THE SPANISH PRISONER (1997) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Writer/Director: David Mamet Starring: Campbell Scott, Rebecca Pidgeon, Steve Martin, Ricky Jay, Ben Gazzara, Felicity Huffman, Ed O'Neill
There's a scene towards the middle of David Mamet's "The Spanish Prisoner" where the protagonist, Joe Ross (Campbell Scott, sans Stanley Tucci for a change), discovers that everything he did in the first half of the film will get him in a whole lot of trouble he may not be able to squirm his way out of. The big deal with this is it took me off guard as well. Viewing this film is like viewing two films which work hand in hand: one's an interesting film where we see a working man get the taste of hobnobbing with a rich yet somewhat creepy businessman; the second is like something out of a Kafka story.
In fact, "The Spanish Prisoner"'s second half really resembles last year's amazing David Fincher flick, "The Game," where a cynical business man had his life toyed with by an unknown assailant. I remember that film as being incredible fun, yet having so many plot holes that it could not be taken seriously (just for the record, I'm not holding that against it at all: it was more like artistic liscence than some really bad slip-up on the writers' part, and it was one of the best films of last year). "The Spanish Prisoner" is a lot like that film, although its first half is so subtle that the second half comes off as a huge shock, almost as much as it is for the character.
"The Spanish Prisoner" is an art house, low budget thriller, as much as I can see, that deals with several frightening nightmares, such as knowing that what you've done in your past will doom your future, not being able to escape evidence of something you did not commit, feeling like everyone is against you, and not being able to wash blood off of yourself. Mamet, as the screenwriter (as well as director) picks a totally innocent character as the poor guy to take the big gradual fall, and surorund him with a wide assortment of characters who may or may not be working against him, although it's impossible to detect until it's too late. It's a film that twists and turns and leaves the audience leaving with a big smile, knowing that you've survived an intelligent rollar coaster ride of a flick.
But before I go on, let me recap the plot: a hard-working business man, Joe, travels to a Carribbean island with his working pal, George (Ricky Jay, who was recently the cameraman from "Boogie Nights"), and his new very blunt secretary who has a thing for him, Susan (Mamet's wife, Rebecca Pidgeon), and there runs into a mysterious rich man, Jimmy Dell (Steve Martin, in a performance so eerily subtle that it just may be his best acting in a film), who befriends him, and carries on the friendship later on in New York.
After about an hour of this, the film takes a weird 180 degree turn, and the film suddenly becomes frightening and crazy. It's nothing like the events that happen to Michael Douglas in "The Game," like being shot at, or being trapped inside a runaway taxi. It's more like things that seem so subtle that it's pretty understandable that Joe would not be able to see them ahead of him. And there are no plot holes (or "artistic liscences" for the plot), giving this film a more realistic and scarier feel, mostly because the events could happen to anyone, which is extremely effective in creating tension.
But the really amazing thign about this film is how the first half, which seems kind of boring while you're watching it, never gives any sign of the second half coming along. Some may call this being choppy and dock points from the film; others (like me) realize that this was essential in creating an effective second half. This is not like "The Game," but is really an intelligent, realistic, and playful film which attempts to toy with the audience the same way that Joe is being toyed with by showing no one's perspective but his, and thus taking us off guard as well as him.
If you don't know who David Mamet is, he's one of the best writers working today, not only writing films (his most recent jobs where for "Wag the Dog" and "The Edge," and he has directed other films of his own, like "House of Games," to which this has been compared), but also award-winning plays like "Glengarry Glenn Ross" and "American Buffalo" (both which have been made into films). His dialogue is some of the best written, not because it sounds realistic, but because it is so playful and easily defines the characters who speak them. Here, his dialogue is in tact (some lines are definite intelligent quotables), but he also shows that he's a master at plotting. "The Spanish Prisoner" unfolds brilliantly, shocking us at every twist and turn, and never insulting our intelligence (it should also be noted that this film is PG, which shocked the hell out of me, especially after seeing the "fuck"-fest that was "Glengarry Glenn Ross" - guess he's trying to expand his horizons or something).
And as with many other Mamet films, the acting is superb. Campbell Scott is stiff, but so's his character, and he's easily sympathetic. Rebecca Pidgeon delivers a witty performance, all the more admirable as the film goes on. She has several scenes where she's so straight forward that it's comical. Ricky Jay, who's becoming more and more prominent in films lately (in addition to "Boogie Nights," he also played a small role in the latest Bond flick, "Tomorrow Never Dies," as a computer hacker), perfectly speaks the language of Mamet (which is like a whole other kind of dialogue, kinda other-worldly). Also, look for Al Bundy himself, Ed O'Neill, in a one scene role which is surprisingly effective. Glad to see him working again since the cancellation of his, um, show.
But shockingly enough, the actor who really steals the show is...Steve Martin. As the subtlely creepy Jimmy Dell, he oozes with a shocking greatness, and a knack for really fleshing out Mamet's dialogue. Martin's an excellent comic actor, but, like Robin Williams, he seems to also want to show that he can do very effective dramatic leg work as well. And like Williams, he's amazing, restraining all his wild and crazy antics, and turning in a performance which is just plain fun to watch, and even comical in a different way than he's used to. He's not great because he's Steve Martin doing drama; he's great because he's amazing.
But the real star of the film is Mamet, who designs the film so well that it's probably the most effective and just plain entertaining films of the year thus far. It's the kind of film where you shake with the protagonist, experience all their scares, and come out just as drained as the hero does. And when a character nightmares become the audience's nightmares, well that's a film that has really become effective.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***1/2
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews