Weekly round-up

>> Bewitching buskers, multiple
murderers and a lurid Lucy Liu

by MALCOLM FRASER
MATTHEW HAYS and
MARK SLUTSKY

Ireland has turned out one of the most talked-about movies of the year, an unusual little romantic comedy that’s also a musical. It’s so strange, but perhaps fitting, that Once, the creation of writer-director John Carney, has come from a place that has such a rich history of birthing unusual and intriguing literature.

You might consider Once the first musical shot Dogme-style. There’s lots of hand-held camera, there seems to be only natural light, the actors feel utterly real and have an anti-star quality that is so refreshing—the gleam of a Pitt or Jolie is entirely absent here. Glen Hansard plays a busker who struggles to sing his own songs while making a bit of extra coin. Markéta Irglová is an immigrant single mom. The two meet while Hansard is performing a song, and they are smitten. Things move forward, with a friendship that becomes enhanced over a broken vacuum cleaner.

It’s but one of the funny and delightful quirks the movie offers up. Strangely, Carney manages to make all of the performances arrive from the narrative—no one leaps into song in a moment that requires suspension of disbelief. And the simpler he makes things, the more profound the film seems to become. It’s an achievement that’s both quiet and towering at once.

In a summer crowded with overrated pirates, tired superheroes who’ve already been sucked dry and dreary animated threequels, Once is just what the doctor ordered: an anti-summer movie if ever there was one, just when we needed it. (MH)

A movie for the bargain-conscious serial killer fan. Mr. Brooks has got more murderers-per-minute than any other thriller in theatres right now: guilt-ridden kill-aholics, rampaging ex-jailbird hangmen, teenage killers, apprentice killers and imaginary friend killer-enablers. There are basically at least four different movies packed into one, and while it never quite gets boring, you get the feeling that director Bruce A. Evans has perhaps bitten off a little more than he—or any director, really—can chew.

Kevin Costner plays the mister of the title, a well-respected Oregon businessman and father who harbours a deep, dark secret. He’s a serial killer, although to his credit he tries his best to control his urges, which he considers an addiction (he even goes to A.A. meetings to deal with them). Unfortunately for him and the unlucky souls he targets, though, he’s spurred on by a demonic, imaginary buddy played by William Hurt. After a killing doesn’t go quite according to plan, ace detective Demi Moore (Kevin Costner, William Hurt and Demi Moore in the same movie? What year is this?) gets on the case and starts to sniff him out.

Oh, also, a slimy amateur photographer (Dane Cook) witnesses his last crime and blackmails Costner into teaching him the tricks of the “trade.” Oh, and Costner’s daughter is probably a serial killer too. Oh, and a crazed murderer has just escaped from prison and is hunting down Moore, who’s also going through a nasty divorce. Yeah, there’s just too much going on in this overstuffed, bewildering thriller. (MS)

With all due respect to the low-budget vampire film subgenre, when an actor who once flirted with the big time appears in one, it may be time to evaluate that actor’s present career status. Such is the case when faced with Lucy Liu’s starring role in Rise: Blood Hunter. She plays Sadie, a journalist who investigates a vampire cult; after becoming one of its victims, her newly undead self seeks revenge on the chompers in charge. Michael Chiklis (of TV’s The Shield) plays a cop out for vengeance after his daughter is killed by the cult, and Master and Commander’s James D’Arcy chews both necks and scenery as the head vampire.

This is the second film for writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez, who previously helmed the thriller Judas Kiss and is also responsible for the screenplay to Snakes on a Plane. Gutierrez is a decent stylist, mostly avoiding clichéd horror pacing and MTV-style wankery, but his script is crippled by some awkward dialogue—Liu, Chiklis and D’Arcy all have to be commended for their ability to deliver some of his clunkers with a straight face. As for the plot, all horror films eventually descend into formula, but this one does so fairly early on.

Certain fans may be interested to note that Liu spends a fair amount of the film in various stages of undress, while others may find themselves wondering: if you’re going to drop your laundry, is this the film to do it in? A career intervention may be in order. (MF)

All films open this Friday, June 1

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