbourhood themselves and build a mall anyway. Is it subtext (proving they’re now ‘good Americans’) or just really strange? Zo let’s go.
NEW DVD RELEASES
Here’s our regular look at the more interesting titles released on DVD in the US and UK over the past few months. Some may be available to rent from local video clubs, or you can always order over the Internet: dozens of suppliers, but http://www.amazon.com (for US) and http://www.play.com (for UK) are among the most reliable, if not necessarily the cheapest. Prices quoted don’t include shipping. Note that US discs are ‘Region 1’, and require a multi-region player.
NEW FILMS
DIARY OF THE DEAD: Zombie movie in low-tech ‘Blair Witch’ style from George Romero, king of the genre (he made ‘Night of the Living Dead’ back in ’68). 2-disc package comes replete with commentary and featurettes. [US/UK]
PERSEPOLIS: Award-winning (and very enjoyable) cartoon about a girl growing up under the mullahs in Iran; extras include commentary and a Cannes Film Festival Press Conference. [US]
SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY: A “Buddhist meditation” that’s light as a feather; another masterpiece from the man behind ‘Tropical Malady’. Extras include a 15-minute interview with director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, plus his acclaimed short ‘Worldly Desires’. [UK]
GARAGE: Rural Irish comedy is a small gem, with stylized Beckettian dialogue and a splendid performance by comedian Pat Shortt as a simple-minded handyman. Extras include commentary. [UK]
CHOP SHOP: Another hidden gem: resourceful little boy makes ends meet in the junkyards of New York’s ‘Willets Point’ area. Very fine neo-realism with a superb lead performance. [US]
TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE: Oscar-winning documentary on the mistreatment of US prisoners-of-war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Extras include various featurettes. [UK/US]
OLD FILMS
THE FURIES (1950): Classic Western that’s really a fevered psychological melodrama, with Barbara Stanwyck in top form; deluxe package from the Criterion Collection includes the original novel (by Niven Busch) on which the film is based, dedicated by Busch to his mother “who has always wanted me to write a book about a nice woman – but who will, I am afraid, be disappointed once more”! [US]
BEFORE THE RAIN (1994): More from Criterion, a dreamlike drama from Macedonia (FYROM, call it what you will) that played Nicosia cinemas back in the day. Extras include mostly trailers and video interviews. [US]
IDENTIFICATION OF A WOMAN (1982): Cryptic, second-tier Antonioni drama from dodgy British label ‘Mr. Bongo’ (though in this case the transfer is apparently acceptable). No extras, but Antonioni fans will want this anyway. [UK]
DANIEL (1983): Powerful, too-little-known drama, loosely based on the story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed for treason in the 1950s. Great performances by Timothy Hutton and Amanda Plummer as adult children whose parents met a similar fate to the Rosenbergs, told in flashbacks. No extras. [US]
