Post-Mortem Blarney

Dorian at Post-Modern Barney is not completely wrong in his review of FRANK MILLER'S SIN CITY, in that he rightly points out the score was distracting, but after that I disagreed with much of it. Not that he has to like the movie or anything, but I do think he was way off-base in criticizing the stylization of the film. I mean, it's ALL highly stylized, even the "realistic" characters like Bruce Willis and his impossible white scar, the black-and-white Goldie with the red dress, the realistic people bleeding white instead of black. Of course the cars are out of proportion and drive unrealistically, much like they do in the books, and really, much like most cars do in movies, making impossible jumps without ruining their suspensions, stuff like that.

If he doesn't like Mickey Rourke's performance, no skin off my prosthetic nose, but it seems a reach to call his early, acclaimed work "wooden". I mean, the guy held his own with De Niro when De Niro was still a dramatic actor, you know? I'm not even sure what a "more emotive acting style" would have been for Willis and Alba, either.

The books on which the film was based were influenced by unemotive, terse, tough, deadpan dialogue in pulp novels and stories and films noir. Mike Hammer and Philip Marlowe and the Continental Op don't break down and weep for nobody, pal. To be fair, I do think this strict allegiance to Miller's vision does make for a less emotionally involving work, as it's all hyperbolic pastiche without any real characters to which one can relate. I was amused and entertained throughout, but I can't say I was too concerned with Dwight's or Marv's or Hartigan's fates. I didn't mind Hartnett, as he was one actor cast against type, his boyish threatlessness(?) making for a small surprise when he is revealed as the hitman and not the seducer. I liked the silhouettes, too--I thought the out-of-place feel of them was intentional. Yes, Michael Madsen stunk--when Frank Miller out-acts you, you need to get out of the poker room and back into acting class.

To say that Devin Aoki out-acts everyone is just...nonsense...especially when following it by pointing out, correctly, that she's just an object in the film. Yeah, she's a badass, and her childish, babyfat face is very intriguing on a killing machine, but that's not so much acting as genetics, crab roll and choreography. Brittany Murphy: "always fantastic"? Yes, if they remake Little Shop of Horrors again, she's got the right voice. Fantastic. She was passable and I think the reason we didn't see what became of her in the story is that Rodriguez realized No. One. Cared. Everyone else in the film has star features and charisma, and Murphy looked like she should be fixing their hair before shooting, not actually being in the movie. Clive Owen stands out, I think, because he looks the most normal of the males, and has the most normal voice, and it's a voice that sounds almost novel, as so many crime films have that breathy, Eastwoodesque quality that Rourke and Willis already give you in the film.

Finally, I think it's a bit misleading, though I've done it as well, to represent the SIN CITY books as merely Miller's taking the wildest, bloodiest parts of pulp fiction and making of them pastiche and satire. I don't think the books are really satirical at all--I think Miller recognizes the limitations of the genre but feels by concentrating the parts he likes he can still create potent, sincere-if-stylized works, a world he believes in enough to want around, even if he may not want to live there all the time. Also, if we're truly talking "pulp" and not including 60s and 70s airport novels and other "trash" culture, I don't think there's much precedent in them for hooker-governed city districts and castration-induced jaundice, you know? Miller brought quite a few of his own kinks and ideas to the party. As for the one guy who fell asleep being a bad omen, I have to ask Dorian, have YOU never seen a movie before? There's always some guy. My theater was sold out on Sunday for the 6:15 show and we had to catch the 7:15, and still didn't have a great choice of seats getting in half an hour early. I don't think it will be a blockbuster hit, but it will do pretty well, especially as there's not much out right now. Again, I don't think SIN CITY is a great film, or one of any depth, but it's an interesting one, pretty bravely following its loopy vision to the end, and it's worth discussing.