“Bronson” in Fergus Falls Friday

Since the last HPR issue, I’ve caught up with several of the films released late in 2009. Only one opened locally on its national release date (“Sherlock Holmes”), one got here last weekend (“Nine”), one was a limited release that arrived almost two months after its premiere (“Boondock Saints II”), and one is an exclusive release from Britain that opened in one U.S. theatre October 9th, has never played in more than eight theatres at a time, yet opens this Saturday in Fergus Falls, just a short drive from Fargo (“Bronson”).

“Sherlock Holmes” is a worthy addition to the countless films adapted from and/or inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous fictional detective. Robert Downey, Jr. does his usual excellent job of making the title character his own while preserving his trademark personality quirks (except for the heroin hobby). Director Guy Ritchie manages to stay true to the character’s 19th century roots and the stories’ passion for logical scientific observation, while simultaneously making an exciting action-thriller that employs his own trademark editing style of rapid flash-forwards and flashbacks. It’s great fun that should reach a wider audience than Ritichie’s previous films, with plenty of action, comedy, romance and intrigue, yet surprisingly little crudity.

“Nine” is an entertaining if not wholly satisfying musical remake of Federico Fellini’s 1963 masterpiece “8½” that should appeal to fans of Italian films or the moviemaking process itself, but might confuse mainstream American audiences. Rob Marshall (“Chicago”) obviously has a flair for filming Broadway musicals adapted from non-musical originals, but in this case it feels simply like an homage to Fellini’s film rather than the more personal, quirky, and updated variations it inspired in films like Woody Allen’s “Stardust Memories,” Bob Fosse’s “All That Jazz,” or Yussuf Chahine’s “Alexandria” trilogy. Daniel Day-Lewis is no Marcello Mastroianni, but heads a fine international cast who do a decent job of singing and dancing for themselves, especially Penélope Cruz in her trademark sexy neurotic role, Marion Cotillard as the wronged wife, and Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson substantially less-hefty than the original Saraghina the prostitute. It’s also great to see Sophia Loren return to the screen.

In “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” writer-director Troy Duffy reunites much of his cast and production crew a decade later for one of the few sequels that recaptures virtually everything that made the first film a cult favorite, yet not become too predictable to enjoy. Formula vigilante violence it may be, but Duffy keeps it stylish, his cast keep it entertaining, and they throw in a few unexpected twists it would be criminal to give away in a review. In short, fans of the original should find it just as much fun, and those turned off by the original should find it just as crudely extreme and self-consciously arty.

“Bronson,” like the “Boondock Saints” films, is a consciously artistic statement revolving around characters prone to extreme violence and crude language, but is drastically different in its approach and attitude. It’s an offbeat portrait of a violent, misfit man based on the life of Britain’s most notorious criminal, now in his late 50s and who’s spent some 35 years in prison, 30 of those in solitary confinement.

Alternately funny, sad, exhilarating, repulsive, and downright disturbing, “Bronson” may at times be reminiscent of such films as “Fight Club,” “Blue Velvet,” “Natural Born Killers,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “A Clockwork Orange,” and other cutting-edge examinations of maladjusted characters and violence’s place in society. But director Nicolas Winding Refn gives it a peculiar and engrossing style of its own that relies on an often surrealistic framework of the main character speaking directly to an audience (and the camera) telling his life story, depicted with gritty, grainy cinematography, painterly colors, and numerous long takes to bring out the intensity of the actors’ performances.

Tom Hardy is especially notable as the enigmatic, alienated title character, Michael Peterson, who later assumes the name of movie action star Charles Bronson. He exudes a certain raw charm that can quickly turn from inspiring to frightening, pitiful, or pathetic. Whether he is truly evil, criminally insane, or merely maladjusted and misunderstood is left to viewers to debate.

While extremely violent and vulgar, “Bronson” is not a film that exploits or glorifies the extremes it dramatizes. Refn’s approach treats the viewer as an observer rather than a participant and certainly does not encourage the behavior it depicts. It’s a film one might expect to see at a film festival, but hardly at a mainstream multiplex, and will certainly be more effective on the big screen than catching up with later on home video. “Bronson” is scheduled to open Saturday, January 23 at the Center for the Arts in Fergus Falls, MN.

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