Blood Ties

Guillame Canet, 2014

IMDB

2/5

The first thing you notice with Blood Ties is the loaded cast. Clive Owen, Zoe Saldana, Mila Kunis, Noah Emmerich, Marion Cottilard, James Caan. It almost feels as if someone owed someone a favor. How could it go wrong? Probably because Guillame Canet is at the helm. He wants to make his version of a 1970’s Period Piece like American Hustle. He knows the music. He knows the attire. He knows the cars. But it just feels lacking. That and the film has some problems with it. First off, Clive Owen is one of the best actors working today. But he is miscast here. He just doesn't fit the role as the dirt-bag criminal brother. His character just feels unauthentic. The neck and arm tattoos feel painted on. The accent, while not British, is not exact. Owen was actually replacing Mark Wahlberg for the role, who had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. But Wahlberg probably wouldn't have been really good either. You really need someone in the role who has more street grit, someone more erratic. Someone with more deep-seated New York ties. Maybe someone like Michael Imperioli. Not an English actor pretending to be a New Yorker. Another miscast is Mila Kunis who really brings nothing to her role other than her good looks. She is the typical cliched girl who can't resist the bad boys. That being said, praise is due to the casting choice of Billy Crudup who really nails his Frank role. Crudup is one of the more underrated actors working today.

There are problems with the film. Instead of being in the presence of complex characters you sit in the presence of caricatures. A good example is James Caan’s father character who really feels one-dimensional. Comes off as sort of an aged Sonny Corleone if he had lived to his later years. But without the depth that Coppola was able to add to that character. This character is just a slow moving, bitter Italian who spends most of his time angry at his late wife that he had left decades ago. His purpose in the film is really to only to force continuous confrontations between Frank and Chris, reminding them of their (here it comes!) Blood Ties. There is some poor editing in the film. Chris and Frank get into physical altercation with each other in Frank’s apartment. Frank kicks him out and tells him he never wants to see him again. He goes into work the next day only to be told by his commanding officers that they can’t have him working if Chris is living there. You would assume the response would be: “funny you say that! he just moved out last night. He won’t be coming around again. You have my undivided attention when it comes to me doing my job as an officer of the law”. But no. Instead he comes off as insulted, offended. Storms out. Did he completely forget about the previous nights events?

Blood Ties could be considered a bad movie with a good ending. The last half hour or so of the film is actually quite decent. A great car chase scene filled with all of the period automobiles which feels like it took a lot of effort to choreograph. A call back to a childhood event that really lands. Good final scene. That’s great, except for the fact that you have to bear the unsubstantial first 2/3’s of the movie to get to the good parts.

The Bicycle Thief

Vittorio De Sica, 1948

Can I Stream It?

5/5

Antonio's (Lamberto Maggiorani) sudden excitement from landing a new job putting up posters throughout the city is diminished when the bicycle he needs to complete his work on a daily basis is stolen.

A truly minimalist story in which the plot could really be summed up by saying its a movie about a man looking for his bike. But of course it's more than that. The pursuit of this precious sole mode of transportation is so important. The Post WWII environment leaves a lot of specialized men desperately looking for work. Desperate to the point where they are stepping over one another in an effort to take what positions they can get. When he realizes that the contingency of his new position is that he needs a bicycle to make the rounds, the bicycle becomes more than just soldered pieces of steel with two wheels. It becomes an idol of his livelihood. He NEEDS this job to prove himself as a provider to his family. In that sense, Antonio is the post-war everyman. He has mouths to feed. His son Bruno (Enzo Staiola being the standout performance of the film) looks up to him, often literally looking up to him from a few feet below as he stands beside him. Bruno becomes his mouthy companion as he scours the city looking for the priceless piece. You get a feeling Antonio is fighting for his life. The city around him feels unforgiving. He fiercely searches for the bike, making sudden turns down stucco alleyways and meticulously exploring the local marketplaces. De Sica's simple story plays out on screen as anything but. The well-choreographed scenes literally come to life as the entire city is seemingly involved in the film, of course by no accident and a real testament to De Sica's abilities. A true needle in the haystack story. So much of the film feels ahead of its time, from the clean editing to the tracking shots. This is one of those classics that should just be in the annual rotation from this point forward.