Post by StevePulaski on Mar 25, 2014 7:42:09 GMT -5
Scent of a Woman (1992)
Directed by: Martin Brest
Directed by: Martin Brest
Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell.
Rating: ★★½
The fact that Martin Brest's Scent of a Woman awarded Al Pacino his first and only Oscar to date is a fact that satisfies and infuriates simultaneously. It's nice to see an immensely talented actor finally get his due from Hollywood, however, it's upsetting to see it's for a film that largely pales in comparison to Pacino's other pictures such as The Godfather trilogy and Scarface and a performance that doesn't hold a candle to the ones he gave in the aforementioned films.
It's bizarre out of the library of terrific Pacino performances we've been so grateful to see over the years, the Academy recognizes one that is good at the same time all over the place and inconsistent, even though it's one of the best inconsistent performances I have yet to see. The film centers around Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell), a student at a prestigious New England prep school who is assigned to look after a retired Army Ranger Lieutenant Colonel named Frank Slade (Al Pacino). Frank is a blind man, often loud, frequently outspoken, loves his drinks, and feels completely entitled to speak his mind whenever he feels like it. It is only a screenwriting obligation that these two will embark on some life-altering adventures and find ways to open up to each other in ways they never foresaw.
Scent of a Woman's writer Bo Goldman pulls no punches whatsoever, for this is a straight-forward drama about companionship and loss with little to no presence of deeper meaning or multilayered storytelling. Not every film needs to be heavy on symbology or even multilayered, but when a story is a sometimes merciless one-hundred and fifty-three minutes, one hopes that at some point a line is drawn and deeper, rawer human emotions surface or some other facet pops up to reveal another layer.
But sadly there isn't one, and because of that, Scent of a Woman flounders because of how basic it is. We see young Charlie leave a lasting impact on Frank and Frank leave an impact on Charlie, which as cute as it is sometimes, can also be dreadfully boring, especially for such a lengthy amount of time. This is one-hundred and five minutes of material stretched out forty-eight minutes longer and occasionally finds itself going in circles over material and events it has just covered.
When it comes down to the chemistry between Pacino and O'Donnell, it's uniformly solid. Both actors have a believable sense of friendship in the film, especially during scenes like the one at the dinner table, the one when Charlie allows Frank to drive a Ferrari down an unpopulated alleyway, or when Frank sticks up for Charlie in the end of the film. Both men are believable as friends and work well as an on-screen duo.
With that being said, Pacino's performance still finds itself registering all over the place and having issues setting up a clear tone throughout the film. Frank will be calm and collective on some occasions mirroring the likes of mentally unstable on other occasions. Some scenes, Frank will be shouting at the top of his lungs, others, he'll be barely cracking a whisper. This is the performance that won Pacino the Oscar, mind you - not the subtleties he presented as Michael Corleone, not the brash assertiveness he exerted as Tony Montana, but the up-and-down tendencies he brought to the table in Scent of a Woman. While this is by no means a bad performance (and definitely shows its effectiveness by the end, with Frank in the courtroom scene), it still isn't the kind of performance one would see Pacino winning, especially with his already exceptional résumé.
Furthermore, it's worth noting that the presence of Thomas Newman's turgid score that needs to emphasize every emotional instance in the film gets to be insufferable to say the least. Newman's score chimes in and plays precisely the kind of tune you expect to hear during scenes of conflict, happiness, joy, and sorrow with absolutely no subtly whatsoever. Then there's the courtroom scene that concludes the film, which feels extracted from a completely separate film.
When you have a film that already overextends itself in its groggy runtime, presents a performance that is, for the lack of a better term, all over the place, and a score that leaves no ambiguity, Scent of a Woman almost seems down and out accept for the fact that it does present a well-orchestrated human interest story and how companionship is one of the fundamentals to a good life. Regardless of how long, occasionally tiresome, and overblown the film can be, it still possesses a delightful focus on character over plot, which I always admire.
The film comes from Martin Brest, an underrated director known for his action comedies such as the exciting Beverly Hills Cop, the hilarious and too-often enthralling Midnight Run, and the unfairly bashed Gigli, which ostensibly crippled his career (Brest hasn't directed since its release in 2003). Brest's usual investment with character relationships is present but absent this time around are his action set pieces, which provide a nice addition of variety in Brest's short but sweet filmography.
Scent of a Woman reminds me quite a bit of Dead Poets Society for more reasons than it deals with a prep school. Both films have a cloying obviousness to their writing and directing, making their themes completely heavy, and staging their emotional sequences as if they were the most powerful to ever exist. The film works best when it is underplaying its central ideas, focusing on more abstract scenes like the key scene here, which involves Frank on a plane fondly recalling the beautiful qualities of a woman, detailing the scent of her hair, the feel of her lips, the texture of her breasts, etc. It's a beautiful scene - Scent of a Woman needed more of those.
This film is truly the poster child of films acting as Oscar bait and trying to catch Awards in the grand pool of film; Scent of a Woman was lucky enough to be one of the handful that succeeded.
Starring: Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell. Directed by: Martin Brest.