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| Steve Rhodes... |
 Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 2:23 pm |
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LAST LULLABY
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2009 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
"You decided you wanted her dead," Price (Tom Sizemore), an aging hit man,
tells his new client, "that means she's already dead. She just doesn't know
it yet." And a few days later, when Sarah (Sasha Alexander) hasn't been
murdered yet, Price has to reassure his restless client that hiring him
means the act is certain -- repeating a variation on his personal corporate
motto -- "She's already dead, just hasn't had the obit yet."
LAST LULLABY is brilliantly directed by Jeffrey Goodman, who was at our
screening for a Q&A afterwards. He said that when he first spoke to
Sizemore about the role, Sizemore said "I am Price." Whether that is right
or not, his very believable acting in LAST LULLABY argues that the actor's
assessment is correct. In fact, Goodman said that if someone told him that
in real life Sizemore had killed someone, he'd sure believe it.
In a consistently captivating performance, Sizemore plays a taciturn
contract killer who thinks he has retired from the job. A beefy, middle-age
guy, Price hasn't forgotten any of his skills and likes nothing better than
dealing with the young bucks who try to get in his way. But it isn't only
Sizemore whose acting is performed with dead-on accuracy. The entire cast
works at what appears to be the top of their form.
As the movie opens, we observe Price as he stumbles onto a job. Realizing
that a kidnapping is in progress of a woman named Jules (Sprague Grayden
from "Jericho"), he decides to help her out -- but not quite in the way you
might imagine. He saves her from her second-rate kidnappers, who would
probably kill her and take the ransom too. Price decides to kidnap her
himself and kill her current crop of incompetent kidnappers.
The director shows a real gift for figuring out how to stage dramatic and
effective gun fights, of which there are several in the film, without
letting the movie dissolve into a typical action thriller. More a drama
than a thriller, the movie's best part is its carefully constructed sound
design. The director told us that his picture was a revolt against movies
today, which, while trying to reflect our society, just keep getting louder
and faster. He slows the scenes down and minimizes the use of music and
most background noise, so that the characters take the forefront.
Calling his style "naturalistic," the director clearly wanted us to pay more
attention to the nuances of the characters. It really works. There are
some good twists and turns in the plot and an excellent story as well, but
it is the human emotions and motivations that will stay with you long after
you leave the theater.
If more movies were as well designed and realized as LAST LULLABY, going to
the theater would be dramatically more satisfying. New filmmakers should
look at it as a paradigm on how movies should be made.
LAST LULLABY runs 1:33. It is rated R for "violence and language" and would
be acceptable for teenagers.
The film is playing in limited release now in the United States. In the
Silicon Valley, it will be showing at one of the Camera Cinemas from June 12
to 18, 2009. The movie was shown recently at the Camera Cinema Club
(http://www.cameracinemas.com) of Campbell and San Jose and was shown as
part of San Jose's Cinequest Film Festival (www.Cinequest.org), which ran
February 25-March 8, 2009.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Email: Steve.Rhodes at (no spam) InternetReviews.com
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