Laurel Canyon (DVD)

...- where else - on Laurel Canyon, a road in the heart of the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. This is the heart of what's left of Bohemia in that area, and totally appropriate that this film be located there. Plus, if you've ever driven around that area, you'll know that its totally stunning and with some of the most amazing looking homes you could ever hope to find. Getting inside one of them, and seeing the back yard is no small part ...
...the scenes of the views from the house, and another is the scenes on the winding and twisting roads inside the canyon.

A short nod regarding the soundtrack of this movie. Remember, there's a rock band producing an album, so most of the music you'll hear is their rehearsing and recording of their songs. Some of the songs were actually pretty good, but the best was that love ballad that the lead singer comes up with when Al tells him ... more

Ever since I saw the movie Fargo, I've never refused to see any film that has Frances McDormand in it. Mind you, I don't always get the chance to indulge in this little eccentricity of mine, but I do often try. I even became a fan of the TV show "State of Grace" partially because it was she who did the narration of the series. So when my husband borrowed the DVD of this movie, which he'd seen while in China, I found an evening when no one was at home, popped a bag of popcorn into the microwave and sat back to enjoy. However, I wasn't totally prepared for what I was about to witness.

On the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDb) site, the plot outline is quoted as being "When an uptight young man and his fiancee move into his libertine mother's house, the resulting clash of life attitudes shakes everyone up". Yes, that's the plot in a nutshell - no need for me to say more, really, since this sums it up perfectly.

I haven't a clue who the writer/director Lisa Cholodenko is, but getting McDormand into her movie was certainly a coup for her, since her popularity as a cult star certainly brought viewers to see her play the part of Jane, the rock music producing mother in this film. Getting Christian Bale (the next Batman) to play Jane's son Sam was partially for the eye-candy I'm sure, but somewhere along the line someone got as good a performance out of him as they did with McDormand. However Kate Beckinsale playing Sam's fiancee, Alex (or Al), was less successful since its hard to believe that this fluffy voiced woman could have enough brains in her head to write a PhD on anything, let alone on the subject of genomics (something about genetics, I think) that she's given in the movie. Still, as an intellectual ice-maiden ready for the melting, and sexy enough to catch the eye of both Jane and her lover, she develops her character very nicely from start to finish.

Another piece of eye-candy comes with Natascha McElhone playing the part of Sara, a 2nd year psychiatric resident in the hospital where Sam is starting his first year of residency. That she's got the hots for Sam from word go, works equally as well as Sam's being totally clueless to her advances (especially when you cast all the other students from the local dog pound). Problem with her is that while one might believe that Natascha is bright enough to be a medical student (she was a believable barrister in "What Rats Won't Do"), her accent here seems very incongruous. Until she revealed late in the movie that her character was supposed to be from Israel, I was sure she was supposed to be from some Eastern European country - despite the very expensive looking car she drives so recklessly. Mind you, the bad driving fits her being Israeli to a tee (trust me on this one). The other major role here is the part of up-and-coming rock star, Ian McKnight, played by the no-less-sexy-than-Bale, Alessandro Nivola. Ian is Jane's most recent lover (despite the age difference) and head of the band that Jane is trying to produce an album with. Here he comes off as both crude and smooth at the same time. The balance works well as he and Jane undertake pulling the uppity Al off her academic pedestal into their world of drugs, sex and rock-and-roll debauchery. Mind you, Nivola's fake (cockney?) accent isn't as bad as Dick van Dyke's in Marry Poppins, but it certainly is equally as superfluous, and the phrase "why bother" immediately popped into my head when he first opened his mouth. On the other hand, he has a good enough singing voice to pull off the music part, even when it came to the quiet ballad - which is saying a whole lot.

As you've probably guessed, this isn't a film that one can take totally on face value. This isn't to say that those niggles I mentioned about the script and direction in regards to the accents and casting have made for a bad movie. On the contrary, those problems are very minor and hardly detract from the overall. The script and direction are multi-layered and little is put over for the viewer in a straight forward manner. Clues and nuances are littered throughout this film, and I'm thinking that one screening just isn't enough to catch them all. You should also know that if you're looking for a drama with an ending that will tie everything up nicely with a pretty bow, then this isn't the film for you. Nor will you have everything spelled out for you, either. No, you'll leave this film thinking about it for days afterwards, wondering what these people - if they had been real - would have done after the credits start to roll. Not everyone will like that, but in my book I see it as a "good thing".

But whatever you think of this movie as a whole, this really is essentially a Frances McDormand movie from start to finish. She pulls it all together, taking up any minor slack that the other actors might leave, totally confident and consistent in her portrayal of this throw-back to the 60s who has a son who is even more of a throw-back to the Victorian era. As a mother, she realizes her inadequacies, but makes no excuses for her lifestyle, and yet wishes she could have been more motherly to her son. As a record producer she is a hard, cold businesswoman who won't take sh!t from anyone, at all, ever. As a lover she's both a leader and a follower who surprises herself when she finds she actually has some scruples. Everything in this script revolves around the character, Jane, and no one could have done it better than McDormand.

By the way, this movie will give you some lovely things (as opposed to actors) to look at as well, having been shot mostly in the area of - where else - on Laurel Canyon, a road in the heart of the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. This is the heart of what's left of Bohemia in that area, and totally appropriate that this film be located there. Plus, if you've ever driven around that area, you'll know that its totally stunning and with some of the most amazing looking homes you could ever hope to find. Getting inside one of them, and seeing the back yard is no small part of the enjoyment of this film. One other is the scenes of the views from the house, and another is the scenes on the winding and twisting roads inside the canyon.

A short nod regarding the soundtrack of this movie. Remember, there's a rock band producing an album, so most of the music you'll hear is their rehearsing and recording of their songs. Some of the songs were actually pretty good, but the best was that love ballad that the lead singer comes up with when Al tells him she doesn't think he really feels the songs he's writing and singing. What's interesting is that according to the web site, the musicians in the movie were real musicians, and the songs were original pieces by Mark Linkous from the band Sparklehorse - which isn't a band I'm familiar with, but no matter, I'll look them up now. Aside from those songs, any other music which is in the background, didn't register for me - I was just too engrossed in the movie to pay attention to it. Some people might find that problematic but I think I've always said that as long as it doesn't keep your attention from the action, that's fine with me.

So, what's my final verdict on this movie? The soundtrack is interesting when it needed to be, but not intrusive when you're trying to concentrate on other things. The settings and scenery are beautiful. The script has a few tiny problems, but on the whole was complex, fascinating and intricate enough to almost be called a mystery. A couple of the actors had some slightly stodgy accents, but not bad enough to ruin the rest of their performances. The direction was very even handed and strong throughout the movie. And finally, Frances McDormand was totally wonderful (as usual) and helped the rest of the cast (with the director, of course) reach as close to her level of quality acting as they were able. I see this becoming a cult movie, since its certainly a bit of a sleeper, and certainly needs more than one viewing. Bottom line - four stars, and recommended - but its not for everyone, believe me.

Thanks for reading!

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Technical Stuff:
This is a review of the film only, as per the criteria below.

The URL for the IMDb page for this movie is http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298408/ and you can buy the DVD on Amazon for £15.99. According to Amazon - the details of this movie are: Release Date: April 26, 2004, Classification: 18 Not for sale to persons under age 18. Edition Details: Region 2 encoding (Europe, Japan, South Africa and the Middle East including Egypt). Dubbed, PAL, ASIN: B0001FYREE, Catalogue Number: CDR34026 , Run Time: 99 minutes.

You can also buy the original soundtrack on Amazon for £14.99.

The official web site for this movie can be found at http://sonypictures.co.uk/movies/laurelcanyon/

This movie didn't even receive even one Academy Award nomination! However, both Nivola and McDormand received (but didn't win) nominations for their supporting roles in this film from the Independent Spirit Awards - whatever that is!
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