The ever-reliable Jeff Daniels and the stunning Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The LookoutAs I sit here listening to James Newton Howard's 39-minute score to The Lookout on endless repeat I am struggling to come to terms with the fact that I haven't seen this many good films in one year in ages. Already this year we've had 7 films that are essential viewing: 3:10 to Yuma, Breach, Eastern Promises, Michael Clayton, Superbad, Tell No One and Zodiac are all A- quality. And now along comes a film that wasn't even on my radar until last week and it goes straight to the top of the pile.
The Lookout is by first time director Scott Frank, whose distinguished writing career has seen him write for Spielberg and Soderbergh, amongst others. Now he turns his attentions behind the camera (although he's directing his own original screenplay) and has had the good sense (or maybe it was his casting director) to employ Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Levitt is, by any measure, one of the most consistently interesting actors of his generation. Lead roles in the very highly regarded indie films Brick and Mysterious Skin reveal his good taste in projects (everyone's allowed one mistake: his is a supporting effort in the straight-to-video Shadowboxer with Cuba Gooding Jr and Helen Mirren).
Here Levitt has taken on the role of Chris Pratt, a young, carefree, high school student with the world at his feet. However that lasts just 2 minutes as a tragic accident costs him a huge chunk of his brain, reducing his life to labeling appliances with what they're used for and jotting down even the simplest of tasks in case he forgets to do them. Chris earns a living cleaning at the local bank and understandably yearns for his old life back. When a stranger befriends him and offers him just that, Chris becomes embroiled in a scheme to rob the very bank he works at.
Once again though I find myself not wanting to focus on the plot because this is very much a character-driven movie, and, like Eastern Promises, features a captivating performance from the lead. Chris Pratt is a guy tortured by the knowledge, if not the memory, of that fateful night of the accident. Levitt's restrained and powerful acting conveys this wonderfully well; you sense the enormity of Chris' guilt and frustration not through histrionics or outbursts but in his silences and pauses. Levitt's maturity as an actor betrays his years and I for one felt a wealth of empathy for his character. This surprisingly emotional film has it's flaws. It's a little predictable: you know exactly where it's going fairly quickly, but it's how it gets there that's important. The Lookout gets there with grace, with rich characters, stunning cinematography, the best score I've heard in a couple of years and that amazing lead performance. Very highly recommended.
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9 comments:
Sounds very interesting, might have to go and see this. You're on a bit of a roll with quality films aren't you!!!
Haven't seen the film yet but the score is awesome!
The subject matter seems a little bit like Palookaville, have you seen that?
Didn't like Palookaville but say it so long ago it may be worth me seeing it again.
You have good taste see? i told you... I've been listening to the score every day since I saw the film. If there's any jusice in the world it'll be Oscar nominated, but of course it'll be totally overlooked.
Have to say that we have good taste in music :) and hope the Oscar judges have it too.
Btw, would like to know between plot driven and character driven film, which do you guys prefer to see?
I don't think I have a preference. You can't really have a great film that lacks plot nor can you have a great film that lacks interesting characters. There are probably exceptions though. I suspect Matt prefers character driven pieces. I do get hung up on the plot sometimes, particularly when unbelievable or illogical things happen. It can ruin a film for me.
From my DVD collection, I think I prefer character driven than plot driven films.
Just saw The Lookout trailer, very interesting. It's already on my wish list!
I'm pretty much with Adam. Rarely can you have one without the other. I actively, though, dislike The Conversation which is generally thought to be one of the greatest character studies in film history and this did surprise me. The reason I disliked it so much is because the plot did not make sense in relation to the character. I could not believe a supposed super-paranoid guy would suddenly let his guard down and inexplicably have a party in his work space. It just made no sense.
If a film leaves its own reference of reality (whatever that may be) I find that very difficult and some films (e.g. The Matrix) go down in my estimation precisely because of stupid, unexplained, gaping plot-holes.
'Plot' can also be a greatly misunderstood word I guess. I mean The Station Agent (for example) doesn't really have much of a traditional 'plot' but you can't take your eyes off it because of the superb characters and the lives they lead. Great films collapse the two into one, i.e. everyday life you are glued to. Ditto, I guess, my favorite film of all time, Ikiru.
"Great films collapse the two into one, i.e. everyday life you are glued to."
Nice!
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