The Lookout

The ever-reliable Jeff Daniels and the stunning Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Lookout

As 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.

A