Blood Diamond (2006)

Capturing both the physical beauty and social ugliness that makes up the African continent, Blood Diamond is a traditional heavyweight drama. Its goal is not to entertain but to captivate and illuminate. Exposing the dark corners of the diamond trade that most people are ignorant to or choose not to acknowledge, this film ties big business, organized crime and human drama all into one.

When his village is destroyed by rebels, Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) is torn apart from his wife an children and forced to work in a rebel-owned diamond mine. When the Sierra Leonean Army attacks the rebels, Vandy escapes knowing the whereabouts of a massive pink diamond. Vandy crosses paths with Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a Zimbabwean diamond smuggler with powerful connections. Their relationship is shaky at best and, with the help of an American journalist (Jennifer Connelly), they set out to retrieve the diamond before anyone else can as well as Vandy’s son, who has been forced to join the rebel army.

The above paragraph is actually a pretty poor description of the entire plot of this film. The three central characters are operating on a grander scale than I can put into one paragraph. Colonialism, capitalism, barbarism, and humanitarianism all interplay in Blood Diamond. With all that’s going on, the film can’t help but get bogged down in the intricate weaving of plot details. While the diamond is the focus from 30,000 feet, this film is more like a collection of smaller conflicts, internal and external.

While DiCaprio is the star of the film, Connelly is its conscience and Hounsou is its heart. The combination of DiCaprio’s hard-nosed determination, Connelly’s lectures about the evils of the diamond trade, and Hounsou’s intense emotional roller coaster, this film will leave you feeling mentally and physically exhausted. Is it rewarding though? Pre-credit text encourages audiences with the fact that a super-minority of diamonds come from such entities since conferences between the diamond powerhouses in the 1990s. That either leaves you feeling a little warmer inside or it enables you to distance yourself from the events of the film.

The one thing that bugs me throughout the film is DiCaprio’s accent. It’s bad enough that his youthful looks make it hard to believe him as a seasoned smuggler, but his never-consistent accent is distracting as all get-out. They needed someone of DiCaprio’s pedigree and popularity to anchor the film and secure audiences but, just as I have issues with Americans playing British roles, there’s just something off about having him play an African white man.

While it may be a little too much to take in at one time, Blood Diamond is a very good film. The locations look sharp and Hounsou’s performance is wonderful. One might think this film was intended as Oscar bait but I disagree. This was a film made by people who appreciate the true dramas of old. It won’t likely become one of your favorites, and you may not even feel the urge to watch it a second time, but one viewing is certainly worthwhile.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

Love and Other Drugs (2010)

The last decade has seen a positive trend in romance films. Instead of the insipid, paint-by-numbers rom-coms of the 90s, the new millennium sees filmmakers working hard to create an even weirder hybrid- the rom-dramedy. It is, thankfully, no longer acceptable for a romance to just be serious or just be goofy. The problem is that very few filmmakers have figured out how to make this new balance work. Such is the case with this film.

In 1996, Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) sees his budding career as an electronics salesman evaporate after getting caught having sex with his boss’s girlfriend. His well-to-do brother hooks him up with a job at Pfizer as a pharmaceutical salesman. Through his natural charisma and the tutelage of his regional manager (Oliver Platt), Jamie masters the art of wooing receptionists and sweet talking doctors into prescribing Zoloft and Zithromax.

Life throws Jamie a curveball when he meets Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway), an early onset Parkinson’s patient. She is reluctant to enter into a serious relationship with anyone due to her illness but Jamie works his charm on her. Maggie reciprocates by exposing Jamie to the other side of the pharmaceutical rat race, as she helps senior citizens make periodic trips to Canada to purchase cheaper prescription drugs. Jamie finds himself conflicted, especially after Pfizer’s release of Viagra makes him one of the top sellers in the company.

There are a number of good things going on in this film. You catch a glimpse of the cutthroat and unscrupulous (though oftentimes amusing) world of Big Pharma sales. On the flipside, you see the unfortunate side effects to all the patents, research, and marketing expenses- these new miracle drugs are so expensive that those who need it most cannot afford it. Then there’s the love story between a woman with heart-breaking condition and a man with every reason to avoid dating her. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, it is.

Love and Other Drugs is partly based on the book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman. It’s one of those clever insider exposés that kept the book industry afloat between Harry Potter, Twilight and Dan Brown books over the past decade. The whole romance aspect is made up to make the story more appealing, which is certainly an accomplishment. Knowing this fact almost makes me think better of this film. Almost. Individually, I like each component of this film. As a collective whole, Love and Other Drugs is an uncomfortable and borderline boring experience.

Both of the film’s young stars perform well. Gyllenhaal exudes the Generation X slacker lifestyle with ease and it’s clear that Hathaway did her homework when it comes to Parkinson’s symptoms. She’s never over-the-top spastic but also never makes the life of such a person look easy. It’s not so much the characters but the performances of them that keep you interested in the film.

In reality, Jamie Randall is the kind of cocky, successful creep that nobody likes, let alone falls in love with. Sure, he may be cute and charming but he leads a hollow life. This is addressed in the film as his relationship with Maggie grows. Maggie, on the other hand, is an enigma. She’s willing to throw her body around for sex before the grip of Parkinson’s gets the better of her but she refuses to let anyone get close to her emotionally. I can understand not wanting to let someone get attached to you because eventually they’ll be more of a caregiver than a partner, but her lifestyle strikes me as self-destructive. You never get a sense for where or how this attitude developed, leaving her side of the story incomplete.

The first half of the film is witty, sleazy and everything you would expect from a snarky insider story. How much of the sales trade is played up for show is unclear, but it’s enough to keep you from supporting Jamie’s line of work. Jamie grows on you though, so you all but come to accept it as an extension of him. Then the second half of the film kills the party. Maggie’s life makes things serious and gloomy and it almost feels unnatural when Jamie begins to turn on a profession that offers him a generous paycheck and access to all kinds of top-of-the-line medicines.

Then there are the little details- the factual errors that drive me crazy and cost a notch or two on the rating scale. The film opens in 1996 with Jamie working in an electronics store. He’s trying to sell a couple of girls on a boombox that clearly belongs in the 80s. It also happens to be blasting out a Spin Doctors tune three or four years past its prime. The store also contains a few products that didn’t exist yet (widescreen flat panel TV’s and slim digital cameras- really?). They might as well have tossed a copy of Grays Sports Almanac in for good measure. Most people will totally miss this but you’ll definitely be asking yourself how Maggie can afford such a spacious, albeit rundown, studio apartment on waitress wages.

The good news is that Love and Other Drugs has decided to be a grown-up romantic comedy. The bad news is that it still hasn’t decided what it wants to be as a grown-up romantic comedy. This leaves the audience to question a lot of the filmmakers’ decisions, which is never a good thing. If you want to be a story about a slacker salesman who mellows out after finding the right woman, fine- tell that story. If you’d rather be a story about a guy who falls in love with a woman despite her failing health, fine- tell that story. Trying to do both at the same time simply doesn’t work.

RATING: 2.25 out of 5

Legends of the Fall (1994)

Family drama, romance, war and an examination of masculinity all thrive in this beautifully shot film by Edward Zwick. Featuring a talented cast, beautiful location filming and plenty of meaty, makes-you-think subject matter, Legends of the Fall is a film that every man should see and one that every woman might be able to enjoy as well.

After becoming disillusioned with the US government, Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) moves his family to the frontier lands of Montana. His wife chooses to return to the East Coast after the harsh winters are too much for her, leaving Ludlow to raise his three sons with the help of a few Native American farmhands. As the boys grow up, it is clear that they are all wired differently. Alfred (Aidan Quinn) is the cautious rule follower, Tristan (Brad Pitt) the wild and macho boy, and Samuel (Henry Thomas) is smart but naïve.

Samuel goes to college and returns one day with a beautiful fiancée, Susannah (Julia Ormond). Both Alfred and Tristan are smitten with the lovely lady but Susannah is more taken by Tristan’s machismo than Alfred’s business savvy. Caught up in the whirlwind of war, all three brothers join the Canadian Expeditionary Force to fight the Germans in World War I. Samuel dies in combat, leading Tristan to go on a testosterone and rage-fueled rampage behind enemy lines. While this scenario is mostly outrageous, it serves to solidify Tristan’s wild man persona.

Alfred and Tristan return home, where Alfred proposes to Susannah and promises that his business prospects offer a good and stable life for the two of them. Susannah declines and falls into the arms of Tristan instead. This drives the brothers apart on multiple levels. First, Alfred is merely jealous for losing Susannah’s affections. Second, he is fed up with his brother’s irresponsible way of life and chastises Tristan for not be stable husband material. This falling out ends with Alfred swearing off his family and leaving the estate to pursue business ventures in Helena.

Plagued by guilt for one brother’s death and the other’s abandonment of the family, Tristan takes off to wrestle with his demons in the wild. For years, he travels the globe and struggles to reconcile with all that he has done and could not do. Susannah struggles to cope without Tristan and gives in to Alfred’s proposals. All is well and good until Tristan returns. Susannah’s feelings for the wild man come rushing back, Alfred still has nothing but spite for his brother and Tristan’s attempt to form a normal life comes crashing down around him.

Despite all of the beautiful scenery and solid cinematography, Legends of the Fall never really grips you the way it wants to. While the drama is quite good (though it does border on soapy territory on more than one occasion), the overall effect of the film is that of watching events unfold rather than experiencing these events with the characters. Perhaps this is because Tristan is too perfectly untamable and Alfred is too perfectly constructed as a proper man. Not until the film’s final minutes do we see any serious change in these characters’ tones.

Despite this sizable shortcoming, Legends of the Fall is a great reflection on masculinity. Alfred and Tristan’s outlooks are polar opposites and their discussions and observations give you a lot to think about. There has to be a middle ground somewhere between Tristan’s nature boy and Alfred’s spineless profiteer but this rare blend of boldness and sensibleness still eludes us to this day. I can’t tell if that should come as comfort to men who struggle to find this balance or if it will only serve to frustrate us further to know that this battle to be the best man possible hasn’t been at a stalemate for centuries.

The acting in this film helps hold the story together at time. Brad Pitt goes all out to capture the essence of Tristan, Aidan Quinn is sharp as a tack as Alfred, and Anthony Hopkins is enjoyable as ever as the distressed and later curmudgeonly father. If not for their dedication and spot-on performances, this film could have easily been dismissed as prairie romance pulp.

While there are many parts of the story that aren’t likely to be remembered long after the final reel, Legends of the Fall is a captivating tale. Sit back and marvel at the scenery and get your brain ready for a post-film discussion about what it takes to be a “real man.”

RATING: 3.5 out of 5