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Movies Forum Index » International Movies Forum » _The Brave One_
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 Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:47 pm |
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A quintessential Neil Jordan film. The cat-and-
mouse between detective Terrence Howard and
vigilante Jodie Foster recalls _The Good Thief_;
the perverted Alice in not-so-wonderland quality
is reminiscent of _Mona Lisa_. Unlikely interracial
relationships are of course at the core of some
of Jordan's best films. Revenge, not so much.
In fact his most memorable characters are those
who put away the guns and clean up the mess.
In a way, this film is like shifting the focus, the
point of view, from Bob Hoskins to Cathy Tyson,
from Stephen Rea to Jaye Davison. Terrence
Howards does a very effective Stephen Rea here,
sad eyed and sensitive; this must be Jodie
Foster's best work ever too. I have never been
much of a fan of hers but the lines and creases
on her skin and face soften her. She is a
"thinking person's" vigilante indeed, almost
turning herself in once, quoting Emily Dickenson
before her most brutal killing. She is also America
in the age of Abu Graib, her soaring-eagle
T-shirts part of her executioner's uniform. The
screenplay is quietly evocative. Foster's attack
is videotaped, just as her subway shooting of
petty criminals is accidentally recorded. She
calls herself a "nobody", which is what the prostitute she saves
inadverdently calls her too.
Very typical Neil Jordan touches there. The
camera work by veteran cameraman Phillippe
Rousselot is very untypical, however, and uses a
lot of hnd-held circular motion, dutch angles,
overexposure. It cannot be farther removed
from _Mona Lisa_. One of Joran's better films,
and this time it has some ticket sales to show
for it. |
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