Rated R - Running Time: 1:47 - Released 11/9/01
HEIST
Rated R - Running Time: 1:47 - Released 11/9/01
Written and directed by famous Chicagoan wordsmith David Mamet,
Heist is another showcase of the highly stylized dialogue
and direction for which the playwright-turned-filmmaker is known.
Far from a simple caper movie, Heist contains many complex
relationships and lots of strangely stilted dialogue, spoken by
some of the best actors working, who are barely able to make it
work. Mamet's textual patterns are interesting, but I think he
has a great deal of trouble getting his actors to translate them
into realistic speech, as was the case with The
Spanish Prisoner. On the other hand, perhaps Mamet wants
the film to sound affected and unnatural. Perhaps he's so wrapped
up in the language of his screenplay, he's uninclined to make
it honest to human nature. Like Picasso's cubism, the result is
art for art's sake; clever, poetic, fascinating in its way, but
not believable.
The story revolves around a gang of crooks led by Joe Moore
(Gene Hackman), an aging thief who wants to get out of the business.
The fact that during the last job his face was recorded by the
security cameras makes his dream to retire even more urgent. However,
he is presently stuck, because he promised his shady partner Bergman
(Danny DeVito) that his gang would do another, bigger job after
the bank heist. The job involves robbing a Swiss cargo plane of
several tons of solid gold ingots. Adding to Joe's reticence to
fulfill his contract, Bergman insists that Joe take along his
nephew, Jimmy Silk (Sam Rockwell), on this job, to make sure everything
stays on the level. This comes as an affront to Joe and his trusted
friends Bobby (Delroy Lindo), Pinky (Ricky Jay), and his wife
Fran (Rebecca Pidgeon, a.k.a. Mrs. David Mamet).
As we wind our way through Mamet's overly complex and detour-ridden
story, the gang continually fights over Silk's presence, the feasibility
of the job, the methods they'll use to execute it, and who's in
charge. There are so many twists and turns in the plot line, with
one crook outsmarting another and then being outsmarted by one
who's currently in the process of being outsmarted by another,
it becomes increasingly convoluted, not to mention implausible,
and since we don't really learn what exactly the job is until
very late in the film, it feels like swimming in the dark. Moreover,
there's always the affected nature of Mamet's words. These guys
are so busy making clever but uncomfortably delivered wisecracks,
they fail to communicate with each other, or with us. As in Prisoner,
Pidgeon seems the least equipped to handle her husband's wordplay,
making nearly every line she speaks sound like well-rehearsed
banality rather than anything resembling normal language. Who
knows, maybe she's the only one doing what the director wants.
Having said all this, however, I must backpedal a bit and admit
this highly affected text does present something different and
sorely needed in the way of screenwriting, namely a poetic style.
Rather than simply churning out more forgettable Hollywood movie
dialogue, Mamet attempts to bring his story to life through a
sort of impressionistic filter. If you look at the script as a
sort of epic poem rather than a realistic presentation of events,
it works on some level. But the plot is such a meat-and-potatoes
crime story, it seems mismatched with the style.
Textual issues aside, the actors do their best (which, considering most of these actors, is notable) to play through the unrealistic dialogue and make their characters live. The story is tense and twisty, so unpredictable that it's almost predictable, but provides an interesting if patently unbelievable bit of cinematic artistry. ***½