Thanks to Ben Affleck's fine directorial work in films like Gone Baby Gone, The Town and Argo, we know that he can tell a story in a brisk and captivating manner. And on the surface of things, it is great that Affleck's intention is to create an homage to hardboiled 30s and 40s film noir. On that basis he scores excellently, because in terms of tone and set design, there is nothing better. You feel as though you are in that era, with all the cars, clothing and speakeasies on display. Affleck has made no secret of his love for the Warner Brothers gangster films of the period such as The Maltese Falcon, Little Caesar, and the original 1932 Scarface. Yet the essential problem, perhaps because of his multiple hats as star, director, writer, and producer, is that he looks too damn good to portray a hardbitten war hero turned gangster, though he tries mightily to convince us he is so, in an almost continuous and overpowering voiceover. Multiple plot strands involving his character Joe Coughlin coming up in the underworld, a long-lost crush, a woman in Miami, and yet another woman, in the form of an idealistic woman he tries to save, don't help either. Neither does the always-mentioned but barely present brother played by Scott Eastwood who was obviously edited out. And the fact that although everyone else in the film looks and acts suitably period, Ben Affleck's hardbitten gangster looks about as believable as Michael Landon's hardbitten farmer on TV's Little House on the Prairie. But Live By Night is in the end a competent way to get into the film noir mood if that is what you desire.
MTMG
No comments:
Post a Comment