A Bigger Splash

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Luca Guadagnino/Starring: Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Matthias Schoenaerts, Dakota Johnson and Aurore Clement

I usually detest remakes; finding them an unnecessary and inadequate copy of the original but Italian director Luca Guadagnino's A Bigger Splash, which re-imagines Jacques Deray's 1969 La Piscine, establishes its own dramatic identity. Guadagnino transports the original story from the French Mediterranean to a Sicilian retreat, where psycho-sexual tensions motivate the characters actions. Guadagnino's film is a sensual delight. Hedonistic diversions serve as opportunities to not only unshackle the sexual potential of a friendly sojourn, but also crash a couple's almost inviolable marriage.

The premise is something we've seen a billion times before; a small group of people gather together in a scenic retreat presumably to relax and enjoy one another's company. What follows thereafter is also something we've seen many times before; characters dealing with barely suppressed acrimony, sexual tension and past resentments, which eventually erupt. In this case, the end result is extreme and tragic. Though the plot is hardly new, Guadanino's cast makes the story's psychological richness compelling.

Tilda Swinton plays Marianne Lane; a rock star of considerable renown, who, with her documentary filmmaker boyfriend Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) decide to rent a place in Sicily for a getaway that serves in a large part as a convalescent retreat. Marianne has just had throat surgery, which has rendered her literally speechless--or nearly so. While Marianne recovers from her surgery, Paul recovers from alcoholism. From what we see of their physical relationship, we can safely assume Paul and Marianne are very much in love.

But their blissful state is interrupted by the arrival of Marianne's old flame and Paul's former friend and collaborator; Harry Hawkes (an exuberant Ralph Fiennes) and a beautiful, young woman he introduces as his daughter; Penelope Lannier (Dakota Johnson). From Marianne and Paul's reactions to his presence, we can safely gather they aren't entirely happy to see their manic friend, for reasons partly obvious.

As the parties spend time under one roof, respective back stories come to the fore in flashbacks as we see Marianne and Harry from long ago when their passionate relationship burned stellar hot. We also see Harry and Paul in the past during the making of a music documentary. After Harry asks Paul if he would like to meet Marianne, the documentarian eagerly assents. Harry's act of generosity comes back to haunt him after Paul and Marianne's relationship becomes viable. Interestingly enough, we never see Paul and Marianne interact in a flashback.

Though Marianne seems firmly committed to Paul, Harry slowly makes attempts to seduce her and woo her back. Meanwhile, Penelope begins her own slow seduction of Paul, who resists her in spite of her powerful sex appeal.

The sensual charms of the Sicilian milieu are irresistible not only to the characters but may be to the audience as well. Guadagnino spares none of our senses. The group's naked or half-naked bodies delight the eyes while the island's culinary pleasures tempt our palates. A delectable sight of a large fish cooked and coated in a thick layer of breading is but one of the film's gustatory visuals. A scene where Harry shares a memory from his professional life as a music producer on the Rolling Stones' album Emotional Rescue serves as prelude to his actually playing the song of the same name for the gathering, who fall under the music's enchanting spell. No one is more carried away by the music than Harry, who ends up outside, rapturously overcome by the music.

The contrasts in personality between Harry and Paul are very conspicuous. Where Harry always seems annoyingly "on" and always game for a good time, Paul is more reserved and introspective. As the film moves along and Harry's play for Marianne becomes more aggressive, one might wonder which man is better suited to be her companion. Everything in Harry's nature seems related to his passion for music, which makes he and Marianne the rock star, the more logical pairing.

As the four loll about the pool and wander about the arid surroundings, the tension begins to build. Harry presses Marianne for sex, hoping to rekindle their former relationship while Penelope never tires of assailing Paul's nearly impenetrable wall.

During a village festival, Harry commandeers a karaoke machine in a town bar. Harry's spirited performance begins to draw a large crowd. During one song, he waves Penelope over. She joins him in a sexy, highly inappropriate dance that raises a few eyebrows in the village.

As Harry and Penelope's vacation nears an end, all the pent-up tension detonates, resulting in a tragedy that seems almost inevitable.

The story's conclusion leaves the audience with several questions. When Paul and Penelope wander off on a day-long walk, does he finally give into temptation as she stands beside a rocky pool, naked and inviting? Is the father/daughter relationship between Harry and Penelope really a sham? Are they in fact, lovers? Their relationship is called into question when Marianne and Paul discover Penelope is actually 17 though she has claimed all along to be 22. And Penelope's cold demeanor toward Marianne is that of a jealous rival rather than a daughter.

A film like A Bigger Splash relies heavily on its cast to handle its rich psychology, which is not a problem for someone like Tilda Swinton, who excels in roles like Marianne. Schoenaerts' broody performance is a perfect counterpoint to Fienne's Harry, whose emotions and simmering sexuality are never concealed. Harry's sexual power is a bomb blast that spreads in all directions. We even see its subtle, barely perceptible effect on Paul. Fienne's performance is almost over-the-top but he grounds his character enough to make him credible. He certainly makes everyone else look as though they are grossly underplaying their parts. I don't know that Johnson's character is drawn as well as her co-stars but she handles her role well enough.

One would think Guadagnino might indulge himself in visual sweeps of his Sicilian home but he never goes for breathtaking pans or arresting long shots of the island's topographical beauty. Though the surroundings are very much in evidence, he never lets the film become a mere travelogue.
Guadagnino leaves us with unsolved mysteries that he wisely avoids addressing. We come away from the film, having had an intoxicating, sensual experience. Behind the epicurean delights and Mediterranean sunshine is an engaging but ultimately tragic story.

Far From the Madding Crowd

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Thomas Vinterberg/Starring: Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge and Juno Temple

With costume dramas, one never knows what one will get. Will the film be a dry, airless Merchant/Ivory production or will it be a visually sumptuous delight, like Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility? It's nearly impossible to predict. But with a talented director like Thomas Vinterberg (Celebration, The Hunt) behind the camera, one can be sure the adaptation will be anything but two hours of stilted dialogue and ladies with bonnets resting daintily on their silky curls.

Given the fact the film is an interpretation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel, we have a good idea of what we will see. But as it's heroine, Bathsheba Everdene (an excellent Carey Mulligan) is keen to express in the film; "It is my intention to astonish you all." One could just as easily believe the mission statement belongs to Vinterberg. In sharing his heroine's resolution; his Far From the Madding Crowd achieves nothing less. Though other versions of Hardy's novel have found their way to the screen, Vinterberg's makes its own statement, visually and dramatically.

Set in rural England in the 1870s', the story's main persona--Bathsheba, inherits a manor; replete with a considerable staff. Bathsheba is hardly a typical landowner for the times, as we see when she attends an auction to sell the bounty of her farm. The exclusively male buyers and sellers look askance at Bathsheba; almost insulted by a woman's presence. But Bathsheba is no shrinking flower nor anyone's patsy; she proves to be a shrewd business person, as one buyer discovers.

We also meet Gabriel Oak (the limitless Matthias Schoenaerts), a hard-working farmer whose property abuts Bathsheba's. Gabriel meets his comely neighbor one day while tending to his vast flock of sheep and is instantly smitten. He wastes little time proposing marriage to her in his forthright manner, which startles Bathsheba. Though she isn't immune to Gabriel's rugged handsomeness, she is quick to assert her staunch independence which comes with an aversion to marriage. In a coquettish moment, she tells Gabriel that he lacks the means to tame her. Dejected, Gabriel walks away.

Not soon after, Gabriel experiences a devastating loss when one of his dogs drives his entire flock off a cliff before he can intervene. An image of golden, morning sunlight bathing a beach littered with sheep carcasses is a fascinating juxtaposition of beauty and grisly death.

Unable to recover financially from his loss, Gabriel is forced to sell his property, leaving him with little choice but to earn a wage on another farm. That he finds himself a shepherd on Bathsheba's estate is one of the story's bitter ironies.

But Gabriel isn't the only landowner who succumbs to Bathsheba's charms, for a William Boldwood (Michael Sheen, terrific as always), whose sprawling estate betrays considerable bounty, also wastes little time proposing marriage. Like Gabriel, William's offer of comfort and prosperity is countered by Bathsheba's articulated disdain for marriage.

Though Bathsheba seems steadfast in her determination to be unwed, a young, handsome soldier named Francis Troy (Tom Sturridge) changes her mind. Startling Bathsheba one night in the forest, he immediately makes his attraction known, causing her to shrink from his advances. But in the days ahead, his good looks and seductive power overcome her, which make marriage inevitable. Gabriel, ever the friend, warns her about Francis; knowing something of his past. Thoroughly charmed by the young soldier, Bathsheba dismisses his reservations.

Earlier in the story, we watched as Francis' wedding to a young beauty named Fanny Robin (Juno Temple) was aborted when the bride inadvertently arrived at the wrong church. Believing himself to be rejected, Francis leaves the church in humiliation and heartbreak. Knowing this, it is easy to regard Bathsheba's marriage to Francis with trepidation.

Gabriel's warning proves to be prophetic, for Francis becomes the most undesirable husband. Showing little but contempt for farm-life and frittering Bathsheba's income on gambling, Francis' life becomes one of dissipation and idleness. But a chance meeting in town with his erstwhile fiance, Fanny Robbin, reawakens his passion for the young woman. Fanny tells Francis the baby she carries is his, which spurs him to action. He promises to help rescue her from the loathsome mendicant's life in which she finds herself. In promising Fanny money to relieve her direly stressed condition, Francis runs afoul of Bathsheba, who questions his need for more money.

As Bathsheba's marriage deteriorates, Francis disappears, leaving everyone to think the worst. Believing Bathsheba to be eligible, Boldwood throws an elaborate party to renew his courtship but his hopes are dashed when Bathsheba reiterates her desire not to marry him. Outside the party, Bathsheba discovers a figure emerging from the darkness, which we see is Francis. Unchastened by his disappearance, his aggressive demands of Bathsheba lead to a violent confrontation that prompts a despondent Boldwood to take desperate action, with catastrophic consequences.

I fell into Vinterberg's story and kept falling. He did astonish and in many ways. Beautiful camera work, performances from several very fine actors and a masterful use of color made Vinterberg's film a fully imagined and aesthetically realized work.

I found Mulligan to be a superb Bathsheba. Mulligan has the kind of face that would drown in innocence if not for fiercely intelligent eyes to counter the onslaught. Bathsheba is at once aware of herself and her unique position of privilege in a male-dominated society but is also naive when it comes to matters of the heart, as her terrible relationship with Francis attests. Mulligan captures this contradiction beautifully.

Schoenaerts is quickly becoming one of cinema's premier actors. In the past few years, I've seen him in wildly divergent roles: as a pugilist in Rust and Bone, as the heavy in last year's The Drop and now as the Job-like Gabriel Oak. What is particularly astonishing about Schoenaerts is his ability to affect accents without a trace of his native Belgian in his voice.

Does Bathsheba maintain her independence after battling for its preservation for so long? Does Hardy and hence, Vinterberg, fail her by having her become love's prey? Does she betray her ideals? Though the story finds a happy ending, I couldn't help but think so, as I'm sure other movie-goers will as well.

I doubt Far From the Madding Crowd will make much of a splash, but I found it absorbing and nicely done. I was glad to be spared the Masterpiece Theater treatment; its cinematic value was very conspicuous. See it while you can in a theater before the T.V. screen denigrates everything that gives it distinction.

The Loft

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Erik Van Looy/Starring: Karl Urban, James Marsden, Wentworth Miller, Eric Stonestreet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Isabel Lucas and Rachael Taylor

The murder/mystery The Loft, which tells the story of five friends who find a murdered woman in the loft they co-own and share for extramarital trysts, is so overcrowded with red-herrings and inexplicable lapses in logic that by the final half-hour, one is overcome with exhaustion. And with that weary exasperation comes a powerful indifference to the characters and the outcome. The beginning isn't bad, the middle falters some then the end staggers into some sort of unsatisfying resolution.

Karl Urban (on leave from Star Trek, where he makes a terrific Dr. McCoy) plays Vincent Stevens, an architect of some renown who, with his other pals Chris (James Marsden), Luke (Wentworth Miller), Marty (Eric Stonestreet), and Phillip (Matthias Schoenaerts; how he suffered slum free-fall from the film Rust and Bone is anybody's guess), agree to share said loft in a building of his own design. The film views their philandering as a matter-of-fact, which is just how the friends view the loft. Vincent offers it as a safe alternative to potentially compromising hotel rooms. He presents each of his friends with a key, which comes with some basic loft rules; one is that each owner must alert the others when it is to be used and another is that its existence be kept from everyone not part of the circle.

The film begins with an interrogation, as some of the friends sit before detectives, reluctantly fielding questions. We discover soon after that a blonde woman lays bloody in the loft bed. Luke is the first to discover her and after a moment of shock, he quickly contacts the others. Before long, the friends are all gathered and looking askance at one another; leveling accusations and trying to decide on a course of action.
The woman's identity isn't immediately revealed, which is supposed to be a sly attempt to create suspense--and further the mystery.

The story backtracks a year (as these films tend to do) to give us a sense of how the friends became embroiled in such a mess.
We see the five men in attendance at Phillip's wedding. Phillip's wild, volatile nature makes him unlikely candidate for marriage but his personality will later incriminate him. The other men are not unlike Phillip; dudes with raging libidos, always prowling for members of the opposite sex.

Chris eyes a blonde bombshell named Anne (Rachael Taylor), who happens to be the lover of a prominent city official. Anne's blonde hair immediately qualifies her to be the dead woman on the bed or is it another red herring? The two begin a heated affair, and to complicate matters, he falls in love with her.

Their wives register as mostly dull shrews, particularly Chris' wife Allison (Rhona Mitra), whose humorless severity alone makes her a suspect. The only wife with any personality is Marty's, who seems to be more flesh and blood than the others.

A key sequence in the film involves Vincent, Luke and Marty as they meet in San Diego for fun and frolics. During a night out at a bar, Vincent meets his own blonde object of desire; a woman named Sarah (Isabel Lucas), which also leads to a torrid affair that will impact not only on his marriage but his friendships as well.

While the men argue in the present about what to do about the dead girl and whether to contact the police, one of them discovers a message written in blood on the bed stand; a Latin phrase that translates to "fate will unite us;" a cryptic message whose meaning eventually becomes clear.
The use of Latin is useful, plot-wise, for it serves as yet another red herring when Phillip's father-in-law just happens to use Latin casually in conversation. It is a coincidence that is too coincidental, which makes the diversionary tactic easily dismissible.

It eventually becomes known that Vincent was in the loft the day before the murder, which quickly positions him as the chief suspect though again, such a revelation would oversimplify the plot. We know the culprit's identity lay elsewhere.

The woman's identity is eventually made known to the group (and us), which should make it easy to assign guilt. But again, that would be too easy.
As the police question the friends and the corpse threatens to ruin their lives, it comes to light that Luke had been secretly taping the trysts; which naturally invites the wrath of the others. Though the footage of Vincent's visit should, in effect, solve the mystery, the plot conveniently calls for Luke to have not recorded the tryst. And why would a friend record his best friends' sexual adventures? That bit of expository business is revealed later, which will damn one of the friends and provide motivation for the retribution they eventually seek.

As the messiness begins to unravel, we come closer to a resolution as the the truth behind the mystery is laid bare. Though it comes as a surprise, it isn't a particularly interesting or all that plausible. It is merely one component in a narrative that is mechanically conceived and executed.

The denouement proves to be something of an anticlimax. My eyebrows started to feel heavy as the story began to drag on.

I didn't care enough about any of the characters to really care about the story, which in many ways is nonsensical. Van Looy fails to establish any kind of suspense nor does create situations that feel like the real world.

For men who are supposed to be educated, they behave in ways noone with even a small clump of brain matter would. While staring at the dead body, a few of the friends start messing with the crime scene though most people would have the good sense to leave it uncompromised. And why would anyone befriend such a vile human being like Marty, who wears his misogyny like a gaudy tie and who can't seem to open his mouth without something offensive spilling out? But then again, how many men in the story can be said to have redeeming virtues, or even one? It isn't an imperative that characters be likeable but how many of the characters in this film make for intriguing scoundrels? Many questions and yet, I wasn't interested enough to want to know the answers.

The Loft proves to be nothing more than a shoddily constructed mystery/thriller. A group of friends confronted with a dead woman isn't a new plot device. I was reminded of the equally inane film, Very Bad Things, where a celebration in Las Vegas leads to a woman's death. At least that film was played for laughs.

Maybe it's time to retire this threadbare, cliched premise.

The film will languish, no doubt in theaters until it surfaces on DVD or streaming in the not-too distant future. Unless you can't bear to not know how it all ends, I wouldn't wait around for it.

The Drop

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Michaël R. Roskam/Starring: Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini and Noomi Rapace

Based on a short story by Dennis Lehane, The Drop is a taut, gritty drama that sustains an atmosphere of anxiety and relentless dread. Director Michael R. Roskam keeps the story burning at a white-hot pitch while Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini and Noomi Rapace match the film's intensity with bravura performances.

Tom Hardy plays Bob Saginowski, who, with his cousin Marv (the late, great James Gandolfini), run a bar that operates as a drop-off for Chechen mobster's ill-gotten money. The bar's former owner was Marv himself; a once-respected and feared underworld figure whose subservient status as the Chechen's safety-deposit box causes not a little pique. Bob and Marv are no strangers to the dangerous and deadly world around them, but one can't help but feel unnerved as they do when the very menacing Chechens come to collect the drops.

After the drop money is robbed one night at the bar, we learn the heist was arranged by Marv himself as a prelude to a bigger score he has planned. When the Chechens learn the drop has been stolen, their terse demand that the money be found carries a tacit threat both Marv and Bob understand and respect.

While walking home one night, Bob hears a whimper coming from a trashcan resting in a residential yard. Looking inside, he finds a pit bull puppy who has been abused and abandoned. The act draws the attention of the woman who lives in the home, who comes rushing out to see Bob comforting the puppy. Bob reaches out to the woman named Nadia (Noomi Rapace) for help, which she reluctantly offers. Nadia balks when he offers her the dog but she agrees to watch him for a few days while Bob contemplates an alternative to keeping him. When Nadia loses her waitressing job, she asks Bob for a job caring for the dog when he's at work, which he agrees to. A romance slowly forms between Nadia and Bob as he begins to warm to the puppy.

But nothing in Bob's world is free-from-threats, for a shadowy, low-life named Eric Deeds (terrifically played by Matthias Schoenaerts, co-star of the acclaimed Rust and Bone) begins asking about the dog; even showing up at Bob's house to demand the puppy's return. Citing paperwork and a computer chip embedded under the dog's skin as proof of ownership, Bob naturally refuses. The dog's batter state is Bob's reasonable rationale for keeping the little canine. When Deeds asks that Bob pay him $10,000 for the dog, he also threatens to have the police intervene, and carrying the threat further, he mentions how he may "forget to feed the dog" once he regains ownership. In time, Bob learns that Deeds is Nadia's ex-boyfriend, which only intensifies an already overwrought situation.

A Chechen mobster breathing down Bob and Marv's necks, Eric Deeds' creepy stalking and a dog imperiled make for a nerve-racking narrative stew. Bob's imminent showdown with Deeds and Marv's hair-brained scheme to steal the sizeable Super Bowl drop dovetail in a climactic finale.

There is so much to like and admire about The Drop. All the performances are exceptional. Tom Hardy is an endlessly fascinating actor. Not only is his Brooklynese accent sound, but he never overplays his character. Bob's superhuman unflappability, seems imperturbable until late in the film. Gandolfini could play men like Marv blindfolded but he didn't cruise through the role. He finds the virtues and moral failings in Marv that make him both sympathetic and treacherous.
Rapace is a specialist in portraying intensity and wounded beauty. Being paired with Hardy seems very natural. Both can play characters whose violent emotions simmer just below the surface.

But it isn't only the principal cast who excels. Matthias Schoenaerts is a scary presence and like foreign actors Hardy and Rapace, handles his accent expertly without sacrificing performance. For the few scenes Michael Aronov appears as the Chechen mobster Chovka, he is difficult to forget and is absolutely frightening. Like Schoenaerts, he doesn't have to actually be violent to leave the audience feeling uneasy and thoroughly intimidated.

Roskam captures the grime of Brooklyn backstreets and a dark, seedy, warehouse district, which seem light-years removed from gentrified Manhattan often seen in the background.

The story isn't perfect but for a short-story adaptation stretched to feature-film length, it holds together well. The Drop isn't only an effective crime film but an ideal herald for the fall film season. It's also a reminder that James Gandolfini's passing was a tremendous loss to the world of cinema.