Mubi Monday: Psycho (1998)

Well, I guess I owe an apology to quite a few people. I used to spend some of my time online defending this ill-advised remake of the Hitchcock classic. This recent revisit, the first time I have watched the film since I caught it on a rental VHS copy, quickly had me reconsidering my view. So many elements are awful. And yet... yet... there is still something here that leaves it ad a fascinating experiment. Not a satisfying movie, and not a remake that comes anywhere close to the original, but something worth viewing as a way to strengthen the case of how many different elements come together to make a movie a timeless classic.

You know the story, basically. Unless you don't. If you don't, I am not going to spoil any potential twists and turns, even if you've seen the original film. Anne Heche is Marion Crane this time around, a woman who is left in charge of a large sum of money by her boss and, in a moment of madness, heads off to use the money as a chance to start a better life with her boyfriend (Viggo Mortensen). Tired from the drive, but so close to her destination, Marion pulls in to get a room for the night at the Bates Motel, where she meets Norman (Vince Vaughn). He seems like a nice young man, in stark contrast to his angry mother.

Based on the exact same shooting script as the 1960 original, written by Joseph Stefano, and with many shots replicated as closely as possible to the way Hitchcock already did them, it's understandable that many people cite this as an example of a remake that is completely pointless. I was tempted to think the same thing as the end credits rolled this time around.

And yet . . . there's definitely a lot to be gained from viewing this as an academic exercise. Director Gus Van Sant knows how pointless it is to try and remake such an acclaimed masterpiece, and he makes a great effort to highlight the futility of the exercise. Before you even see one bit of the performances on display, just watching the opening credits is enough to put you off. They're exactly the same as the original credits. They're just now in colour. Seconds into the film and it's already not as good, the colour seems to serve as a final flag raised up before the viewer. "You were warned," it seems to say, "and now the reality of the situation is here in front of your eyes." This continues throughout the entire movie. Even the moments that are staged as best as they can be (the sequence between Marion Crane and a highway patrolman, this time played by James Remar) just don't ever feel as good because, well, they're just not.

It's a shame that the cast don't do better though, even if they were given a thankless task. Heche is hard to warm to in the role of Marion, and Mortensen gives one of his worst performances as her beau. Vaughn is given the biggest shoes to fill, and I still find a lot to admire in his performance. It doesn't work, his laugh is too jarring and his quick-talking manner feels unlike the Norman Bates we're used to, but I still appreciate the way that he tries to make himself seem smaller and a bit more timid than he seems in most of his other roles. Julianne Moore, as much as I like her, is quite awful as Marion's sister, not helped by the pointless addition of headphones she is given to wear (as if the character was written to be some spirited, resourceful teen), but William H. Macy at least manages to make up for her presence in the second half of the film, easily outshining both her and Mortensen in his scenes as the detective, Arbogast.

And yet . . . there's STILL something here. Something in the heart of the story, something that pulls you towards it, even as the performances and the new colour scheme put you off. Van Sant knows this, he knows that YOU know it, and your growing appreciation for the original movie in direct correlation to your anger at the audacity of this remake just goes to prove the point that he decided to make when he took on this project.

4/10

You can buy the movie here, if you really want to.
Americans can buy it here.

Mubi Monday: Paranoid Park (2007)

Gus Van Sant. Sometimes I really enjoy his movies, sometimes I REALLY don't. Paranoid Park is one I really don't, there's no point beating about the bush. Based on the novel by Blake Nelson, it's like a skateboarder riff on Blow-Up, which could have been fine if not for the fact that the script is weak and the acting, at times, absolutely terrible. Top tip - don't use social media to put together your cast. It shows. Oh boy, it shows.

Gabe Nevins is Alex, a young boy with a story to tell. That story revolves around the people he meets at the titular skate park, the accidental death of a security guard, and his relationship with a young girl named Jennifer (Taylor Momsen).

Although there are a few things that I'll grudgingly admit Paranoid Park gets right (that restlessness of youth that leads to the need for change, even as everything seems to be going well), there are far too many things it gets wrong, including the tension that should be created by the central investigation into the death of the guard. If you can recall times in your youth when you spent time either skateboarding or thinking about skateboarding, in between other fleeting teenage problems that felt heavy upon your young shoulders, then this may work better for you. Everyone else will be annoyed by it.

A large part of that annoyance comes from the cast. This is another project that Van Sant thought would benefit from casting non-actors in key roles. He is wrong once again, and that is painfully obvious in a few key scenes. Nevins isn't as bad as he could be in the lead role, although he doesn't have an ounce of appeal or charisma, and Momsen shows that she's one of the cast members with acting experience. Others range from pretty poor to absolutely dire. I wasn't surprised to look up the filmography of Lauren McKinney and find that this is her only role. I don't like singling people out for particularly harsh criticism but McKinney gives one of the worst performances that I have ever seen. Imagine convincing a child to speak lines of dialogue by waiting just behind the camera with a biscuit-shaped reward and you'll have an idea of how she acts. She looks directly at the camera on at least two occasions, seeming to be pleased with the fact that she had just managed to deliver all of the words she was told to say aloud.

It's a shame that the acting is sometimes SO bad because the directorial style would work well with natural performances that were actually good. Van Sant knows how to nonchalantly film things with a seeming lack of focus while also ensuring that the viewer is taking in the right details, be it dialogue or character interactions, or even just a look from someone.

I am guessing this works better in book form. In adapting it to the screen, Van Sant mashes together two separate aspects without ever effectively blending them. It feels like there is room for more content to be packed into either main element, either more detective work with the feeling that the situation is getting more dangerous for the main character, or more simple entertainment in the form of skateboarding sequences.

3/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can stream it here.