 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
||||||
| Glengarry Glen Ross 7 of 10 |
||||||
| Directed by James Foley Cinematography by Juan Ruiz Anch�a Jack Lemmon Al Pacino Ed Harris Alan Arkin Kevin Spacey Alec Baldwin Jonathan Pryce |
||||||
| This is a wonderful, wonderful script for a play, maybe, but not for a film. It really doesn�t work for a film. There is a motion and a poetry to the words which is amazing. But also totally unrealistic. Mamet also has serious problems closing (just like his characters.) Not satisfied with a single interesting twist before summing up, he must throw in three or even four. And the most important one is also the most obvious one. Too bad. The acting is simply brilliant, all around. Arkin, Spacey, Harris, Baldwin...genius, each one of them. And then, even above them, Lemmon and Pacino. But the single most powerful character in the entire film was Jonathan Pryce. His confused, naive, lonely character was mesmerizing. There is a scene between Pacino, Lemmon and Pryce in the sales office which is absolutely riveting. And it is one that has the least script. The film just lets those guys do their stuff, with looks and movements, nothing more. Amazing stuff. The film would have been better off if there had been more moments like that. But the script let them down. Not for the usual reason; it was certainly good enough. Problem is, it was too good. The words were too good. There was nothing for the film to do visually. And if there is nothing visual going on, there�s really no reason for doing it as a film. People can just as easily read it instead. Odd coloring for what few visuals there were. And the editing style was very choppy; the script demanded it, and it got in the way. Take this cast, and give them any script, and it would be a very good film. But take this cast and a truly great film script...and look out.
�These are the new leads. These are the Glengarry leads. To you, these are gold; you do not get these. Because to give them to you would be throwing them away.� |
||||||