My main motto about movies is “The most beautiful thing about film is the pure subjectivity of it”. I hold to that. But even I get a little amazed at how “the masses” sometime reject what I think it a special piece of work. One such film that quickly jumps to mind for me is the Tom Hanks film The Ladykillers.
Written and directed by the amazing Coen brothers (also responsible for such films Intolerable Cruelty, The Man Who Wasn’t There, O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski and so on and so on) the film is my favorite example of just good campfire storytelling of any offering of 2004.
Right off the top I’ve got to say that I think Tom Hanks has never been better than he was in this film. No, seriously. The man gives a performance that I thought was going to have the world of Hollywood buzzing like crazy. Hanks plays “An eccentric, if not charming Southern professor” who masterminds a daring heist. Hanks also gave the character a slightly seedy kernel Sanders feel to him which just had me giggling every time he opened his mouth.
As with many Coen films, much of the story and characters are actually metaphors and symbolism. The brilliant thing about them is the way the metaphors and symbols slowly reveal themselves to the audience… you have to figure them out… but they do come. And when they reveal themselves you click in with what much of the story has REALLY been about. I dig that. I don’t mean to give too much away, (WARNING, SLIGHT SPOILER IN THIS SENTENCE)… but it hit me about 75% of the way through the film that Hanks’ character was actually the devil, or representation of real evil. Slick, suave, charming, seductive yet brilliant and conniving. It brought the movie to a whole new level for me.
The cast is wonderfully assembled. Rich characters, funny dialog, FANTASTIC pace. I just loved this movie.
I picked it up at the DVD store last night and remembered how stunned I was that this film didn’t get better reviews or box office results. Do yourself a favor and get out to rent this puppy.
