Movie Review: Liberty Heights (1999)

Liberty Heights was written and directed by Barry Levinson and is the semi-autobiographical story of his upbringing in a devout Jewish family during the 1950s. The film stars Adrien Brody, Ben Foster, Orlando Jones, Bebe Neuwirth, Joe Mantegna, and Rebekah Johnson in the leads. Right off the bat, 'Liberty Heights' showcases excellent screenwriting from director Levinson. He is an extraordinarily talented writer and his script is highly underrated, as are his abilities in general as a filmmaker. This witty dialogue is what makes this movie so fresh and relentlessly entertaining. As are the performances, which across the globe, are astounding. Adrien Brody as Van is so good here and captures the essence of this Jewish family in a time when they didn't mingle with other social groups. Also great is Joe Mantegna, who for the majority of this film, leads a separate narrative from his two sons, this being the slower one. The movie revolves around Ben (Foster) who falls in love with Sylvia (Johnson), an African American girl. These two families not only dislike each other, but the film is set up against the backdrop of a Jewish-African American conflict. There is a wider social issue at stake here and Levinson's film (just over two hours) takes the clearest microscopic view and brings it into everyday life. This is a great-looking movie which primarily relies on dialogue to thrust the plot forward. The soundtrack and the adaption of the period is also very remarkable. What plagues Liberty Heights is the heavy-reliance on dialogue and witty humor, which makes the film more entertaining rather than engaging. I was never engrossed by the pulse of this film, intrigued a lot yes, but I would never nominate this movie for an Oscar because it doesn't have that depth. The other problem this movie has is Joe Mantegna's story line. I thought his story (while eventually meaningful) was slow and didn't interest me anywhere near as much as Van and Ben's romances. There is poignancy in Liberty Heights, but it doesn't dig deep enough to get to the greater ideas. I was never bored though, for this is a highly well made and very methodically constructed period piece. Overall, Liberty Heights is light-hearted and entertaining, but it does have slower elements and aspects of the plot that aren't as engaging or thought provoking. This movie still manages to hold a light to Levinson's underrated filmography. Three stars= A-

Movie Review: A Scanner Darkly (2006)

In the near distant future, America has lost the war on drugs and the police maintain constant surveillance under their citizens. And this plot, of Richard Linklater's 2006 A Scanner Darkly, a film starring Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr, Woody Harrelson, and Winona Ryder, is the fun and entertaining science fiction that asks, "what if"? Filmed in live action first, then transferred into animation (Linklater wanted to give the film a trippy effect) the movie focuses on a group of drug addicts, one of whom works for the government, and their building paranoia about which one of them is "the rat". That is more or less the story, for A Scanner Darkly is a very dense movie. It covers a wide range of themes and ideas throughout it's 100 minute run time. Robert Downey Jr and Woody Harrelson are by far the greatest performances. Stealing every scene they're in, these characters are given far more of a role than one would expect from a film about lazy, drug addicts. Winona Ryder does shine in the few scenes where she's on screen. That leaves Keanu Reeves, and while he is far from bad, his performance doesn't have as much life to it as we've come to expect from him. The animation is so perfect for a film about paranoid drug addicts that it almost feels impeccable in places (especially the opening scene). The color is grimy and gives this film a dirty, used look. For the entirety of 'A Scanner Darkly' the entertainment value was high, and most importantly, the story keeps asking you to think. This isn't a popcorn movie as some science fiction flicks become. Linklater's movie (based off the Philip K. Dick novel) continuously poses questions about morality, government control, drug addiction, and the existence of reality itself. It's a very deep, extremely thought-provoking movie with stellar animation. As for the negatives, this movie has two flaws that contradict themselves. On one hand, there's a little bit too much exposition. Especially in the beginning where the scientists are reciting, what sounds like, paragraphs about 'Substance D'. In other areas, the film feels as though we're missing essential details. This is not the trippy, incoherent style that was done intentionally, but A Scanner Darkly does occasionally seem to only be speaking to fans of the novel. When this film first came out, some critics did label this as being exclusively for fan's of Dick's book, but it doesn't go that far. Yes there are moments where more explaining would be good, and yes there are other times where far less exposition is needed, but the movie doesn't burn itself in these attempts. The film is never great, but it is a fun and enjoyable movie that succeeds in being more than just eye candy. Overall, A Scanner Darkly is a fun ride, but it does have some issues when it comes to exposition and sometimes only speaks to fans of the source material. Three stars= B