Counting Down the Zeroes 2001: Heist

Here is my second entry (fourth overall) for Film for the Soul's brilliant, and impressively exhaustive inventory of the films from the 2000's, Counting Down the Zeroes. The film I chose for my second go-round with the films from 2001 was David Mamet's underrated thriller Heist. And don't forget to check out the other fine entries at Film for the Soul.


Heist opens with a classic 1940’s black and white Warner Brothers symbol; setting the mood throughout that this is going to be a classic noir picture: haggard criminals who do "one last job", heists gone wrong, double crosses, double speak, brilliant actors who play bad guys that steal every scene they're in, and of course there's a femme fatale. Heist is also like those classic 1940's noir films in that it's heavy on attitude and style; it's a noir with filthy, wonderful Mamet language. David Mamet’s 2001 film is one of his least revered, and it’s understandable if you’re a Mamet veteran, than everything in Heist seems second rate compared to his much better films. However, I feel like Heist is one his most entertaining films: it has arguably his greatest cast spouting off some of his most hilarious dialogue (although State and Main gives this film good competition; and no I’m not counting Glengary Glen Ross because Mamet didn’t direct that.).

Heist is a typical Mamet film – a con on top of a con on top of a con, and I’ll be the first to admit that this is definitely his most convoluted thriller that definitely reminds the viewer of the better cons he’s pulled: House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner. If you’re well versed with Mamet and his con films, then nothing here will likely surprise you; and perhaps that’s where some of the backlash or laissez faire attitude comes from in regards to Heist. There’s still some fun “gotcha” moments that one expects from Mamet, and as always, the dialogue is hilariously irreverent, inane, nonsensical, and of course brilliant.


The story concerns Joe (played by Gene Hackman in on of his last truly great performances) a semi-retired criminal who seeks the good life because he’s been “burned” (caught on tape) after a recent jewel heist goes wrong. He’s accompanied by his team: Fran his wife (Mamet’s wife, and muse, Rebecca Pidgeon), Bobby (the always great-to-see Delroy Lindo), and Pinky (Mamet stalwart Ricky Jay). The group meets with Bergman (the invaluable Danny DeVito, who gives one of his best performances – the man was born to be in a Mamet film) and his nephew Jimmy (Sam Rockwell) to go for one last score: a Swiss airline is bringing in a ton of gold and they’re going to steal it.

And from there the typical Mamet plot conventions kick in. When they finally get to the big heist scene the plot is under a cloud of suspicion; a position that Mamet prefers the audience is in. The heist scene is wonderfully staged, but as is the standard with most Mamet films, you can never be quite sure if what you’re seeing is supposed to the real thing, or a magic trick, a clever ruse to fool the unsuspecting victims in the film. Therefore, some of the tension is subdued because Mamet veterans know that what you see is not what you get…so you’re constantly waiting for that “real moment” to happen. Still, it’s a damn fine heist scene (although my enthusiasm may be a tad tame since I just watched the greatest heist film ever made a few nights ago, Le Circe Rouge, so this pretty much pales in comparison to that film’s seminal, and masterful heist scene).

It’s no use trying to explain the intricacies (or contrivances) of a Mamet plot, so I think the best thing to do for the rest of the review is to give an example of why we all watch Mamet films in the first place: the insanely brilliant and nonsensical dialogue. Here are some of my favorite bits from the movie, enjoy:

Coffee Cart Man: Hey buddy. You forgot your change.
Joe Moore: [Takes the change] Makes the world go round.
Bobby Blane: What's that?
Joe Moore: Gold.
Bobby Blane: Some people say love.
Joe Moore: Well, they're right, too. It is love. Love of gold.

Fran Moore: Stay in the shadows.
Joe Moore: Hey, everybody's gonna be looking in the shadows.
Fran Moore: So where's the place to be?
Joe Moore: The place to be is in the sun

Bergman: “My nephew Jimmy Silk, yup, that’s who he is.”

Bobby: “You know why the chicken crossed the road, because the road crossed the chicken.”

Bergman: “Everybody needs money. That's why they call it money.”

Jimmy: So, is he going to be cool?
Pinky: My motherfucker is so cool, when he goes to bed, sheep count him.

Jimmy: No one can hear me.
Joe Moore: No one can hear what you don't say.
Jimmy: Hey, I'm as quiet as an ant pissing on cotton.
Joe Moore: I don't want you as quiet as an ant pissing on cotton. I want you as quiet as an ant not even thinking about pissing on cotton.

Pinky: It's a shame you know what, we didn't actually get to do the thing, the swiss job. It's a beautiful plan.
Joe Moore: Cute, huh?
Pinky: Cute as a pail full of kittens.

Pinky: Oh my, oh my. Go sell chocolates you Heidi-motherfuckers, go sell cukoo clocks, we got your gold!

Jimmy: How long has he been with that girl?
Pinky: What girl is that?
Jimmy: His wife.
Pinky: How long is a Chinaman's name?

Bobby Blane: Sometimes adrenaline gives people the shakes, some might think it's cowardice, so maybe you'd want to pray about it.
Jimmy: I'm not a religious man.
Bobby Blane: There's nothing wrong with prayer. We knew this firefighter, this trooper, who always caried a bible next to his heart. We used to mock him, but that bible stopped a bullet.
Jimmy: No shit.
Bobby Blane: Hand of God, that bible stopped a bullet, would of ruined that fucker's heart. And had he had another bible in front of his face, that man would be alive today.

Bergman: Where's the gold?
Joe Moore: In the heart of the pure.


Back to the film: The acting is great across the board here, and there’s no doubt that Danny DeVito was made to make a Mamet film. It’s too bad DeVito wasn’t around during the heyday of noir; he could have had a lucrative career playing the slimy crime boss. He has a great scene here where people start shooting each other and he wildly tells people to stop shooting because they can talk it out. It’s a hilarious scene that I can really only imagine someone like DeVito executing.

Gene Hackman is his usual great self, here, and really this film acts as a reminder of how much I miss seeing Hackman in films today. It’s too bad Hackman hasn’t really made anything since. He pulls off the beleaguered Joe really well, and he more than handles Mamet’s dialogue. It’s just a shame that this great actor retired with Welcome to Mooseport as his last film.

Despite all of the praise I’m throwing at this seemingly mediocre picture, it’s not as if I don’t understand the negative response towards the film. Perhaps the expectations were too high, though, and considering the last film he made of this ilk was the brilliant The Spanish Prisoner, I think it’s fair to say that some people haven’t given Heist a fair shake due to unfair comparisons.

I feel like this era of Mamet is one of his finest, and most underrated. In 2000 he made the fantastic comedy, State and Main, then followed up with this extremely enjoyable thriller, and then later came Spartan, a film I think is one of the most criminally underrated of the noughties (I know I’m probably alone in that camp, but I think the film is brilliant.).

Heist is a film that becomes clearer, not more ridiculous, upon second viewing, and that’s what I love about Mamet films – most films of this ilk worsen upon subsequent viewings because the holes in the plot become bigger, more noticeable; however, with Mamet’s con-game films, they become richer with each viewing.

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Film Snapshots: Redbelt, The Wrestler, Shotgun Stories

I've knocked three more films off my year-end to-do list (all three were wonderful movie experiences), but sadly I just don't have the time to give them proper full length reviews. I'll make sure I give the good ones justice in my 2008 best of list at the end of this month. Next on the list I'm going all foreign with the following films: The Edge of Heaven, Tell No One, and Let the Right One In. Onto the movies!

Redbelt

David Mamet's most simplistic con to date; which is not to say the film is simplistic or dull. Redbelt is easily the most accessible Mamet film, and really it's nothing more than a art house version of a Rocky type film. But, I was completely sucked into the story, and I love it when a movie shows me a world I know nothing about. Unlike The Wrestler (which is great, but I'll get to that in a moment), where nothing really surprised me because I am such a fan of professional wrestling, Redbelt shows me a world of martial arts, the philosophies within that discipline, and the world of mixed martial arts (MMA). All of the acting is great here as the actors show they are more than up to the task in handling Mamet's rapid stop-start dialogue, but it's really the performance of lead man Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mike Terry, the man who gets deep into it when all of the noir trappings come into play (mysterious woman walks into business, over-friendly strangers, etc.); his performance makes you care about it all. It's why I loved the film so much. Sure the ending is a little 'meh', but I was glad Mamet stripped away some of the more confusing elements to his con films (like say The Spanish Prisoner) and made this film more in the vein of his previous work Spartan, which I also loved. I think it's one of the most entertaining movies of the year.

The Wrestler

Where Mamet's Redbelt showed me the behind the scenes of a world I didn't really know much about, Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler seems old hat to me. However, I'm not saying that the movie isn't extremely entertaining, involving, and boasts one of the years finest performances. The story has been told a million times, but here we get it in the arena of professional wrestling. I can see where some people, who know nothing about the faux sport, would be a little shocked that some of the 'bumps' are real or that these performers know their roles (heels or faces) and the outcome of their matches (scripted pre-bout and all) before they even step into the ring. I can also see where some people will think it shocking that these guys really do hurt and bleed. There is a wonderful moment in the movie where Randy "The Ram" (Mickey Rourke) is preparing a razor blade and taping it to his wrist so that when he gets his in the head, he can do what is called "blading", where the wrestlers make it look like they really did get busted open, but in reality it's more of a 'controlled' cut designed to be busted open further by the ensuing punches to the head. I liked all this insider stuff, but I already knew a lot about so I was really relying on the characters to be interesting and sympathetic.

Marisa Tomei plays a stripper named 'Cassidy', she never reveals her first name and the I liked the relationship between her and Randy; two performers who are past their prime and only performing for a niche audience. In Randy's case it's the school gyms and dance halls for older fans still holding onto that bit of nostalgia, the wrestling of yesteryear that makes them feel young again. And for Cassidy, well there is an early scene that establishes she is really on there to perform for Randy, and men of his ilk. I like the correlation Arronofsky draws between these two performers and the fact that Tomei's character is a little more at peace with where her life is leading her. She's ready to move on (she has a kid) and live a real life, Randy still wants to perform. Even when Randy 'retires' (which is what most of these wrestlers do, they retire only to be sucked back into this profession of pain because they need the money so badly) he still performs as a wrestler would when he takes on a job at the local deli counter. In a great scene that mirrors his entrance to the wrestling ring, Arronfsky's camera follows Randy through the halls and stock rooms of the grocery store until he parts the rubber curtains to the deli counter and begins his new persona.

I had some problems with what seemed like a tacked on sub plot with Randy trying to reconcile with his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood), but I guess it was needed because so many of these guys do abandon their family because if they are any good at what they do, the promoters want them on the road 360 days a year. It's a ridiculous commitment and sacrifice that these guys make, and it's no wonder that most of them can't have a family and stay off of pain pills or stay away from performance enhancing drugs, because so much is asked of them. The familial metaphor is strong in the film as Aronofsky seems as surprised as anyone that these guys who beat each other up in front of the camera, are the only real family any of them have when they get back stage.

Randy makes a crucial choice at the end of the picture, and it wasn't all that surprising to me, but I could see where those who know little to nothing about the men of professional wrestling (and how shallow most of them are) might see Randy's final decision as some sort of surprise. It's dramatic, but it's far from surprising, and I think that's what soured me on it just a tad. However, with all of that said, I really loved this film. Nothing would make me happier than to see Micky Rourke up there winning an Oscar for the role of his career.

Shotgun Stories

Writer/Director Jeff Nichols has created a Southern Gothic, family tragedy on par with David Gordon Green or his master, Terrence Mallick. Shotgun Stories has the same feel, the same look, and the same ear for the nuances that make these stories about "dead ass towns" so appealing; stories that David Gordon Green has used to make some of the most beautiful visual poetry I've ever seen in movies. Nichols doesn't quite capture the visual poetry part down (although there are many beautiful shots in the film) but he does have the distinct locations and all-too-real dialogue down. The film plays like a revenge picture throughout, but it has unpredictable and unconventional outcomes. The story is about three brothers Son, Kid, and Boy (named by an alcoholic father) who learn of their fathers death. They show up at the funeral, Son says some unkind words, and a fight almost breaks out at the funeral; a fight that has something deep to it, something underneath the surface that finds its way into every scene. It's amazing the amount of tension in the film where convention says there isn't really anything 'happening' on screen (again reminding me of Green).

When their father died he became a born-again Christian and started a new family. That set of brothers have always hated Son, Kid, and Boy, and the feeling is mutual. This is the basic premise for Shotgun Stories which is anything but a basic film. It's astonishing that this is Nichols' first film, and even more astonishing is how close it comes to falling into overblown melodrama, but his characters act as real people would act, not as if they were the design of a conventional movie script. Consider the exchange when Son's mother comes to his door to tell him about his fathers death, when asked when the funeral is she flippantly states: "you can find out in the newspaper." There is something so deep and bruised with that relationship I am so thankful that Nichols doesn't explore it in some awful, conventional, manipulative Hollywood manner. When tragedy strikes the family again, Son goes to visit his mother this time to tell her the news, she just turns and stares at him and goes back to her gardening. If this were in the hands of a mainstream studio there either would have been major over emoting going on, or a schmaltzy reconciliation scene; instead the viewer is dealt with the cold truths of reality.

I stated earlier that I like when I am invited to a place I've never been to before in the movies. Shotgun Stories supplies that place. A place where button up shirts are fancy, taking your girlfriend to the buffet is a big deal, and where blood feuds are serious business. There are choices made at the end of the film that make the whole tense ordeal worth while, and I'm glad because I cared about these brothers so much that when tragedy seemed imminent, I was glad to be proven wrong.

I want to say one more thing about actor Michael Shannon (he was in one of my favorite movies last year, Bug): his portrayal of Son is one of the best of the year. Here's an actor who is a unique dramatic force and presence on screen, and I can't wait to see what his future in film holds because he looks to be one of the best young actors working today. Kudos to him on a phenomenal performance that relied heavily on the viewer being able to come to conclusions by reading his face.

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