![James Vanderbilt](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTM1NzY0NTk4M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTA4MzcxOA@@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR1,0,140,207_.jpg)
![James Vanderbilt](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTM1NzY0NTk4M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTA4MzcxOA@@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR1,0,140,207_.jpg)
This review was written for the theatrical release of "Zodiac".
The notorious San Francisco Bay Area serial killer might have eluded law enforcement agencies for decades, but the compelling cat-and-mouse story that is "Zodiac" never escapes the virtuoso grip of director David Fincher.
Firing on all cylinders as a creepy thriller, police procedural and "All the President's Men"-style investigative newsroom drama, the smart, extremely vivid production oozes period authenticity.
Factor in a highly capable cast led by Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and a never better Robert Downey Jr., and you've got yourself a picture -- one that should handily nab audiences hungering for something a little more substantial than broad comedies or campy escapism.
Time and place are effectively established the first time we see the man known as Zodiac strike, during 1969 Fourth of July celebrations on a secluded lover's lane in Vallejo, Calif., where he walks up to a car and matter-of-factly fires at its occupants, fatally killing the driver and seriously injuring her male passenger.
Cut to the newsroom of the San Francisco Chronicle, where, a month later, a crudely written letter to the editor arrives in the mail from the man claiming responsibility for that shooting and an additional two murders.
His knowledge of certain details that only the police would know captures the attention of the paper's star crime reporter Paul Avery (Downey Jr.), while an enclosed portion of a cipher that purportedly offered clues to the killer's identity triggers what would become a lifelong obsession for Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal), a shy but intrepid editorial cartoonist who isn't content to live life on the sidelines.
Graysmith uses his not-so-spare time to work on cracking the code, when not hovering over the colorful Avery's desk trying to pick up additional shreds of information about the case.
Meanwhile, despite the dogged efforts of the San Francisco Police Department's high-profile homicide inspector, Dave Toschi (Ruffalo) and his partner, Inspector William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards), the murders mount and the letters keep coming as the years continue to pass without an arrest.
Fincher, who, as a child growing up in the Bay Area in the early '70s was well aware of the bogey man known as the Zodiac killer, has transformed those primal childhood fears into his most accomplished film to date, and his most fully contained effort since 1995's "Seven".
While those murders are staged for maximum chill, the story's newsroom and police department settings are equally effective. Working from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt (who is working on a screen adaptation of "Against All Enemies", the memoir by former terrorism czar Richard Clarke), based on Graysmith's book, Fincher keeps all the components neatly integrated.
He also uses clever visual touches to mark the passing years, particularly a time-lapse sequence replicating the erection of San Francisco's iconic Transamerica Pyramid.
His cast is uniformly splendid, but if the Zodiac killer got away with murder, then Downey ought to be charged with grand theft larceny given how often steals his scenes away from his competent co-stars. It's a performance, along with Chris Cooper's in "Breach", that should be remembered when awards season comes around again.
While there are a few instances where the energy dips a bit in the 2 1/2-hour film (especially when Downey isn't around), things always manage to kick back into gear.
Behind the scenes, Harris Savides' digital photography really brings back the visual textures and color palettes of that late '60s-to-early '70s period, as does Donald Graham Burt's evocative production design and Casey Storm's costuming.
On the aural end, veteran composer David Shire takes on his first film assignment in several years with an appropriately moody score, while music supervisor Randall Poster deserves a special shout-out for a song selection that digs deeper than the usual top 10 offerings, incorporating psychedelic pop from the Animals, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Santana and Donovan to transporting effect.
ZODIAC
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures present a Phoenix Pictures production of a David Fincher film
Credits:
Director: David Fincher
Screenwriter: James Vanderbilt
Based on the book by: Robert Graysmith
Producers: Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Bradley J. Fischer, James Vanderbilt, Cean Chaffin
Executive producer: Louis Phillips
Director of photography: Harris Savides
Production designer: Donald Graham Burt
Editor: Angus Wall
Costume designer: Casey Storm
Music: David Shire
Music supervisor: Randall Poster
Cast:
Robert Graysmith: Jake Gyllenhaal
Inspector David Toschi: Mark Ruffalo
Paul Avery: Robert Downey Jr.
Inspector William Armstrong: Anthony Edwards
Melvin Belli: Brian Cox
Sgt. Jack Mulanax: Elias Koteas
Melanie: Chloe Sevigny
Running time -- 157 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The notorious San Francisco Bay Area serial killer might have eluded law enforcement agencies for decades, but the compelling cat-and-mouse story that is "Zodiac" never escapes the virtuoso grip of director David Fincher.
Firing on all cylinders as a creepy thriller, police procedural and "All the President's Men"-style investigative newsroom drama, the smart, extremely vivid production oozes period authenticity.
Factor in a highly capable cast led by Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and a never better Robert Downey Jr., and you've got yourself a picture -- one that should handily nab audiences hungering for something a little more substantial than broad comedies or campy escapism.
Time and place are effectively established the first time we see the man known as Zodiac strike, during 1969 Fourth of July celebrations on a secluded lover's lane in Vallejo, Calif., where he walks up to a car and matter-of-factly fires at its occupants, fatally killing the driver and seriously injuring her male passenger.
Cut to the newsroom of the San Francisco Chronicle, where, a month later, a crudely written letter to the editor arrives in the mail from the man claiming responsibility for that shooting and an additional two murders.
His knowledge of certain details that only the police would know captures the attention of the paper's star crime reporter Paul Avery (Downey Jr.), while an enclosed portion of a cipher that purportedly offered clues to the killer's identity triggers what would become a lifelong obsession for Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal), a shy but intrepid editorial cartoonist who isn't content to live life on the sidelines.
Graysmith uses his not-so-spare time to work on cracking the code, when not hovering over the colorful Avery's desk trying to pick up additional shreds of information about the case.
Meanwhile, despite the dogged efforts of the San Francisco Police Department's high-profile homicide inspector, Dave Toschi (Ruffalo) and his partner, Inspector William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards), the murders mount and the letters keep coming as the years continue to pass without an arrest.
Fincher, who, as a child growing up in the Bay Area in the early '70s was well aware of the bogey man known as the Zodiac killer, has transformed those primal childhood fears into his most accomplished film to date, and his most fully contained effort since 1995's "Seven".
While those murders are staged for maximum chill, the story's newsroom and police department settings are equally effective. Working from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt (who is working on a screen adaptation of "Against All Enemies", the memoir by former terrorism czar Richard Clarke), based on Graysmith's book, Fincher keeps all the components neatly integrated.
He also uses clever visual touches to mark the passing years, particularly a time-lapse sequence replicating the erection of San Francisco's iconic Transamerica Pyramid.
His cast is uniformly splendid, but if the Zodiac killer got away with murder, then Downey ought to be charged with grand theft larceny given how often steals his scenes away from his competent co-stars. It's a performance, along with Chris Cooper's in "Breach", that should be remembered when awards season comes around again.
While there are a few instances where the energy dips a bit in the 2 1/2-hour film (especially when Downey isn't around), things always manage to kick back into gear.
Behind the scenes, Harris Savides' digital photography really brings back the visual textures and color palettes of that late '60s-to-early '70s period, as does Donald Graham Burt's evocative production design and Casey Storm's costuming.
On the aural end, veteran composer David Shire takes on his first film assignment in several years with an appropriately moody score, while music supervisor Randall Poster deserves a special shout-out for a song selection that digs deeper than the usual top 10 offerings, incorporating psychedelic pop from the Animals, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Santana and Donovan to transporting effect.
ZODIAC
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures present a Phoenix Pictures production of a David Fincher film
Credits:
Director: David Fincher
Screenwriter: James Vanderbilt
Based on the book by: Robert Graysmith
Producers: Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Bradley J. Fischer, James Vanderbilt, Cean Chaffin
Executive producer: Louis Phillips
Director of photography: Harris Savides
Production designer: Donald Graham Burt
Editor: Angus Wall
Costume designer: Casey Storm
Music: David Shire
Music supervisor: Randall Poster
Cast:
Robert Graysmith: Jake Gyllenhaal
Inspector David Toschi: Mark Ruffalo
Paul Avery: Robert Downey Jr.
Inspector William Armstrong: Anthony Edwards
Melvin Belli: Brian Cox
Sgt. Jack Mulanax: Elias Koteas
Melanie: Chloe Sevigny
Running time -- 157 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 2/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
![James Vanderbilt](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTM1NzY0NTk4M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTA4MzcxOA@@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR1,0,140,207_.jpg)
![James Vanderbilt](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTM1NzY0NTk4M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTA4MzcxOA@@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR1,0,140,207_.jpg)
The notorious San Francisco Bay Area serial killer might have eluded law enforcement agencies for decades, but the compelling cat-and-mouse story that is "Zodiac" never escapes the virtuoso grip of director David Fincher.
Firing on all cylinders as a creepy thriller, police procedural and "All the President's Men"-style investigative newsroom drama, the smart, extremely vivid production oozes period authenticity.
Factor in a highly capable cast led by Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and a never better Robert Downey Jr., and you've got yourself a picture -- one that should handily nab audiences hungering for something a little more substantial than broad comedies or campy escapism.
Time and place are effectively established the first time we see the man known as Zodiac strike, during 1969 Fourth of July celebrations on a secluded lover's lane in Vallejo, Calif., where he walks up to a car and matter-of-factly fires at its occupants, fatally killing the driver and seriously injuring her male passenger.
Cut to the newsroom of the San Francisco Chronicle, where, a month later, a crudely written letter to the editor arrives in the mail from the man claiming responsibility for that shooting and an additional two murders.
His knowledge of certain details that only the police would know captures the attention of the paper's star crime reporter Paul Avery (Downey Jr.), while an enclosed portion of a cipher that purportedly offered clues to the killer's identity triggers what would become a lifelong obsession for Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal), a shy but intrepid editorial cartoonist who isn't content to live life on the sidelines.
Graysmith uses his not-so-spare time to work on cracking the code, when not hovering over the colorful Avery's desk trying to pick up additional shreds of information about the case.
Meanwhile, despite the dogged efforts of the San Francisco Police Department's high-profile homicide inspector, Dave Toschi (Ruffalo) and his partner, Inspector William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards), the murders mount and the letters keep coming as the years continue to pass without an arrest.
Fincher, who, as a child growing up in the Bay Area in the early '70s was well aware of the bogey man known as the Zodiac killer, has transformed those primal childhood fears into his most accomplished film to date, and his most fully contained effort since 1995's "Seven".
While those murders are staged for maximum chill, the story's newsroom and police department settings are equally effective. Working from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt (who is working on a screen adaptation of "Against All Enemies", the memoir by former terrorism czar Richard Clarke), based on Graysmith's book, Fincher keeps all the components neatly integrated.
He also uses clever visual touches to mark the passing years, particularly a time-lapse sequence replicating the erection of San Francisco's iconic Transamerica Pyramid.
His cast is uniformly splendid, but if the Zodiac killer got away with murder, then Downey ought to be charged with grand theft larceny given how often steals his scenes away from his competent co-stars. It's a performance, along with Chris Cooper's in "Breach", that should be remembered when awards season comes around again.
While there are a few instances where the energy dips a bit in the 2 1/2-hour film (especially when Downey isn't around), things always manage to kick back into gear.
Behind the scenes, Harris Savides' digital photography really brings back the visual textures and color palettes of that late '60s-to-early '70s period, as does Donald Graham Burt's evocative production design and Casey Storm's costuming.
On the aural end, veteran composer David Shire takes on his first film assignment in several years with an appropriately moody score, while music supervisor Randall Poster deserves a special shout-out for a song selection that digs deeper than the usual top 10 offerings, incorporating psychedelic pop from the Animals, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Santana and Donovan to transporting effect.
ZODIAC
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures present a Phoenix Pictures production of a David Fincher film
Credits:
Director: David Fincher
Screenwriter: James Vanderbilt
Based on the book by: Robert Graysmith
Producers: Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Bradley J. Fischer, James Vanderbilt, Cean Chaffin
Executive producer: Louis Phillips
Director of photography: Harris Savides
Production designer: Donald Graham Burt
Editor: Angus Wall
Costume designer: Casey Storm
Music: David Shire
Music supervisor: Randall Poster
Cast:
Robert Graysmith: Jake Gyllenhaal
Inspector David Toschi: Mark Ruffalo
Paul Avery: Robert Downey Jr.
Inspector William Armstrong: Anthony Edwards
Melvin Belli: Brian Cox
Sgt. Jack Mulanax: Elias Koteas
Melanie: Chloe Sevigny
Running time -- 157 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Firing on all cylinders as a creepy thriller, police procedural and "All the President's Men"-style investigative newsroom drama, the smart, extremely vivid production oozes period authenticity.
Factor in a highly capable cast led by Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and a never better Robert Downey Jr., and you've got yourself a picture -- one that should handily nab audiences hungering for something a little more substantial than broad comedies or campy escapism.
Time and place are effectively established the first time we see the man known as Zodiac strike, during 1969 Fourth of July celebrations on a secluded lover's lane in Vallejo, Calif., where he walks up to a car and matter-of-factly fires at its occupants, fatally killing the driver and seriously injuring her male passenger.
Cut to the newsroom of the San Francisco Chronicle, where, a month later, a crudely written letter to the editor arrives in the mail from the man claiming responsibility for that shooting and an additional two murders.
His knowledge of certain details that only the police would know captures the attention of the paper's star crime reporter Paul Avery (Downey Jr.), while an enclosed portion of a cipher that purportedly offered clues to the killer's identity triggers what would become a lifelong obsession for Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal), a shy but intrepid editorial cartoonist who isn't content to live life on the sidelines.
Graysmith uses his not-so-spare time to work on cracking the code, when not hovering over the colorful Avery's desk trying to pick up additional shreds of information about the case.
Meanwhile, despite the dogged efforts of the San Francisco Police Department's high-profile homicide inspector, Dave Toschi (Ruffalo) and his partner, Inspector William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards), the murders mount and the letters keep coming as the years continue to pass without an arrest.
Fincher, who, as a child growing up in the Bay Area in the early '70s was well aware of the bogey man known as the Zodiac killer, has transformed those primal childhood fears into his most accomplished film to date, and his most fully contained effort since 1995's "Seven".
While those murders are staged for maximum chill, the story's newsroom and police department settings are equally effective. Working from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt (who is working on a screen adaptation of "Against All Enemies", the memoir by former terrorism czar Richard Clarke), based on Graysmith's book, Fincher keeps all the components neatly integrated.
He also uses clever visual touches to mark the passing years, particularly a time-lapse sequence replicating the erection of San Francisco's iconic Transamerica Pyramid.
His cast is uniformly splendid, but if the Zodiac killer got away with murder, then Downey ought to be charged with grand theft larceny given how often steals his scenes away from his competent co-stars. It's a performance, along with Chris Cooper's in "Breach", that should be remembered when awards season comes around again.
While there are a few instances where the energy dips a bit in the 2 1/2-hour film (especially when Downey isn't around), things always manage to kick back into gear.
Behind the scenes, Harris Savides' digital photography really brings back the visual textures and color palettes of that late '60s-to-early '70s period, as does Donald Graham Burt's evocative production design and Casey Storm's costuming.
On the aural end, veteran composer David Shire takes on his first film assignment in several years with an appropriately moody score, while music supervisor Randall Poster deserves a special shout-out for a song selection that digs deeper than the usual top 10 offerings, incorporating psychedelic pop from the Animals, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Santana and Donovan to transporting effect.
ZODIAC
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures present a Phoenix Pictures production of a David Fincher film
Credits:
Director: David Fincher
Screenwriter: James Vanderbilt
Based on the book by: Robert Graysmith
Producers: Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Bradley J. Fischer, James Vanderbilt, Cean Chaffin
Executive producer: Louis Phillips
Director of photography: Harris Savides
Production designer: Donald Graham Burt
Editor: Angus Wall
Costume designer: Casey Storm
Music: David Shire
Music supervisor: Randall Poster
Cast:
Robert Graysmith: Jake Gyllenhaal
Inspector David Toschi: Mark Ruffalo
Paul Avery: Robert Downey Jr.
Inspector William Armstrong: Anthony Edwards
Melvin Belli: Brian Cox
Sgt. Jack Mulanax: Elias Koteas
Melanie: Chloe Sevigny
Running time -- 157 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 2/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
![Wayne Wang at an event for Maid in Manhattan (2002)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTkyNjEyMDEzMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNzY3MTI1._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,1,140,207_.jpg)
![Wayne Wang at an event for Maid in Manhattan (2002)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTkyNjEyMDEzMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNzY3MTI1._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,1,140,207_.jpg)
"Because of Winn-Dixie", based on the popular young people's novel by Kate DiCamillo, can't decide what it wants to be when it grows up.
It starts off as a gently amusing girl-and-her-dog story before awkwardly shifting gears into a more maudlin portrait of a town and its sorrows, then keeps attempting to backpedal into cute animal mode whenever the prolonged downbeat elements threaten to send kids screaming for their Game Boy Advance SPs.
Despite director Wayne Wang's flair for vehicles about characters seeking to fill a void in their lives ("The Joy Luck Club", "Smoke"), he never achieves the right balance here, struggling throughout with an episodic script by first-time screenwriter and former Warner Bros. executive Joan Singleton.
Given the film's tendency toward sermonizing, it's understandable that 20 Century Fox is playing up the lovable-pooch angle in its advertising. In print ads, they've even cut the young female protagonist off above her sneakers so as not to discourage the potential boy-and-his-dog demo.
Even so, the picture will prove to be a tough theatrical proposition, but those complaining that they don't make family movies with good old-fashioned values anymore could give it a boost when it arrives on home video.
Set in fictional, sleepy Naomi, Fla. (played by Napoleonville, La.), the redemptive story is narrated by India Opal Buloni (newcomer Annasophia Robb), a lonely 10-year-old who was abandoned by her mother at age 3.
As the new kid in town whose emotionally closed-off preacher dad (Jeff Daniels) has set up a church in an empty convenience store, India is finding it difficult making friends.
But she finds a kindred spirit in a big, dirty abandoned dog she names Winn-Dixie, after the supermarket in which the wayward mutt was generating mass chaos.
Little by little, and glory be, India and her faithful companion manage to shake the town out of a deep, melancholic funk.
There's always room in the movie market for an emotionally uplifting family story, but "Winn-Dixie"'s book of redemption is short a few green stamps.
Aside from navigating the wildly uneven tonal shifts, the inhabitants of Naomi have been reduced to the most cardboard of stock characters -- the spinster librarian Eva Marie Saint), the eccentric town outcast (Cicely Tyson), the mysterious drifter (singer Dave Matthews) -- and the actors playing them are wasted by those one-dimensional limitations.
Behind the scenes, establishing the comfortably worn-in look of the production are cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub, production designer Donald Graham Burt and costume designer Hope Hanafin, while Rachel Portman, who has scored several of Wang's films, contributes another subtly orchestrated composition.
Because of Winn-Dixie
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox and Walden Media present a Wayne Wang film
Credits:
Director: Wayne Wang
Screenwriter: Joan Singleton
Based on the novel by: Kate DiCamillo
Producers: Trevor Albert, Joan Singleton
Executive producer: Ralph Singleton
Director of photography: Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Production designer: Donald Graham Burt
Editor: Deirdre Slevin
Costume designer: Hope Hanafin
Music: Rachel Portman
Cast:
Preacher: Jeff Daniels
Gloria Dump: Cicely Tyson
Otis: Dave Matthews
Miss Franny: Eva Marie Saint
India Opal Buloni: AnnaSophia Robb
Sweetie Pie Thomas: Elle Fanning
MPAA rating: PG
Running time -- 109 minutes...
It starts off as a gently amusing girl-and-her-dog story before awkwardly shifting gears into a more maudlin portrait of a town and its sorrows, then keeps attempting to backpedal into cute animal mode whenever the prolonged downbeat elements threaten to send kids screaming for their Game Boy Advance SPs.
Despite director Wayne Wang's flair for vehicles about characters seeking to fill a void in their lives ("The Joy Luck Club", "Smoke"), he never achieves the right balance here, struggling throughout with an episodic script by first-time screenwriter and former Warner Bros. executive Joan Singleton.
Given the film's tendency toward sermonizing, it's understandable that 20 Century Fox is playing up the lovable-pooch angle in its advertising. In print ads, they've even cut the young female protagonist off above her sneakers so as not to discourage the potential boy-and-his-dog demo.
Even so, the picture will prove to be a tough theatrical proposition, but those complaining that they don't make family movies with good old-fashioned values anymore could give it a boost when it arrives on home video.
Set in fictional, sleepy Naomi, Fla. (played by Napoleonville, La.), the redemptive story is narrated by India Opal Buloni (newcomer Annasophia Robb), a lonely 10-year-old who was abandoned by her mother at age 3.
As the new kid in town whose emotionally closed-off preacher dad (Jeff Daniels) has set up a church in an empty convenience store, India is finding it difficult making friends.
But she finds a kindred spirit in a big, dirty abandoned dog she names Winn-Dixie, after the supermarket in which the wayward mutt was generating mass chaos.
Little by little, and glory be, India and her faithful companion manage to shake the town out of a deep, melancholic funk.
There's always room in the movie market for an emotionally uplifting family story, but "Winn-Dixie"'s book of redemption is short a few green stamps.
Aside from navigating the wildly uneven tonal shifts, the inhabitants of Naomi have been reduced to the most cardboard of stock characters -- the spinster librarian Eva Marie Saint), the eccentric town outcast (Cicely Tyson), the mysterious drifter (singer Dave Matthews) -- and the actors playing them are wasted by those one-dimensional limitations.
Behind the scenes, establishing the comfortably worn-in look of the production are cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub, production designer Donald Graham Burt and costume designer Hope Hanafin, while Rachel Portman, who has scored several of Wang's films, contributes another subtly orchestrated composition.
Because of Winn-Dixie
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox and Walden Media present a Wayne Wang film
Credits:
Director: Wayne Wang
Screenwriter: Joan Singleton
Based on the novel by: Kate DiCamillo
Producers: Trevor Albert, Joan Singleton
Executive producer: Ralph Singleton
Director of photography: Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Production designer: Donald Graham Burt
Editor: Deirdre Slevin
Costume designer: Hope Hanafin
Music: Rachel Portman
Cast:
Preacher: Jeff Daniels
Gloria Dump: Cicely Tyson
Otis: Dave Matthews
Miss Franny: Eva Marie Saint
India Opal Buloni: AnnaSophia Robb
Sweetie Pie Thomas: Elle Fanning
MPAA rating: PG
Running time -- 109 minutes...
![Peter Kosminsky at an event for White Oleander (2002)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDg4MjAxODYyNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMzQwNTc1._V1_QL75_UY207_CR2,0,140,207_.jpg)
![Peter Kosminsky at an event for White Oleander (2002)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDg4MjAxODYyNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMzQwNTc1._V1_QL75_UY207_CR2,0,140,207_.jpg)
As Oprah Book Club selections-turned-movies go, Jane Fitch's "White Oleander" makes a more intact transition than, say, "The Deep End of the Ocean" or "A Map of the World" (and definitely more than "Where the Heart Is")
The portrait of a teenage girl who's turfed from foster home to foster home after her artist mother is jailed for poisoning her lover is graced by several splendid performances and clean direction by Peter Kosminsky that shrewdly chooses to ignore most melodramatic impulses.
Even so, there's an inescapably episodic quality to the film that prevents it from yielding the kind of emotional connection that makes for lasting impressions and flourishing boxoffice.
Provided the book's many fans pick up the scent, this serious-minded chick flick could still do decent business thanks to a budget-minded outlay that belies its big studio production values.
As if mother-daughter relationships aren't tricky things to begin with, it certainly complicates matters when the parent in question is a strong-willed, highly opinionated, rather cold-blooded artist who deals with her unfaithful boyfriend (Billy Connolly) by apparently slipping a fatal dose of brewed white oleanders into his glass of milk.
And so, 15-year-old Astrid Magnusson (wonderfully played by relative newcomer Alison Lohman), finds herself being placed in a succession of foster homes -- each more surreal than the previous one -- while mom Ingrid (a feisty Michelle Pfeiffer) still manages to exert her influence from her prison perch.
Foster mom number one is Starr, a born-again trailer park vision in pink spandex (played with go-for-it zest by Robin Wright Penn) whose hard-drinking past makes a serious comeback when she (rightly) suspects that Astrid is making a play for her man (a sympathetic Cole Hauser).
Barely escaping with her life, Astrid is temporarily placed in an institution for troubled teens where she meets a gawky, attentive aspiring comic book artist (another fine performance by "Almost Famous'" Patrick Fugit).
But their friendship is cut short when she's taken in by foster mom number two, a too-sensitive actress (the melancholy Renee Zellweger), who's clinging to the hope that Astrid's presence will help save her foundering marriage to her frequently on-location filmmaker husband (Noah Wyle).
Suffice it to say, her idyllic Malibu stay proves equally short-lived, just as the incarcerated Ingrid has predicted.
While screenwriter Mary Agnes Donoghue ("Beaches") has left out a couple of other similarly dramatic foster home experiences, Astrid's many traumatic adventures on the road to independence still feel a bit far-fetched on the big screen, despite British director Kosminsky's attempts to lend the proceedings a grittier, hand-held reality.
Providing the much-needed backbone is Lohman (she's actually in her early 20's but photographs significantly younger), who desperately tries to fit in with each of her foster home environments, with a particular wardrobe to match, until she learns how to be her own person.
Her confrontational prison visits to Pfeiffer are particularly dynamic, with each actress pushing the other to do stronger work.
Behind the scenes, frequent Steven Soderbergh collaborator Elliot Davis gets the DP job done with a minimum of fuss, as does Thomas Newman with the score.
Speaking of efficiency, Sheryl Crow gets a two-for-one deal out of her introspective end-credits song, "Safe and Sound", given that it's a slightly remixed version of the same tune she performed at the end of last year's "K-Pax".
WHITE OLEANDER
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Pandora, a John Wells production
Credits:
Director: Peter Kosminsky
Screenwriter: Mary Agnes Donoghue
Based on the novel by: Janet Fitch
Producers: John Wells, Hunt Lowry
Executive producers: Patrick Markey, Kristin Harms, Stacy Cohen, E.K. Gaylord II
Director of photography: Elliot Davis
Production designer: Donald Graham Burt
Editor: Chris Ridsdale
Costume designer: Susie De Santo
Music: Thomas Newman
Cast:
Astrid Magnusson: Alison Lohman
Starr: Robin Wright Penn
Ingrid Magnusson: Michelle Pfeiffer
Claire Richards: Renee Zellweger
Barry: Billy Connolly
Rena Grushenka: Svetlana Efremova
Paul Trout: Patrick Fugit
Ray: Cole Hauser
Mark Richards: Noah Wyle
Running time -- 109 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
The portrait of a teenage girl who's turfed from foster home to foster home after her artist mother is jailed for poisoning her lover is graced by several splendid performances and clean direction by Peter Kosminsky that shrewdly chooses to ignore most melodramatic impulses.
Even so, there's an inescapably episodic quality to the film that prevents it from yielding the kind of emotional connection that makes for lasting impressions and flourishing boxoffice.
Provided the book's many fans pick up the scent, this serious-minded chick flick could still do decent business thanks to a budget-minded outlay that belies its big studio production values.
As if mother-daughter relationships aren't tricky things to begin with, it certainly complicates matters when the parent in question is a strong-willed, highly opinionated, rather cold-blooded artist who deals with her unfaithful boyfriend (Billy Connolly) by apparently slipping a fatal dose of brewed white oleanders into his glass of milk.
And so, 15-year-old Astrid Magnusson (wonderfully played by relative newcomer Alison Lohman), finds herself being placed in a succession of foster homes -- each more surreal than the previous one -- while mom Ingrid (a feisty Michelle Pfeiffer) still manages to exert her influence from her prison perch.
Foster mom number one is Starr, a born-again trailer park vision in pink spandex (played with go-for-it zest by Robin Wright Penn) whose hard-drinking past makes a serious comeback when she (rightly) suspects that Astrid is making a play for her man (a sympathetic Cole Hauser).
Barely escaping with her life, Astrid is temporarily placed in an institution for troubled teens where she meets a gawky, attentive aspiring comic book artist (another fine performance by "Almost Famous'" Patrick Fugit).
But their friendship is cut short when she's taken in by foster mom number two, a too-sensitive actress (the melancholy Renee Zellweger), who's clinging to the hope that Astrid's presence will help save her foundering marriage to her frequently on-location filmmaker husband (Noah Wyle).
Suffice it to say, her idyllic Malibu stay proves equally short-lived, just as the incarcerated Ingrid has predicted.
While screenwriter Mary Agnes Donoghue ("Beaches") has left out a couple of other similarly dramatic foster home experiences, Astrid's many traumatic adventures on the road to independence still feel a bit far-fetched on the big screen, despite British director Kosminsky's attempts to lend the proceedings a grittier, hand-held reality.
Providing the much-needed backbone is Lohman (she's actually in her early 20's but photographs significantly younger), who desperately tries to fit in with each of her foster home environments, with a particular wardrobe to match, until she learns how to be her own person.
Her confrontational prison visits to Pfeiffer are particularly dynamic, with each actress pushing the other to do stronger work.
Behind the scenes, frequent Steven Soderbergh collaborator Elliot Davis gets the DP job done with a minimum of fuss, as does Thomas Newman with the score.
Speaking of efficiency, Sheryl Crow gets a two-for-one deal out of her introspective end-credits song, "Safe and Sound", given that it's a slightly remixed version of the same tune she performed at the end of last year's "K-Pax".
WHITE OLEANDER
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Pandora, a John Wells production
Credits:
Director: Peter Kosminsky
Screenwriter: Mary Agnes Donoghue
Based on the novel by: Janet Fitch
Producers: John Wells, Hunt Lowry
Executive producers: Patrick Markey, Kristin Harms, Stacy Cohen, E.K. Gaylord II
Director of photography: Elliot Davis
Production designer: Donald Graham Burt
Editor: Chris Ridsdale
Costume designer: Susie De Santo
Music: Thomas Newman
Cast:
Astrid Magnusson: Alison Lohman
Starr: Robin Wright Penn
Ingrid Magnusson: Michelle Pfeiffer
Claire Richards: Renee Zellweger
Barry: Billy Connolly
Rena Grushenka: Svetlana Efremova
Paul Trout: Patrick Fugit
Ray: Cole Hauser
Mark Richards: Noah Wyle
Running time -- 109 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
![Susan Sarandon](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BM2IyYmE3NjktZTRjYi00YWE3LWIwYjgtOTg1MGZmMmY1ZDA2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODMyNDA5NTQ@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR10,0,140,207_.jpg)
![Susan Sarandon](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BM2IyYmE3NjktZTRjYi00YWE3LWIwYjgtOTg1MGZmMmY1ZDA2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODMyNDA5NTQ@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR10,0,140,207_.jpg)
Delectable performances by Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman put a powerful emotional charge into "Anywhere But Here", Wayne Wang's film version of Mona Simpson's novel about a mother and daughter living in the scruffier flats of Beverly Hills.
Thanks to these gifted actresses, viewers come to know these two people as well as their own family members. You can almost anticipate all their little quirks and maddening-yet-endearing behavior patterns.
This Fox 2000 picture, exquisitely written by veteran screenwriter Alvin Sargent, is a gem. With proper handling, Fox should reach a large female audiences of all ages -- and more than a few men who come along with women and get caught up in the painfully funny relationship.
Remarkably similar in some ways to last year's "The Slums of Beverly Hills", "Anywhere" is a more serious film and funnier because of that. The story takes place during three years, beginning when Adele August (Sarandon) yanks her 14-year-old daughter Ann (Portman) out of her small-town life in Bay City, Wis., to move to Beverly Hills.
Leaving behind her stepdad and friends very much against her will, Ann bitterly resents the move every bit as much as her mom glories in the great opportunities she is certain will come their way in glamorous Beverly Hills.
Adele is thrilled by the wealth on display. She cruises through the town to ogle luxury homes that line its sunny avenues. Meanwhile, she will forget to pay the light bill and has to keep moving herself and Ann from one tacky one-bedroom apartment to another. Her solution to every problem is to get an ice cream.
Resourceful and resilient, Ann manages to adapt and make friends. But she views this world of wealth in more realistic terms than her mother. When a tragedy forces them to return briefly to Bay City, Ann realizes her hometown no longer looks the same. She has become a Southern Californian. But this doesn't keep her from plotting to escape her mother, who is a constant source of embarrassment to her.
Sarandon's character could easily be made to look the fool in such a story. But neither Wang nor Sarandon allow this to happen. The choices Adele ultimately makes turn out for the best -- well, sometimes they do -- and her sunny optimism in contrast to her daughter's moody realism has a life force no one can completely deny.
Both mother and daughter acquire friends and boyfriends. But for better or worse, their richest friendship is with each other. Wang and the two actresses beautifully portray a relationship where love can turn to hate and back to love in a matter of moments, and where the daughter must sometimes be mother to her own mother.
Cinematographer Roger Deakins, production designer Donald Graham Burt and costumer Betsy Heimann have created a cocoon of edgy living within the luxurious world of Beverly Hills. There is never enough money in the August household, but Adele continues to dream and Ann to save pennies for college.
Wang, who displayed a talent for finely wrought portraitures of women in films such as "Dim Sum" and "The Joy Luck Club", makes you feel the force of these two distinct personalities. Scenes chart the ebb and flow of emotions as these two females struggle to get a purchase on their lives and a means by which to live with each other.
Although she sometimes acts like one, Adele is no dummy. She eventually comes to realize her dreams cannot be her daughter's. In the end, she does the right thing, not what's emotionally convenient.
ANYWHERE BUT HERE
20th Century Fox
Fox 2000 Pictures presents
a Lawrence Mark production
Producer: Lawrence Mark
Director: Wayne Wang
Writer: Alvin Sargent
Based on the novel by: Mona Simpson
Executive producer: Ginny Nugent
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Production designer: Donald Graham Burt
Editor: Nicholas C. Smith
Music: Danny Elfman
Costumes: Betsy Heimann
Color/stereo
Cast:
Adele August: Susan Sarandon
Ann August: Natalie Portman
Ted: Ray Baker
Jimmy: John Diehl
Benny: Shawn Hatosy
Carol: Bonnie Bedelia
Peter: Corbin Allred
Josh Spritzer: Hart Bochner
Gail Letterfine: Caroline Aaron
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Thanks to these gifted actresses, viewers come to know these two people as well as their own family members. You can almost anticipate all their little quirks and maddening-yet-endearing behavior patterns.
This Fox 2000 picture, exquisitely written by veteran screenwriter Alvin Sargent, is a gem. With proper handling, Fox should reach a large female audiences of all ages -- and more than a few men who come along with women and get caught up in the painfully funny relationship.
Remarkably similar in some ways to last year's "The Slums of Beverly Hills", "Anywhere" is a more serious film and funnier because of that. The story takes place during three years, beginning when Adele August (Sarandon) yanks her 14-year-old daughter Ann (Portman) out of her small-town life in Bay City, Wis., to move to Beverly Hills.
Leaving behind her stepdad and friends very much against her will, Ann bitterly resents the move every bit as much as her mom glories in the great opportunities she is certain will come their way in glamorous Beverly Hills.
Adele is thrilled by the wealth on display. She cruises through the town to ogle luxury homes that line its sunny avenues. Meanwhile, she will forget to pay the light bill and has to keep moving herself and Ann from one tacky one-bedroom apartment to another. Her solution to every problem is to get an ice cream.
Resourceful and resilient, Ann manages to adapt and make friends. But she views this world of wealth in more realistic terms than her mother. When a tragedy forces them to return briefly to Bay City, Ann realizes her hometown no longer looks the same. She has become a Southern Californian. But this doesn't keep her from plotting to escape her mother, who is a constant source of embarrassment to her.
Sarandon's character could easily be made to look the fool in such a story. But neither Wang nor Sarandon allow this to happen. The choices Adele ultimately makes turn out for the best -- well, sometimes they do -- and her sunny optimism in contrast to her daughter's moody realism has a life force no one can completely deny.
Both mother and daughter acquire friends and boyfriends. But for better or worse, their richest friendship is with each other. Wang and the two actresses beautifully portray a relationship where love can turn to hate and back to love in a matter of moments, and where the daughter must sometimes be mother to her own mother.
Cinematographer Roger Deakins, production designer Donald Graham Burt and costumer Betsy Heimann have created a cocoon of edgy living within the luxurious world of Beverly Hills. There is never enough money in the August household, but Adele continues to dream and Ann to save pennies for college.
Wang, who displayed a talent for finely wrought portraitures of women in films such as "Dim Sum" and "The Joy Luck Club", makes you feel the force of these two distinct personalities. Scenes chart the ebb and flow of emotions as these two females struggle to get a purchase on their lives and a means by which to live with each other.
Although she sometimes acts like one, Adele is no dummy. She eventually comes to realize her dreams cannot be her daughter's. In the end, she does the right thing, not what's emotionally convenient.
ANYWHERE BUT HERE
20th Century Fox
Fox 2000 Pictures presents
a Lawrence Mark production
Producer: Lawrence Mark
Director: Wayne Wang
Writer: Alvin Sargent
Based on the novel by: Mona Simpson
Executive producer: Ginny Nugent
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Production designer: Donald Graham Burt
Editor: Nicholas C. Smith
Music: Danny Elfman
Costumes: Betsy Heimann
Color/stereo
Cast:
Adele August: Susan Sarandon
Ann August: Natalie Portman
Ted: Ray Baker
Jimmy: John Diehl
Benny: Shawn Hatosy
Carol: Bonnie Bedelia
Peter: Corbin Allred
Josh Spritzer: Hart Bochner
Gail Letterfine: Caroline Aaron
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 9/20/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
![Al Pacino](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQzMzg1ODAyNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMjAxODQ1._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,2,140,207_.jpg)
![Al Pacino](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQzMzg1ODAyNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMjAxODQ1._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,2,140,207_.jpg)
Being a wiseguy is not all fun and games -- offing people, squiring dames, wearing loud suits. Down in the grimy trenches it's actually unglamorous, and this well-wrought Mandalay Entertainment presentation captures the grunty insides of the Mob world.
Featuring splendidly muted performances from Al Pacino and Johnny Depp, "Donnie Brasco" should shake down some sizable initial loot. Admittedly, this decidedly nonglam glimpse inside Mobdom is not an overtly commercial vehicle, but it should nevertheless hold its own in intelligent neighborhoods of discerning viewers.
Depp is featured in the titular role of FBI agent Joe Piscone, a k a Donnie Brasco to the mobsters. The FBI's infiltration of the Mafia in the 1970s was one of the bureau's greatest anti-organized-crime triumphs, and this shrewdly balanced film takes us into two very different worlds. It presents us with two divergent lead characters: suburban family-man agent Brasco and, on the mean-streets side, family man Lefty Ruggiero (Pacino).
Screenwriter Paul Attanasio's adaptation of Joseph D. Pistone's book is a crisply colorful portrait of the underside of the underworld. Day-to-day life for Lefty is that of loud desperation. Like a gray suit in a corporate world, Lefty feels the heel of the organization's chain of command and, like today's white-collar midmanagement, he fears the up-and-comers. In short, although he's distinguished himself as a hit man (26 notches to his belt), he knows he'll never rise any higher. In short, he's vulnerable, and when young and ambitious Donnie befriends him as a "jewel man," he's more than eager to groom him as his protege. Most poignantly, a bond develops between the two men, and the ambitious FBI agent comes to see things in more than black-and-white, good-and-evil terms.
Roiling with some well-rolled paradox and goombah-gutted irony, "Donnie Brasco" is a complex portrait of honor as well as a kind and sympathetic depiction of a man who is truly at the end of his rope. While his performance is not heaped with the bantam-sized swagger of other roles, Pacino nails down probably one of his most gifted portrayals. We feel for his character, a man who realizes that his number has come up. Similarly, Depp's portrayal is rich, clueing us to his character's nearly debilitating dualities. In a supporting role, Michael Madsen is, once again, terrifically terrifying as a sadistic henchman, while Bruno Kirby's scaredy-guy performance as a rank-and-file nickel-and-dimer drills home the mundane reality of toiling for the crime bosses.
Well-produced, with a well-chosen cadre of technical talent, "Donnie Brasco" is a bit of a stylistic departure for director Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Enchanted April"), but his perceptive, robust direction makes us feel he is actually of that world. Special praise to cinematographer Peter Sova for the aptly grimy hues and to composer Patrick Doyle for the film's sorrowful score, a perfect texture for the hard psychological scars that the men of this world wear.
DONNIE BRASCO
Sony Pictures Releasing
TriStar Pictures
Mandalay Entertainment presents
a Baltimore Pictures/Mark Johnson production
A Mike Newell Film
Producers Mark Johnson, Barry Levinson,
Louis DiGaimo, Gail Mutrux
Director Mike Newell
Screenwriter Paul Attanasio
Based on the book by Joseph D. Pistone,
with Richard Woodley
Executive producers Patrick McCormick,
Alan Greenspan
Director of photography Peter Sova
Production designer Donald Graham Burt
Editor Jon Gregory
Costume designers Aude Bronson-Howard,
David Robinson
Executive producers Budd Carr, Allan Mason
Music Patrick Doyle
Casting Louis DiGiaimo, Brett Goldstein
Sound mixer Tod Maitland
Color/stereo
Cast:
Lefty Al Pacino
Donnie Johnny Depp
Sonny Michael Madsen
Nicky Bruno Kirby
Paulie James Russo
Maggie Anne Heche
Tim Curley Zeljko Ivanek
Running time -- 121 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Featuring splendidly muted performances from Al Pacino and Johnny Depp, "Donnie Brasco" should shake down some sizable initial loot. Admittedly, this decidedly nonglam glimpse inside Mobdom is not an overtly commercial vehicle, but it should nevertheless hold its own in intelligent neighborhoods of discerning viewers.
Depp is featured in the titular role of FBI agent Joe Piscone, a k a Donnie Brasco to the mobsters. The FBI's infiltration of the Mafia in the 1970s was one of the bureau's greatest anti-organized-crime triumphs, and this shrewdly balanced film takes us into two very different worlds. It presents us with two divergent lead characters: suburban family-man agent Brasco and, on the mean-streets side, family man Lefty Ruggiero (Pacino).
Screenwriter Paul Attanasio's adaptation of Joseph D. Pistone's book is a crisply colorful portrait of the underside of the underworld. Day-to-day life for Lefty is that of loud desperation. Like a gray suit in a corporate world, Lefty feels the heel of the organization's chain of command and, like today's white-collar midmanagement, he fears the up-and-comers. In short, although he's distinguished himself as a hit man (26 notches to his belt), he knows he'll never rise any higher. In short, he's vulnerable, and when young and ambitious Donnie befriends him as a "jewel man," he's more than eager to groom him as his protege. Most poignantly, a bond develops between the two men, and the ambitious FBI agent comes to see things in more than black-and-white, good-and-evil terms.
Roiling with some well-rolled paradox and goombah-gutted irony, "Donnie Brasco" is a complex portrait of honor as well as a kind and sympathetic depiction of a man who is truly at the end of his rope. While his performance is not heaped with the bantam-sized swagger of other roles, Pacino nails down probably one of his most gifted portrayals. We feel for his character, a man who realizes that his number has come up. Similarly, Depp's portrayal is rich, clueing us to his character's nearly debilitating dualities. In a supporting role, Michael Madsen is, once again, terrifically terrifying as a sadistic henchman, while Bruno Kirby's scaredy-guy performance as a rank-and-file nickel-and-dimer drills home the mundane reality of toiling for the crime bosses.
Well-produced, with a well-chosen cadre of technical talent, "Donnie Brasco" is a bit of a stylistic departure for director Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Enchanted April"), but his perceptive, robust direction makes us feel he is actually of that world. Special praise to cinematographer Peter Sova for the aptly grimy hues and to composer Patrick Doyle for the film's sorrowful score, a perfect texture for the hard psychological scars that the men of this world wear.
DONNIE BRASCO
Sony Pictures Releasing
TriStar Pictures
Mandalay Entertainment presents
a Baltimore Pictures/Mark Johnson production
A Mike Newell Film
Producers Mark Johnson, Barry Levinson,
Louis DiGaimo, Gail Mutrux
Director Mike Newell
Screenwriter Paul Attanasio
Based on the book by Joseph D. Pistone,
with Richard Woodley
Executive producers Patrick McCormick,
Alan Greenspan
Director of photography Peter Sova
Production designer Donald Graham Burt
Editor Jon Gregory
Costume designers Aude Bronson-Howard,
David Robinson
Executive producers Budd Carr, Allan Mason
Music Patrick Doyle
Casting Louis DiGiaimo, Brett Goldstein
Sound mixer Tod Maitland
Color/stereo
Cast:
Lefty Al Pacino
Donnie Johnny Depp
Sonny Michael Madsen
Nicky Bruno Kirby
Paulie James Russo
Maggie Anne Heche
Tim Curley Zeljko Ivanek
Running time -- 121 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 2/21/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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