hit man

LAKE GEORGE: when you know you’re not going to win

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Photo caption: Carrie Coon and Shea Whigham in LAKE GEORGE. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures & Magnolia Releasing.

As the comic neo-noir Lake George opens, the hangdog Don (Shea Whigham) has just been released from a ten-year stint in prison. He has no prospects and is coerced by the fearsome crime lord Armen (Glenn Fleshler) into taking a job he doesn’t want. Having done his stretch for a white collar crime, Don is decidedly non-violent (and unlucky). He would be the first to agree that he is the worst possible choice to pull off a murder-for-hire, but Armen and his henchman Hanout (Max Casella) insists, on pain of Don’s own life, that Don whack the boss’ girlfriend and business associate, Phyllis (Carrie Coon).

Don tracks down Phyllis, and, of course, things do not go according to plan. She convinces him to join her in stealing stashes of loot from Armen, and the two are off on an odd couple road trip.

Phyllis is much, much smarter and quicker-thinking than any of the men in this story. And she’s just as ruthless, too. She has an impressive gift of persuasion and can apparently manipulate anyone into anything. Imagine if Brigid O’Shaughnessy were a lot smarter than Sam Spade. Femme fatale, sociopath – that’s Phyllis.

Don, on the other hand, kno ws that he has been a loser and that he ain’t gonna win this time either. Even if he is not quickest, Don is by no means stupid. Don is smart enough to know that doing Phyllis’ bidding is unlikely to work out and that Phyllis is only out for herself and has zero loyalty to Don. That’s the core of Lake George – Don trudging along at Phyllis’ side because he can’t figure out any alternative.

Lake George is a character study, and it’s an acting showcase for Shea Whigham. Ever dazed by the Phyllis’ increasingly outrageous acts, Whigham’s Don seems to be squinting into a bright light as he ponders how he can possibly escape each situation with his life.

Whigham is one of those character actors who works a lot and is always memorable (The Gray Man, A Country Called Home, Boardwalk Empire, True Detective, The Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle, Take Shelter). It’s great to see him get a lead role.

Coon has fun with Phyllis’ ever-bubbling self-interest and almost manic charm. It’s an interesting take on the femme fatale because she doesn’t sexually seduce Don. Her smarts and gift of gab are so effective that she doesn’t need to use her gams.

There is a massive plot twist near the end. Lake George was written and directed by prolific TV director Jeffrey Reiner, his first theatrical feature in 29 years.

My personal preference would be to make Lake George more noir by cutting the last minute. But it’s a mildly entertaining lark, and the wonderful character study by Whigham is the most compelling reason to watch it.

Lake George is now streaming on Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube and Fandango.

HIT MAN: who knew self-invention could be so fun?

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Photo caption: Glen Powell in HIT MAN. Courtesy of Netflix.

Richard Linklater’s sexy, funny thriller Hit Man is all about self-invention, and the story, with its twists and turns, is one of the year’s great crowd-pleasers.

Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) is a FAKE hit man for the police; when the cops are tipped off that someone wants to arrange a murder-for-hire, they send in Gary wearing a wire, pretending to be a professional assassin, to record the incriminating words and collect the payoff.

This is Gary’s side gig – he is a decidedly uncool philosophy professor, who drives a Civic and is essentially a male cat lady. His personal life is so non-existent that his sympathetic ex-wife suggests that he “see someone”; Gary thinks she means a therapist, but she explains that he should see “a woman”.

Obviously, he pretends to be someone else when he acts a a faux killer. Once, he adopts the supercool persona of fictional hit man Ron. Dressing in a cool leather jacket with new haircut and stylish shades, Gary learns that life is a lot more fun as Ron. He attracts the attention of beautiful Madison (Adria Arjona) in circumstances where he can’t reveal his true identity as Gary. Gary, as Ron, and Madison begin a torrid affair, and then things get out of hand…I won’t spoil the plot, but it becomes a twisty thriller.

Hit Man is plenty enjoyable as a comic thriller, but co-writer and director Richard Linklater also probes the process of self-invention. Gary is a good guy himself, but he is more popular with his colleagues and his students as the fictional Ron, and wouldn’t otherwise be able to attract Madison. And just who is Madison – has she reinvented herself, too?

There existed a real Gary Johnson. Linklater and Powell co-wrote the screenplay from Skip Hollandsworth’s magazine profile of the real Gary in Texas Monthly, and, of course, add plenty of invented sex and murder for embellishment.

The actual Gary Johnson worked in Houston, but Linklater set Hit Man in New Orleans, and those who love the Crescent City as I do will recognize many locales. There really is an intersection of Piety Street and Pleasure Street in New Orleans, and Linklater playfully drops in a shot of the street sign without comment.

Adria Arjona and Glen Powell in HIT MAN. Courtesy of Netflix.

Glen Powell is exceptionally good as an Everyman plunged into, first, a scary cops and robber game, and then a real life-or-death entanglement that he must navigate with his wits in real time. Of course, Powell has lots of fun portraying a character who is himself a master of disguise, immersing himself in a bevy of fictional characters.

Adria Arjona is a real discovery. She’s able to play Madison so that Gary/Ron and we see her as a needy and vulnerable victim, then as an independent bad ass, and we finally wonder if she is a femme fatale. It’s a smart and secy performance as a smart and sexy, smokin’ hot, character.

Austin Amelio is hilarious as the unrepentantly sleazy, crooked cop Jasper.

Richard Linklater, is unsurpassed as an American filmmaker. After all he made Boyhood, which I rate as the best film so far in the 21st century, and our greatest romantic trilogy (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight). Not to mention his groundbreaking use of interpolated rotoscope in Waking Life and one of the trippiest drug movies, A Scanner Darkly. He kicked off the whole body of work with the generational time capsule Dazed and Confused, along with the infectious comedy School of Rock and the underrated Bernie.

Linklater isn’t trying to top Boyhood or the Before movies here, but he’s at the top of his game with Hit Man. I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying Hit Man. Must See.,

ASHES AND DIAMONDS: a killer wants to stop

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Zbigniew Cybulski in ASHES AND DIAMONDS

Coming up tomorrow night on Turner Classic Movies, a masterful director and his charismatic star ignite the war-end thriller Ashes and Diamonds, set amidst war-end treachery. It’s one of my Overlooked Noir.

It’s the end of WW II and the Red Army has almost completely liberated Poland from the Nazis. The future governance of Poland is now up in the air, and the Polish resistance can now stop killing Germans and start wrestling for control. Maciek (Zbigniew Cybulski) is a young but experienced soldier in the Resistance. His commanders assign him to assassinate a communist leader.

Maciek is very good at targeted killing, but he’s weary of it. As he wants out, he finds love. But his commander is insisting on this one last hit.

This is Zbigniew Cybulski’s movie. Often compared to James Dean, Cybulski emanates electricity and unpredictability, Unusual for a leading man, he often wore glasses in his screen roles. He had only been screen acting for four years when he made Ashes and Diamonds. Cybulski died nine years later when hit by a train at age forty,

Zbigniew Cybulski in ASHES AND DIAMONDS

Andrzej Wajda fills the movie with striking visuals, such as viewing Maciek’s love interest, the waitress Krystyna (Ewa Krzyzewska), alone amidst the detritus of last night’s party, through billows of cigarette smoke. Wajda’s triumphant signature is, literally, fireworks at the climax; the juxtaposition of the celebratory fireworks with Maciek’s emotional crisis is unforgettable.

Ewa Krzyzewska in ASHES AND DIAMONDS

Wajda adapted a famous 1948 Polish novel into this 1958 movie. In the adaptation, the filmmaker changed the emphasis from one character to another.

Ashes and Diamonds was the third feature for Andrzej Wajda, who became a seminal Polish filmmaker and received an honorary Oscar. US audiences may remember his 1983 art house hit Danton with Gerard Depardieu.

TCM will be preceding Ashes and Diamonds with the documentary Wadja by Wadja, which I haven’t seen, but I will be recording. Ashes and Diamonds can be streamed from Amazon and iTunes. It was featured at the 2020 Noir City film festival.

Zbigniew Cybulski in ASHES AND DIAMONDS