{"id":3505,"date":"2009-06-30T15:56:22","date_gmt":"2009-06-30T20:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.regrettablesincerity.com\/?p=3505"},"modified":"2011-11-09T20:21:50","modified_gmt":"2011-11-10T00:21:50","slug":"public-enemies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/?p=3505","title":{"rendered":"Public Enemies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"public_enemies_01\"It\u2019s quite the bold move to deliberately make your movie an eyesore. This is especially true when you\u2019re someone like Michael Mann (Heat<\/em>, Manhunter<\/em>, Collateral<\/em>), who is known specifically<\/em> for his unique visuals. His new film, Public Enemies, <\/em>is shot on video, and not in the same way that a lot of new movies are shot on video where they try to replicate film (such as Knowing<\/em>). But rather, this is an ugly, smeary- looking movie. Mann\u2019s choice is so audacious because he hired Johnny Depp to play the lead, as the real life 1930s bank robber and public icon, John Dillinger, and had him do it in smirking glamour mode (as opposed to method actor mode).<\/p>\n

Making a movie that looks like it was shot in the producer\u2019s backyard, in your period hat, Tommy gun, and flashing your playboy grin, risks the appearance of a couple of untalented kids finding the backdoor open at the local joke shop who then scavenged the props section. But considering most movies about crime taking place in The Great Depression <\/em>are sterile, clean, and expensive-looking, Public Enemies<\/em>\u2019 realistic approach — where people sweat, don\u2019t have sharp clothing or nice apartments, and certainly can\u2019t afford a good dentist — is at least aesthetically pleasing.<\/p>\n

\"public-enemies-bale_l\"Compared to Michael Mann\u2019s Heat<\/em>*,\u00a0 Public Enemies <\/em>is suitably messy and unorganized, especially in the planning of the crimes. De Niro and his crew notoriously meticulously studied every nook and cranny of a bank they intended to steal from. But here, Depp and his rotating band of thieves (including a very amusing Stephen Graham as \u201cBaby Face\u201d Nelson, the movie dovetails without his over-the-top presence in a scene) are reckless and seemingly have no \u201cout\u201d nor plan of escape in case there\u2019s a snag, or even if it goes well. The best of these sequences is a result of the least thought-through robbery, an extraordinary shoot-out with Christian Bale and his honorable and generally overmatched police underlings at a supposed safe-house that continues into the woods and beyond. Just as in the botched robbery in Heat<\/em>, the realism of the sounds of the gunfire and sequence of events is completely mesmerizing. If anything, Mann is a master of logistics and spatial distance.<\/p>\n

And yet, despite Mann\u2019s skills coming to the forefront quite frequently, the lack of visual continuity is an enormous detriment in establishing rhythm. It isn\u2019t just that the criminals are often stupid (if you were trying to avoid being shot in the back from quite a distance while running through a field of fruit trees, would you run in a straight line?) and the police loyal and boring (Only Steven Lang, with his hardened, worn face, comes across as more than a cipher). But the only in-between is Depp\u2019s Dillinger, who thinks he\u2019s a public hero for stealing only from the government (\u201cI can choose one bank, they have to be at every<\/em> bank\u201d) — even if he has to kill people along the way.<\/p>\n

Billy Crudup has a few moments as an ambitious and soon-to-be head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover. But he\u2019s not in the movie much. And so we mostly get Dillinger\u2019s muddled mindset.<\/p>\n

\"marionpublicenemies\"We\u2019re supposed to find Depp\u2019s sweeping-off-her-feet of coat check girl Marion Cotillard (playing Billie Frechette) charming and romantic. But he mostly drags her to places she doesn\u2019t want to be, while wearing a Monty Python-esque mustache as a disguise. Of course when he\u2019s caught (this isn\u2019t a spoiler, it happens numerous times), she pines for him, even if it appears he didn\u2019t provide her with much. The whole risk-and-reward issue isn\u2019t just confusing on her part, but Dillinger\u2019s as well; because while the supposed bounties are sufficient, especially for 1930s standards, it is never clear where any of the money goes and what causes the need for quick for cash in certain scenes. There\u2019s some minor sketching-in about the criminal world no longer taking Dillinger in as one of its own. But that wouldn\u2019t mean that he\u2019d be broke in what appears to be a few weeks.<\/p>\n

The unflattering visuals also muddy the reasoning for why Dillinger is so interested in Billie Frechette, because the video quality does the normally gorgeous Cotillard no favors. She looks fine in still shots or when she isn\u2019t moving. But when talking or smiling, she looks like Asia Argento\u2019s ugly stepsister, complete with brown, gapped teeth and muppet-goggle eyes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to think that while Mann\u2019s choice to shoot in a rather pedestrian manner** was the correct one (there\u2019s even a few shots that change focus like consumer cameras that are trying to find what you might want to look at), it actually undermines his movie. Because most of the huge number of characters go by in a literal blur, making no impact. It makes what is a rather expansive story quite a mess of unresolved tangents (especially with Bale\u2019s character, who has one revealing character moment, and it\u2019s during the closing credits). This may have led to Mann\u2019s decision to make Public Enemies<\/em> more of a macabre comedy of sloppy behavior (a witness to \u201cBaby Face\u201d Nelson\u2019s violent outbursts is asked, \u201cWas he jolly?\u201d).<\/p>\n

\"public-enemies-bale\"Really, Mann should be congratulated, because after the enormous financial failure of his last movie Miami Vice<\/em>, he somehow convinced his backers to put up $100 million to make a period piece with two of the biggest stars in the world (Bale and Depp) and have it be long, unfocused, and hideous to look at. Perhaps he should push his luck and offer them some prime swampland at a discount price?<\/p>\n

*Which was also well over two hours, had a huge cast with a slew of famous names in small parts (though this time they mostly serve as exposition, as opposed to providing flavor) and similarly dealt with cops and [bank] robbers inevitably leading to the violent climax, Al Pacino vs. Robert De Niro in Heat<\/em>, Christian Bale vs. Depp here.<\/p>\n

** If Lars Von Trier had made Public Enemies<\/em>, the only difference might have been that Depp was robbing banks that were actually chalk outlines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s quite the bold move to deliberately make your movie an eyesore. This is especially true when you\u2019re someone like Michael Mann (Heat, Manhunter, Collateral), who is known specifically for his unique visuals. His new film, Public Enemies, is shot on video, and not in the same way that a lot of new movies are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,12],"tags":[5188,584,2422,4694,4698,1735,107,3173,4690,4697,2912,4704,117,4700,484,2440,4707,784,4705,2326,405,4695,4153,4692,4691,2421,4626,4702,4693,4703,2013,4711,283,2327,2424,3631,4714,4713,4712,2423,4708,2419,955,4600,4641,4706,4098,2806,310,5189,232,4699,4696,4715,4701,721,2426,4012,1184,4709,4710,146,67],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3505"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}