PROMISED LAND

PROMISED LAND
Written by Matt Damon and John Krasinski
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Starring Matt Damon, John Krasinski and Frances McDormand

When I think of the promised land, I think of a metaphoric place where great things come together to form some sort of utopian existence. As that would relate to film, I would think that the notion of actor/writer, Matt Damon, re-teaming with director, Gus Van Sant (GOOD WILL HUNTING), would be solid ground to start on. Throw in talented actresses like Frances McDormand and Rosemarie DeWitt and that ground should prove to be pretty fertile. You can even take a risk on unproven yet charming screen talent, John Krasinski, who collaborates with Damon on the writing duty. All of these elements should provide as close to perfection as possible but PROMISED LAND never delivers on its own promise.

Based on a Dave Eggers story, Damon and Krasinski have written a thoroughly unfocused, unavoidably preachy screenplay. PROMISED LAND attempts to shed some light on the dangers of natural gas drilling, which can provide some small communities with some much needed capital, but at the risk of poisoning their land. Enter a giant corporation, called Global Corp or something equally as banal, to take advantage of the poor unsuspecting and simple folks of middle America, whom Van Sant seems to delight in showing as genuinely clueless. Damon is the face of this corporation (McDormand, his trusty aid). He is supposed to be tops in his field but he does nothing but make stupid mistakes from the moment he arrives in McKinley, the farming town setting that could really be any farming town. How ever did this giant drilling monster get to be so successful with bumbling, contemptuous reps like Damon?

When Damon starts mucking up a deal that was supposed to be an easy close, Krasinski enters as an environmental lobbyist who wants to stop the drilling from happening (and steal Damon’s girl, DeWitt, for no real reason whatsoever, other than to muddy an already messy plot). For the first two thirds of the film, PROMISED LAND plays to middling results, despite its flaws. In the final act though, it completely falls apart. The story shifts its focus to the Damon character from the drilling debate. To be fair, I feel the entire film should have focused on character instead of cause, but to come in at the last minute and make this entire debacle about Damon’s own personal issues with his part in raping America, just felt forced. More so, it felt like Van Sant, along with Damon and Krasinski, didn’t know how to end things. It also felt completely inauthentic and when you’re trying to make a movie about an important issue, you should at the very least remain true to that point.

306. Promised Land

306. (09 Dec) Promised Land (2012, Gus Van Sant) 55



For the entire first act, Promised Land seems honest and earnest enough not to verge into preachy message film territory. Even when Hal Holbrook acts as a mouthpiece for anti-fracking environmentalists, this still doesn't quite feel hokey. But somewhere along the way, the contrivances and conveniences start adding up. From a twist involving John Krasinski to Matt Damon's total blindness to his corporation's evils, these people never seem quite real. Only Frances McDormand gets an arc that is true to life. Ultimately, this is just a flag-waving suggestion that America's just too darn determined to be defeated. (There are genuinely way, way too many American flags at use here.) Still, Gus Van Sant's assured direction, keen eye for composition, and a lovely Danny Elfman score keep this mostly on track.

Blu-ray Review: GOOD WILL HUNTING

GOOD WILL HUNTING
Written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Starring Matt Damon, Minnie Driver, Robin Williams and Ben Affleck

Chuckie Sullivan: You know what the best part of my day is? For about 10 seconds, from when I pull up to the curb to when I get to your door, because I think maybe I’ll get up there and I’ll knock on the door and you won’t be there.

I can remember quite clearly what it was like the first time I saw Gus Van Sant’s GOOD WILL HUNTING. It was a particularly snowy winter day which seemingly kept the crowds away from the theatre. It was before Matt Damon and Ben Affleck had become the stuff of Hollywood legend. And while the story of two friends writing themselves a screenplay that would defy all odds to go on and win the Academy Award and make their careers is a story well worth celebrating, it did take away from the film itself. Fifteen years later, the hype has also subsided which allows GOOD WILL HUNTING to to shine brighter than it ever has.

Damon plays Will Hunting, a genius who also just happens to have come from an abusive childhood, an orphan shuffling around from one foster home to the next. After he solves an equation on a chalk board at M.I.T., he runs into more trouble with the law. To avoid jail time, he must meet with an M.I.T. professor weekly to study advanced math, as well as a therapist, to deal with his emotional issues. Enter Robin Williams, in an Oscar-winning turn, as the only therapist Hunting will work with. This is where the film truly takes on its own life and then Van Sant, just drives it home.

GOOD WILL HUNTING makes its first appearance on Blu-ray with a 15-year anniversary edition. Previous DVD features, likes audio commentary from Van Sant, Damon and Affleck for instance, make repeat appearances here. A reflection featurette contains all new interviews with the majority of the cast and reveals so much insight into the making of the film. As Damon and Affleck look back, their appreciation for that moment in time is abundantly obvious, making this anniversary edition well worth celebrating.

Black Sheep interviews Gus Van Sant

Meeting celebrated auteur, Gus Van Sant, to discuss his fourteenth feature film, RESTLESS, at the Toronto International Film Festival, certainly had my nerves on edge, given that I’m a bit of an admirer of his. It didn’t help matters much when he would pause and stare at me blankly for five or ten seconds after almost every question I asked. Fortunately, I realized very quickly that I was not the problem.

“You can definitely become overworked talking to the press,” Van Sant admits to me of the whirlwind that is the contemporary festival experience. “When I hit the five-hour mark, I start to get pretty spaced out.” Our interview was his last before lunch so that explained a lot.

The 59-year-old director returns to cinemas this fall with his first film since his 2008 masterpiece, MILK, which earned eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture as well as a second Best Director nod for Van Sant. (His first was for 1997’s GOOD WILL HUNTING.) And while RESTLESS is nowhere near as politically charged as MILK was, it does allow Van Sant to continue giving voices to the marginalized and the misunderstood. In his own words, “It’s a really interesting story about these two kids that are forced outside of their society. They bond together and become very close. It reminded me of a French love story.”

By French, he must mean tragic because what forces these two outside of their circles is death. Everyone’s favorite indie darling, Mia Wasikowska and endearing newcomer, Henry Hopper, play the two particular kids in question. Hopper is Enoch, a high school dropout who lost his parents in a car accident and now keeps the company of what is either the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot (Ryo Kase) or a very creative imaginary friend. Wasikowska plays Annabel, a free-spirited naturalist, who has just learned that she is going to die of cancer in a few short months. Their relationship and its youthful naiveté give Restless its unexpected whimsy.

The relief Enoch and Annabel find in each other is what drew Van Sant to the Jason Lew screenplay to begin with. “It’s common with younger cancer patients that they often make new friends with strange people,” he explains of their attraction. “Their regular support group is too devastated to keep their normal relationship going, because of the sadness.” Subsequently, the charming couple provide the audience with some much needed relief from their reality as well.

Coming of age in the face of death is a dichotomy that is not often explored on film and the wide spectrum of emotion that is inherent to the scenario makes RESTLESS a unique film experience. Still, Van Sant himself has a hard time differentiating it from his past work to some extent. “They pretty much all stand apart but at the same time, they’re all related,” he says of how RESTLESS figures amongst his oeuvres. When hard pressed though, Van Sant is able to give a tiny distinction to RESTLESS. “It’s the first time I’ve done something mirthful and yet tragic at the same time.”

Hopefully, it will not be his last.

This interview originally appeared in Hour Community.

421. Restless

421. (19 Sep) Restless (2011, Gus Van Sant)* 30



Even Gus gets the blues. Though he makes an effort to rise above Jason Lew's truly terrible script, there's no escaping just how awful Restless' writing is. It swallows everyone and everything whole.

This twee, joyless film has no characters that remotely resemble human beings. Mia Wasikowska comes the closest to ever fleshing out a character, but she's saddled with so much hideous dialogue there's really no way to come out ahead. Henry Hopper gives the impression he has no training as an actor; he could have easily wandered out of a community theater production.

Danny Glicker's costumes and Harris Savides' lovely cinematography are noteworthy, but Restless is a chapter of Van Sant's filmography I'd rather soon forget. It's very probably his worst work to date.