CROOKED HEARTS (1991) A Film Review by Vince Deehan Copyright Vince Deehan 1997
Written and Directed by Michael Bortman. Based on the novel by Robert Boswell. Cast: Peter Berg, Vincent D'Onofrio, Noah Wyle, Peter Coyote, Cindy Pickett, Juliette Lewis, Jennifer Jason Leigh.
As of writing, Sunday November 16 1997, we are currently in the midst of the London Film Festival. I have been to see four festival films so far and I have to say that not one of them was up to my expectations. I won't say what the film were, as that's not my style, but it was with great delight that I stumbled upon a late night TV showing of this unknown (to me) film that was so good that I couldn't believe that I hadn't heard of it before. The film was CROOKED HEARTS and it stands head and shoulders over all the films I have so far seen at the 1997 LFF.
CROOKED HEARTS tells the story of a comfortably-off American family, called the Warren family. They live in a typical large house that so typifies the usual kind of house we see in US movies - most of us live in much smaller houses in the UK ! At the start of the film we see the middle son Tom (Peter Berg - COP LAND, THE LAST SEDUCTION) coming home after dropping out of college. He comes back to the family home, where we find father Edward (Peter Coyote), mother Jill (Cindy Pickett) , older brother Charley (Vincent D'Onofrio - FULL METAL JACKET, MEN IN BLACK), younger brother Ask (Noah Wyle- TV's "ER", THE MYTH OF FINGERPRINTS) and kid sister Cassie (Juliette Lewis - NATURAL BORN KILLERS).
- It's a mightily impressive cast isn't it ? My jaw was dropping as their names flashed up on the TV screen ! -
Tom's older brother, the 26 year old Charley, is still living at home and is constantly locking horns with their father. Charley is an intelligent young man but can't seem to hold down a job and is currently working in a warehouse. His father is clearly exasperated by him and knows that he can achieve so much more with his life if he would just apply himself and mature a little. Charley also knows this but seems unable to break out of a perpetual adolescence - his behaviour throughout much of the movie would seem more appropriate for a 17 year old than a man in his mid twenties. This fact is mentioned in the film by his father when after witnessing Charley trying to leave home by driving off in the family's van , he says that his son is pulling off a high school stunt. Charley is a complex character who is hard to empathise with but whose behaviour is nonetheless engrossing. He talks of the need to be thrown out of the family rather than him just leaving, and to this end he does some unpleasant things during the film which seriously hurt the whole family, in many ways...
We also see Tom's relationship with his new girlfriend, Marriet, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. This being Jennifer Jason Leigh, she plays a highly kooky character who is clearly a bit unstable and quite strange ! When we see Tom and Marriet meeting for the first time, I wanted to shout at the screen "No, don't go near her. She's a nutcase". No offence meant to Jason Leigh, but so often she plays these odd young ladies with annoying behaviour and strange tics. As the film goes on her kookiness gets toned down a bit, which is just as well as it makes it less hard to see what Tom sees in her
Part of Charley's plan in getting thrown out of the family is getting Tom's ex-girlfriend pregnant. This leads to a confrontation between the two brothers but fails to get Charley thrown out as planned. Charley figures that something more drastic is called for and something more drastic is exactly what he does.
Ask Warren is Tom's younger brother, he is clearly a young man with a saintly heart and is one of the most good natured characters I have ever seen in a film. He is played expertly by Noah Wyle, who in the years before his ER fame, shows what a talented actor he is. Ask has written up a set of rules by which he lives his life, which he started writing when he was eight and has been revising ever since. Some of the rules are funny, like "Never use water to put out an electrical fire" and "Always keep clean, even in places that don't show" others are more serious like "Never make a complicated thing simple, or make a simple thing complicated". I am aware that as I write these, they may sound a bit trite, but after seeing Noah Wyle's performance as Ask Warren in the film you won't feel that way.
Juliette Lewis plays the youngest member of the family, Cassie Warren. She tends to fall asleep during key moments of the film, usually when there is bit of tension in the air, which led to one reviewer saying that her character was a sufferer of narcolepsy - where people apparently become sleepy in times of stress. Kurt Cobain famously fooled a journalist into believing he was narcoleptic - a fact which got repeated as a fact thereafter. If Cassie really is a sufferer in the film, it never gets spelled out and thankfully it's use is very subtle. It becomes a very endearing character trait which causes much amusement in one key scene in the film.
Vincent D'Onofrio gives a typically compelling performance as the troubled Charley. I can't say I fully understood him, but then no one in the family could quite figure him out. In the last part of the film Charley spells out what seems to be holding him back, when he says that he feels that no matter what he chose to do his father would never be pleased. He therefore seems to be saying that rather than try and get on with his life and fulfil his potential he would rather confound his father's expectations than try to meet them. Charley talks of the family as being a drug that they have all become addicted to. He wants to leave but knows that he can't quite make that decision for himself and needs to be thrown out. It's a peculiarly infantile way of thinking, but one that Charley is fixed on. All his father really wants, is him to do something with his life, but Charley constantly feels compelled to run way and abandon the family. He can't seem to see that he can still be part of the family even if he does move way. Charley probably thinks that the family want him to go, but the fact is they only want him to make a life for himself whilst still staying part of the family. Like I say, Charley is a complicated character, but a fascinating one.
The score to CROOKED HEARTS is by Mark Isham and is just wonderful. It perfectly complements and helps create the mood throughout the film.
CROOKED HEARTS is a powerful and moving film which I can't praise too highly. I heartily recommend this film to anyone who wants to see a superbly written and expertly acted ensemble piece. It's a joy to find a real gem like this and to be able tell other people about it. I hope other people check out this wonderful film.
Review written by Vince Deehan on Sunday 16 November 1997 E-mail vince@deehan.demon.co.uk Homepage http://www.deehan.demon.co.uk
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