Post by StevePulaski on Jan 19, 2014 22:46:28 GMT -5
Another Day in Paradise (1998)
Directed by: Larry Clark
Rating: ★★★
Directed by: Larry Clark
Rating: ★★★
Bobbie (Vincent Kartheiser) is a young, petty thief with little going for him by himself. If he continues to act alone, he's going to get nothing but screwed in the long run. However, he decides to team up with the charismatic junkie and thief Mel (James Woods), who is prepared to take the kid under his wing and make a true, big-time crook out of him.
Bobbie brings along his girlfriend Rosie (Natasha Gregson Wagner) to work in unison with Mel and his longtime girlfriend Sid (Melanie Griffith) with plans to conduct a large drug heist that will provide them with another cash for life. The challenge at hand now is to assimilate Bobbie and Rosie to the cut-throat lifestyle of the drug life, and to get them in a position where they'll be able to survive.
Another Day in Paradise comes from the uncompromisingly honest and brutal mind of Larry Clark, who answered with this film after his unbridled masterpiece Kids made waves of controversy a few years beforehand. Clark's subjects in that particular film were young, impressionable teenage boys and girls, running around New York unsupervised swearing, robbing, and having unprotected sex. Clark now sets his sights on a group of people who are slightly older but possess a similar, youthful, impulsive mentality about the world.
Consider Mel, who constantly acts with animal-like dominance whenever he is challenged, mainly by Bobbie. "You never mess with a man's money, you never mess with a man's dope, and you never mess with a man's p****," Mel tells Bobbie when Bobbie remarks how attractive Sid is. This sort of animalistic protection over what Mel thinks is his carries over throughout the picture.
Because Clark, who was already in his fifties making this film, has his reckless background and definitely has his checkered past, Another Day in Paradise feels authentic and real, mainly because we could see these series of events having their place in Clark's life. Whether or not the film is partially autobiographical is up for debate, but with every Clark effort comes shockingly natural and believable scenes involving teenagers or troubled subjects feels as if it could've been extracted from real-life circumstances.
If not Clark's dizzying, completely fascinating style, the film needs to be seen for a terrifically over-the-top performance by James Woods, effectively stealing nearly every scene he finds himself in. Kartheiser and Wagner work well with what they have, in addition, and Melanie Griffith begins with her string of rebellious performances, continuing on with John Waters' Cecil B. Demented in 2001.
Immediately, Another Day in Paradise finds itself sandwiched between Clark's exceptional directorial effort Kids and Clark's future directorial effort Bully, both of which I find to be more complete pictures with a smoother, more original focuses. This particular picture feels a bit sloppier, a bit more ordinary in its focus, and bears a style which can only be viewed as Clark being something he isn't, between the imperfect camera shots, dazed-and-confused style shooting, and the seventies-infused soundtrack. However, the film emphasizes what I love about Clark, which is do what you want, how you want, and let your age be your justification for experience and knowledge.
Starring: Vincent Kartheiser, Natasha Gregson Wagner, James Woods, and Melanie Griffith. Directed by: Larry Clark.