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...with Sean Penn.
Great film and a vast improvement on his previous two efforts. Due mostly to Jack Nicholson's work - the best thing he's done in a LONG time and if he can salute for that stinker, "As Good As It Gets" then there's no reason why he shouldn't again on the last Sunday of next March.
There's a lot of ambiguity about Nicholson's character, Jerry Black and this coupled with some subtle twists of the serial killer formula compensate for the funereal pacing of the film - I didn't even realise until the end that it went for 2 hours.
Penn has still got some symbolism issues to work through - I don't need to continually see characters driving or riding their bike down roads to know that it's a metaphor for destiny. And enough with the goddamn birds flying away! Overall though, his direction gave the film a sombre, almost uneasy feel that fitted well with the evolution of Jack's character.
Sean rang up lots of his buddies too for cameos, so we get the incoherent Indian (Benicio Del Toro), Vanessa Redgrave, Mickey Rourke, Helen Mirren, Harry Dean Stanton, Sam Shepard, Costas Mandylor...and that's just off the top of my head. Robin Wright Penn has a chipped tooth - but don't get me started on the symbolism of Jerry "fixing" it for her.
Hmmm...despite most of my comments being negative, I did like this. It was good to sit back and watch it unfold at a languid pace, see quality actors do their thing and try and figure out if Jerry really was crazy.
9/10 for Jack and 7/10 for Sean knowing where to point the camera.
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