Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
Edward Norton
Susan Sarandon
Richard Dreyfuss
Keri Russell
Directed By:
Tim Blake Nelson
There's a method to making a mess. Jackson Pollock made the most invigorating, energetic messes on canvas. No one cared about the chaotic spots of paint over the canvas because it was meant to be. Making a mess while trying to create something beautiful and precise is just infuriating. Leaves Of Grass,a small independent movie written and directed by actor Tim Blake Nelson, looked promising enough from the shelves of the video store. Unfortunately, it did a Ryan Leaf (Oh, football pun) of itself when I put it in my Playstation 3.
It's sad because it marks a return to action of Edward Norton, who had been too quiet as of late. And he's playing double duty nonetheless. He's playing twin brothers Bill and Brady Kincaid. One is a philosophy teacher with a promising career and the other is a fun loving drug dealer that built what he called "The Taj Mahal Of Weed". Only problem is that he built this shack using money that wasn't his. Brady is indebted to a local drug lord named Pug (Richard Dreyfuss). Bill lives in the Rhode Island, as far as he can from his mid-western hick family and his career is soaring. He's on the verge of getting a career making gig, but he forgot about one thing. His family loves him.
So Leaves Of Grass is half-way in between a Coen brothers worship flick and an overkill philosophy lesson. At no time during the movie, it can decide of what the hell it's trying to say. Whenever it's heading in one direction and starts building up a story, a concept or anything interesting, it puts the handbrake and does a 180 degrees. It's surprising the first two or three times, but it gets annoying about an hour in, as the movie doesn't want to take any direction. It has for consequences that the movie never really goes anywhere. It's supposed to happen over a week-end, but the only real plot advancement happens during the last twenty minutes of the movie. So you sit through this never ending steak of existential rants about family and philosophy and coming home, waiting for something to happen.
There is one pleasant surprise though. An actor named Josh Pais, who plays the role of Ken Feinman, a purely "Coenian" character. He plays a very small role, but whenever he's on screen, he overshadows everybody, including Edward Norton. He's also the catalyst of the funniest/most interesting scene of the whole movie. I will stay on the lookout for his name in the future, but he's the only true redeeming factor in Leaves Of Grass. I think the main problem is Bill's job as a philosophy teacher. There are intense and unwarranted philosophy lessons given, and it betrays the cardinal rule of storytelling "Show, don't tell". I suppose Tim Blake Nelson's point was that philosophy doesn't hold the road with brotherly love, but it's also a movie that tries to propose a philosophical/moral approach to life. It's an independent movie you shouldn't waste your money on. It's biggest achievement was to showcase that sweet Werner Herzog movie in the trailer section, that I now obsess over watching.
SCORE: 39%
