In recent weeks, I've rented some DVDs of films that were largely overlooked but that earned warm recommendations from someone, somewhere. I can't really endorse one in the lot.
"The Confederate State of America" is a mock BBC documentary about the history of the United States as it would be today if the South had won the war 141 years ago. It tries hard to be a dark comedy, but I didn't laugh once. I stared at the screen a lot. If you find amusing the notion of Lincoln adorning blackface to flee the country or fake TV commercials for Sambo brand toothpaste—"use the power of darkies to keep your pearly whites white!" or some such drivel—then this is for you. It was not for me. It was like that dreadful Chappelle sketch "Blackzilla," only two hours long. "How did they even get any black actors to be in this thing?" I wondered. And then I saw the end credits. Produced by Spike Lee. Ah. And a black writer/director. Ah. I reassessed my poor impression. Nope. Unfunny is unfunny. Unfunny is colorblind.
Speaking of Lee, I saw "Inside Man." It was a pleasant enough confection, if best not thought about too much, and Denzel and Clive are always welcome at my house. But why was Jodie Foster in that movie? I thought she was dreadfully miscast. She simply cannot evoke the sort of Chanel/Ivy League aura that her role as the fixer demanded, which is ironic considering this Yale alum adorned Chanel for the role. I've loved Foster in the past, but here I never once forgot she was acting. She was a little girl awkwardly playing grown up. The film's script was the worst of the four, with positively excruciating small talk and exposition. A typically elegant example:
Robber to police negotiator: "Do you have any more proposals?""The Matador" has earned some raves. I thought it a little on the dull side, but it was visually stunning and had its moments. Mostly, it's the best performance of Pierce Brosnan's career, which is admittedly faint praise, but he's exceptional by any measure. He plays a professional assassin undergoing a complete personal and professional meltdown, giving him a delicious opportunity to play against type. It works. I laughed. I fidgeted. I went back and watched a couple scenes over again. I returned the disc knowing full well I'll never see the movie again.Negotiator: "Ugh, don't say 'proposal.' My girlfriend is really pestering me about getting married."
"An Unfinished Life" is the best of this lot, a Robert Redford cowboy weeper about forgiveness. Jennifer Lopez plays his former daughter-in-law, who fell asleep behind the wheel and accidentally killed Redford's son, and in a real stretch, Morgan Freeman plays the Wise Old Black Best Friend. That Redford and Freeman are effortlessly excellent is no surprise, but Lopez just quietly acts and reminds us that before she was a punchline/Jenny on the Block, she was a promising young actress. I hear. The movie is small and modest, and it doesn't strain to deliver a message. I cared about the characters, and that's more than I can say for the other three films.