{"id":2004,"date":"2013-05-01T00:01:33","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T04:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smugfilm.com\/?p=2004"},"modified":"2013-05-01T14:51:04","modified_gmt":"2013-05-01T18:51:04","slug":"promised-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/promised-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Promised Land: Good Job, Gus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"promised\"
\n

\nPromised Land (2012)<\/strong>
\nDirected by Gus Van Sant
\nScreenplay by John Krasinski & Matt Damon
\nStory by Dave Eggers
\n106 min.<\/p>\n

Promised Land<\/a> is a good movie.\u00a0 And Gus Van Sant is a good director.\u00a0 And Matt Damon and John Krasinski are good actors and writers.<\/p>\n

This is a movie that nobody saw last year.\u00a0 It’s a small movie, the kind that still gets made by mega celebrities like Matt Damon but that nobody sees because the market is pretty well taken over by other kinds of movies like Taken 2<\/a> and The Vow<\/a>.\u00a0 But I’m not here to wax pretentiously about lowest common denominato, fluff that \u2018Hollywood\u2019 is so \u2018evil\u2019 for churning out.\u00a0 (The hipsters have that market well cornered.)\u00a0 I’m here, rather, to talk about Promised Land.\u00a0 But first, about Gus Van Sant.
\n
\nGus Van Sant is one of those auteurs that every once in a while comes out with a movie like this.\u00a0 His filmography is certainly eclectic.\u00a0 He’s gay, artistic, and somewhat iconic\u2014representing the filmmaking leg of the Portland\/Seattle grunge scene that took the world by storm in the early 1990s.\u00a0 He began, humbly, in the throes of the burgeoning independent renaissance of the late 80s and early 90s with his small, black and white, homosexual comedy Mala Noche<\/a>, and followed it up with his indie classics Drugstore Cowboy<\/a> and My Own Private Idaho<\/a> (the latter, a boring Shakespearean tale of heroin and sex).<\/p>\n

Like many famous directors, each of his films is some kind of \u2018event\u2019, with the better ones, like Promise Land, slipping under the radar.\u00a0 He made the 1998, shot-by-shot remake of Psycho<\/a>, which was highly controversial by sake of its own needless existence.\u00a0 On the commentary, Gus never mentions the controversy, and seems almost completely unaware that one exists, never mentioning why one would want to make an exact copy of a famous old movie, other than to briefly say that it is a noble venture to deliver classics to kids these days.\u00a0 I like to think he was unaware that prints can be made and movies can simply be re-released.<\/p>\n

Van Sant has also made some very classy pictures that we all know and love.\u00a0 For instance, Good Will Hunting<\/a>, which came out in 1997 and competed against Titanic<\/a> and As Good As It Gets<\/a>, and managed to propel Ben Affleck and Matt Damon into A-Listers overnight, winning them Oscars for best screenplay.\u00a0 It was a small, under the radar movie and one of the early \u2018indie darlings\u2019 that would populate the filmic landscape for years to come.\u00a0 The movie itself is rustic yet elegant.\u00a0 Van Sant revels in a lush, brown and yellow color palette that reeks of professorial esteem.\u00a0 His visuals are soft and intentional, and his direction of Matt Damon and Robin Williams is flawless. The script, and movie, have a lot of heart, and its warmth is no mistake\u2014it’s literal and figurative all at once.<\/p>\n

His follow up was the equally classy but not as good Finding Forrester<\/a>, and then he once again disappeared into the indie world to release a trilogy of highly experimental avant garde films: Gerry<\/a>, Elephant<\/a>, and Last Days<\/a>.\u00a0 All of them use uncomfortably long takes and wide, objective compositions to create a level of realism almost unheard of in the cinema.\u00a0 Whether you like the experiment or not, it’s hard to ignore how close the trifecta comes to the cinematic event horizon.\u00a0 While many \u2018stylistic\u2019 movies are extremely cut-y or obtrusive, Gerry, Elephant, and Last Days are so atmospheric, by design, that they challenge the viewer to consider the boundaries of how the art form can create and foster realism.\u00a0 Often the style shoots Van Sant in the foot, generating an abundance of boring scenes, yet the willingness to experiment in the first place and the few effective moments are enough to redeem them.\u00a0 It’s also hard to deny the sheer visual power of a movie like Gerry.\u00a0 It\u2019s equally hard to ignore the visceral power of the objectively-staged violence and high school realism in Elephant. And absolutely impossible to ignore the genius of playing an entire Boys II Men video on a TV screen, as seen in Last Days. (That last one was facetious.)<\/p>\n

Gus Van Sant’s best movie, by far, is his most under-seen, To Die For<\/a>, starring Nicole Kidman as a spicy, coy femme fatale.\u00a0 It\u2019s essentially a noir thriller, but its design is refreshing and its style is relentless.\u00a0 It seamlessly combines documentary, fourth wall breaking passages, and disjointed narrative structure to weave itself into a cute little crime movie.\u00a0 Keep a look out for a cameo by David Cronenberg.\u00a0 Other highlights include an amazing performance by a young Joaquin Phoenix, and Illeana Douglas. Plus the last shot is really cool!<\/p>\n

I guess I should also mention Milk<\/a>, even though it’s so boring I don’t really want to.\u00a0 In fact, the only thing interesting about Milk is my suspicion that James Franco and Sean Penn had sex in prep for their roles because they’re both so goddamn Method-y.<\/p>\n

But now lets talk about Promised Land.\u00a0 Similar to Finding Forrester, it’s good, but not great. \u00a0Overly obvious dialogue pollutes the tone and distracts you from the subtlety found in the sparingly great dialogue.\u00a0 The opening scene is the real culprit\u2014I say it all the time, but exposition is so tricky.\u00a0 Promised Land didn’t even really try to hide it’s exposition, and uses Terry Kinney as a foil and just lets the characters speak the entire premise.\u00a0 I don’t really have a problem with that, but if you’re going to go that route, I’d like to see it staged a little more interestingly.\u00a0 A dimly lit restaurant conversation scene just won’t suffice.<\/p>\n

However, that aside, Promised Land is a movie that gets better as it goes on.\u00a0 And those kind of movies are great because it means the writer knows how to create plot threads and keep juggling them high in the air by raising the stakes.\u00a0 The most interesting thing about the movie is the complexity of its conflicts.\u00a0 Movies have a tendency to cast very clear heroes and villains. That works great in black and white universes like Star Wars<\/a>, but it often breeds melodrama in more real world movies.\u00a0 In Promised Land, Matt Damon and Frances McDormand are wholly likable, yet, they’re the bad guys, but maybe, they aren’t.\u00a0 It’s hard to tell.\u00a0 And John Krasinski is perfect as the nemesis. \u00a0He plays a dork wonderfully.<\/p>\n

In that sense, Promised Land does everything right that most movies, especially the ones of today, do wrong.\u00a0 It uses grounded realism to foster plausible believability for the times when it needs to cast itself into the scary world of subtext-speaking melodrama.\u00a0 For movies to work, the subtext must be spoken.\u00a0 Every film teacher you ever had is completely wrong and ass backwards\u2014everybody speaks the subtext in their own life and that’s how conflicts are fought and resolved.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a hard thing to write, and most writers can\u2019t do it well. \u00a0(Writers like Quentin Tarantino, with Pulp Fiction<\/a> and Reservoir Dogs<\/a>, avoided this by having virtually no meaningful, character-driven conflicts and instead just having, wordy, pointless conversations about Madonna songs or cheeseburgers.)<\/p>\n

The movie is very strong visually, with auteur-y touchstones throughout, from the lush, rich, saturated color (I especially love how Van Sant revels in the bar location, taking full advantage of the wet colored lights) very deliberate lens choices, and subtle tracking shots. And as far as sound, a well thought out soundtrack.\u00a0 Van Sant\u2019s ability to juggle these trademarks to create tone, no matter what genre he tackles, is refreshing. His filmography spans many genres, from useless remakes to avant garde experiments to cherished dramas, but despite this, all of his movies have an unmistakable Van Sant stamp.<\/p>\n

There’s one scene in particular where he really shows off his directing chops.\u00a0 It’s essentially the part where the movie begins.\u00a0 Damon’s character is sitting down with the mayor guy or whoever at the diner.\u00a0 I love the obligatory use of the two-people-sitting-at-a-diner-talking-in-profile shot that every single 90’s indie movie had. \u00a0This is the shot I\u2019m talking about:<\/p>\n

\"shot\"
\n

\nAnyway, there’s a wonderful moment in the coverage when the idea of the bribe is brought up.\u00a0 It’s the first time in the movie that anything mysteriously political happens.\u00a0 It’s an important moment that telegraphs the thematic undertone of the entire movie.\u00a0 The scene is constructed out of simple coverage, intentionally reeking of familiarity.\u00a0 The familiarity here is used to highlight what Van Sant does next.\u00a0 Right at the moment in the dialogue when the bribe is brought up, the camera dollies left to switch sides over Damon’s other shoulder.\u00a0 Then, the reverse shot of Damon changes sides to match.\u00a0 The line has been crossed, literally.\u00a0 This subtle movement is a very small deviation of the standard coverage that we’ve all grown accustomed to.\u00a0 By doing it, and by keeping the movement small and doing it with dramatic intention, he is exercising his directorial creativity.\u00a0 Like any advanced artist, his camera movement is not merely impressive\u2014it’s expressive.\u00a0 In such a small and simple way, Van Sant found a way to express the subtext of the dialogue with his camera.\u00a0 That is true filmmaking genius.<\/p>\n

Little touches like that separate the men from the boys and let you know you’re in the hands of a master.\u00a0 That one shot is better and more expressive than any moment in any other movie that came out last year.\u00a0 Well, except Looper<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Good job, Gus.<\/p>\n

1 out of 1 stars.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"promised\"<\/p>\n

Promised Land (2012)<\/strong>
\nDirected by Gus Van Sant
\nScreenplay by John Krasinski & Matt Damon
\nStory by Dave Eggers
\n106 min.<\/p>\n

Promised Land is a good movie.\u00a0 And Gus Van Sant is a good director.\u00a0 And Matt Damon and John Krasinski are good actors and writers.<\/p>\n

This is a movie that nobody saw last year.\u00a0 It’s a small movie, the kind that still gets made by mega celebrities like Matt Damon but that nobody sees because the market is pretty well taken over by other kinds of movies like Taken 2<\/b> and The Vow<\/b>.\u00a0 But I’m not here to wax pretentiously about lowest common denominato, fluff that \u2018Hollywood\u2019 is so \u2018evil\u2019 for churning out.\u00a0 (The hipsters have that market well cornered.)\u00a0 I’m here, rather, to talk about Promised Land.\u00a0 But first, about Gus Van Sant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,15],"tags":[1422,434,1418,1427,1428,1421,37,1414,1426,1415,454,1419,1255,1425,1420,1412,1413,1411,837,327,383,328,1423,1074,104,185,588,1416,1429,1417,496,1424],"class_list":["post-2004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allposts","category-gregsreviews","tag-as-good-as-it-gets","tag-ben-affleck","tag-drugstore-cowboy","tag-finding-forrester","tag-frances-mcdormand","tag-good-will-hunting","tag-greg-deliso","tag-gus-van-sant","tag-james-franco","tag-john-krasinski","tag-looper","tag-mala-noche","tag-matt-damon","tag-milk","tag-my-own-private-idaho","tag-promised-land-movie","tag-promised-land-movie-review","tag-promised-land-review","tag-psycho","tag-pulp-fiction","tag-quentin-tarantino","tag-reservoir-dogs","tag-robin-williams","tag-sean-penn","tag-smug-film-2","tag-smugfilm","tag-star-wars","tag-taken-2","tag-terry-kinney","tag-the-vow","tag-titanic","tag-to-die-for"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2004"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2015,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions\/2015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}