By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: David Gordon Green
Country: united_states
Year: 2015
Running time: 97
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2893490/combined
Jason says: “David Gordon Green seems to make movies in spurts-first some noteworthy independent dramas, then some crude studio comedies. Now, a year after doing JOE and reminding audiences that, yeah, Nicholas Cage can act a little when he decides to apply himself, Green has teamed up with another actor who does not always choose roles that match his talent level, Al Pacino. The results are not bad at all, although it can at times be hard to embrace them.
“Pacino plays the Manglehorn of the title, A.J., a locksmith in a small Texas town. Though not shy about offering his opinion, he is fairly private, spending most of his time at home with his ailing cat. He’s fond enough of a certain teller at the bank that the line knows to go around him so that he can talk to Dawn (Holly Hunter), although the true love of his life left him forty years ago, and as the daily letters returned to sender and shrine in his house indicate, he’s not close to being over it.
“Manglehorn is a character that could really play to Pacino’s worst habits, having a tendency to go from charming to blustering rage without necessarily having a whole lot of space in between. Fortunately, he and the filmmakers realize that he doesn’t have to charm the audience here, and can instead play up the lower-key ways that someone can be anti-social or consumed by an obsession. Pacino perfectly zeroes in on the tone that will push the person he’s talking to away even while A.J. is outwardly trying to be friendly, and it’s a performance that makes the audience just put off enough that when Manglehorn shows us his worst, it’s not a betrayal but it’s still fairly shocking.
“Tellingly, it’s not even the moment when he turns violent, but when he’s at his most socially oblivious. All of his interactions seem to come down to how much of a threat the other person is to his long-gone and idealized romance, which is why his scenes with his granddaughter (or his cat) can be so genuinely charming while other moments can change quickly when he realizes where something might lead. It makes the bits with his son and another man about the same age more interesting on reflection – he’s able to feel an easier rapport with someone who is more or less a stranger than the man who represents what happened instead.
“It makes everyone else in the movie very much a supporting actor, there to give Pacino someone to interact with because he can’t quite get everything across in the scenes where he’s by himself. They’re a good group, especially Holly Hunter, who implies an odd story for Dawn – she is strangely alone for such a positive, friendly person – and carves out a corner of the film of her own.
“They do this in the middle of what seems like a classic David Gordon Green environment: There’s not a whole lot going on in this town, and it gives Green and writer Paul Logan time to observe the everyday details, from the mechanics of Manglehorn’s trade to the surgery performed on his cat. It’s not an isolated any-place where the outside world doesn’t seem to exist, but it does have some wonderfully surreal corners and moments of its own. Green’s regular cinematographer, Tim Orr, shoots, and it is reliably beautiful to look at.
“It’s not the best film either Green or Pacino has done – though rich in detail, it is sometimes a little too simple in terms of the larger story, and almost unsure whether to finish big or small. It’s great to see this sort of work from Al Pacino though, and I hope Green has other revivals on tap. 4 cats
“Seen 27 April 2015 in Somerville Theatre #1 (Independent Film Festival Boston 2015, DCP)”
Brett says: “Without ruining it and speaking to the ‘surreal,’ Green lifts a scene from the pages of Richard Scarry and makes it live action, and with people instead of animals. It is pretty captivating as is, but hearing him speak to that particular scene in Toronto made it resonate even more with me as a viewer.
“It’s a simple story, made more engaging than it probably should be by its actors and that trademark Green captivation by the camera.“