Wednesday, September 25, 2013
"Prisoners", is long but engrossing small town police drama
“Prisoners” is a rich dramatic film, long (153 minutes), but
shot, like many mystery dramas, in close-up Hitchcock style of 1.85:1 aspect,
directed by Denis Villeneuve. It is a bit like an 80’s or early 90’s movie,
with stylistic and plot similarities to “The Silence of the Lambs”. It is written by Aaron Guzikowski and does
not appear to be based on a novel.
Jake Gyllenhaal (the name is Dutch, as if the “double a”
should be pronounced long), now 31, has taken to tougher roles. I think he could lose the neck tattoo, which
seems out of character – but maybe I’m too used to the young “nice guy” image
of Donnie Darko. Here he plays Detective
Loki, still steady and determined and indeed a hero. The film opens in a bizarre fashion, as the
younger girls of carpentry contractor Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) seem drawn to
a mysterious van in front of their house.
The girls soon disappear, and Loki finds the van driver, Alex (Paul
Dano, usually known for likeable nerdy roles, but here not so), and brings him
in. Soon it’s apparent that Alex is
retarded and that there is no evidence to hold him. The police have to release him, and Dover
goes vigilante, kidnapping Alex himself to “protect his family”. That’s a partial, but not complete,
explanation of the film title.
The plot gets complicated, all right, with twists,
particularly involving Alex’s rather vengeful aunt Holly (Melissa Leo). There are a couple other suspected sex
offenders, including a priest, and a store clerk (David Dastmalchian). Terrence Howard (“Hustle and Flow”) is
effective as the natural father of one of the girls.
The link for the film is here.
The film is set in Pennsylvania, around Thanksgiving, with
some heavy thunderstorms (possible in the late fall) followed by snow. That looks good. But the credits say the film was shot in
Georgia. Yes, it snows in Georgia. But I like to see films shot where they are
supposed to take place.
The film was produced by Alcon, a major associate of Warner
Brothers. I’d love to see Warner
Borthers bring back Warner Independent Pictures for “art house” material. It doesn’t need to form a separate company to
brand some of its films differently; companies have multiple distribution
trademarks all the time (look at Sony, and look at the publishing
industry). The film aired at the Toronto
Film Festival. “Prisoners” (rated R) is definitely for grownups who usually
like festival and art house material. I
saw it in the daytime at Algelika Mosaic.
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