The Lookout (Scott Frank, 2007)

[flyonthewall2983]

Looks a bit interesting. Nice to see Jeff Daniels is going back to his 2 Days In The Valley look.

[a.khan]

Didn't know about this at all, thanks. Scott Frank's debut film. Looks like fun.

Jeff Daniels, one of the most underrated, versatile actors in Hollywood right now, was robbed of awards recognition for his astonishing turn in "The Squid and the Whale."

[flyonthewall2983]

Also had one of the greatest death scenes in Speed.

[Antoine Doinel]

It has Joseph Gordon Levitt who seems to be making some fascinating film choices, so I'll probably be there.

[justeleblanc]

I read this script almost five years ago and I don't remember it being that memorable. It blended together with Frank's adaptation of Walk Among the Tombstones, which I guess never got made.

Still, the film looks pretty interesting.

[Jeff]

It's getting great reviews. Idiot Douchebag Richard Roeper calls it a masterpiece, but the decidedly more erudite David Edelstein (who was Roeper's co-host last week) likes it a lot too.

I like a lot of Scott Frank's screenplays (I think that Out of Sight is easily the best adaptation of the past ten years), so I'm definitely interested.

[Dylan]

Good to see some discussion on this film.

For over a year now I've felt that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the greatest young actor of today, and from the trailer and the clips this looks like it could be his finest work yet. If it's receiving a wide release I'll be there opening day, first showing.

Definitely watch the Roeper review. While I enjoyed the trailer, the clips in the review give you a better idea of the tone of the film and what an interesting role it is for Levitt.

The poster's pretty badass, too:

[Fletch F. Fletch]

For over a year now I've felt that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the greatest young actor of today, and from the trailer and the clips this looks like it could be his finest work yet.

That's a bold statement considering how amazing he was in Brick and Mysterious Skin.

I dig Scott Frank as well... loved his adaptation of Out of Sight. Easily the best Elmore Leonard adaptation put to film.

[David Ehrenstein]

Joseph Gordon-Levitt IS the greatest young actor of today, and this film shows why. Now a fully-formed adult he gravitates towards parts with unusual levels of depth. In this one he plays a brain-damaged former golden boy reduced to working as a janitor in a bank. How he interacts with others is as suspenseful as the unfolding robbery plot -- which suggests an update of the sort of crime dramas Don Siegel made in the late 50's and early 60's.

A very good directorial debut for screenwriter Frank.

[flyonthewall2983]

Wow, with all this praise for it I almost feel forced to see it lol. And I too thought Brick was excellent.

[Dylan]

According to box office mojo, "The Lookout" will be receiving an estimated 1000-theatre release. I'm very excited.

That's a bold statement considering how amazing he was in Brick and Mysterious Skin.

And those are two of the most powerful, fascinating, and moving performances I've ever seen. And to go further, there are few performances (in general) that I think about nearly as much. I'm utterly smitten with Levitt's acting and presence, and if this is his greatest work yet I can't wait to see it fill a theatre screen.

[David Ehrenstein]

And I am utterly smitten.

Check out his website, where you'll find some very interesting films of his own devise.

[Dylan]

Yeah, I love Hit Record.

JGL on his GargeBand recording of I Don't Want to Live on the Moon:

[quote]Hell yes for free software. Just a little song. Not one I wrote. Something we put on a few times up in the mountains of Pai. Struck a chord as I left that window world and headed home. It's called I Don't Want To Live On The Moon, written by Jeff Moss and performed originally by Ernie on Sesame Street. The Tea Faerie says it makes her sad because she does want to live on the moon.

Interesting--or, it interested me, I really have no idea if any of you will find my happy sloppy recording hobby of much interest at all in this case--the original lyric goes, “There's so many strange places that I'd like to be / But none of them permanently.â€

[David Ehrenstein]

I met him once on the set of 3rd Rock From the Sun (I went to one of the last shootings) and interviewed him circa Mysterious Skin. That photo was from the opening night of that year's Outfest in L.A.

The girl he's standing next to (his co-star in The Lookout) is Sasha Baron Cohen's fiancee.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

The Onion A.V. Club has an excellent interview with Levitt.

The Village Voice digs the film.

[Antoine Doinel]

[quote]From Alien Boy to Growing Star in the Indie Universe

By FRANZ LIDZ
New York Times March 25, 2007

THE petit-gris snail is quite cunning, for a snail, but all too often it meets its end in garlic and parsley butter. Yet here is Joseph Gordon-Levitt — actor, Francophile and recent Columbia University dropout — rhapsodizing on the sacred geometry of the Helix aspersa Müller during lunch at a SoHo brasserie.

“The spiral in a snail's shell conforms to what some call the golden ratio: about 1 to 1.618,â€

[Jeff]

I liked it a lot. Frank is especially good at telling this kind of story. There was a bit of Obvious Screenwriting 101 with Ye Olde Plant & Payoff appearing no less than four times. Indeed the film is largely about storytelling.

Gordon-Levitt was (again) incredibly good, and it was refreshing to see a crime story take the time to develop its characters so fully.

For a first film, the visual storytelling was more than competent, and I eagerly await Frank's next film.

[Dylan]

I saw it, too.

As expected, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great. With each lead performance he continues to open himself up, displaying intense vulnerability, prying haunted depths. And this film is loaded with terrific Levitt scenes: the beginning with the fireflies (a lovely and tragic idea...definitely the best part of the film), the bar scenes (probably my favorite acting in the entire film), the startling moments where he is struggling to do simple, everyday things, and the third act where he shakes everything loose by taking control of the situation (the one scene where he really goes for it, which you see a snippet of at the very end of the trailer, is amazing and will make his fans gleeful).

As for the script, the first two acts are good, and it seemed like the meticulous and intriguing character set-up would lead to somewhere remarkable, but after the unfortunately obvious fate of one character, the film's major plot twists are routine and easy to spot (including the 'plant and payoff') and it does fall apart before the end.

Spoilers:

At first I thought his ex-girlfriend was supposed to be a vision (projection of his guilt, etc.), but then it's (seemingly) made clear that she actually did survive the crash (he does say later in the film that only two of his friends were killed) and that his guilt of her losing her leg (information we aren't revealed until his dream) was preventing him from facing her. Did anybody get anything different from this part of the film, or am I pretty much correct? I thought this was far too vague.

Any thoughts on Isla Fisher's function in the plot? For the first hour, aside from her ambiguous and sexy femme fatale aura, she functioned as the long-awaited sexual release for Levitt. Frank makes it clear that she's seducing Levitt to help lead him toward the trust of Matthew Goode and the other bad guys (the most telling moment is the shot where Chris is walking away and Isla and Goode are together at the window watching him). But so much is built between her and Levitt that seems to exist outside of her ambiguous 'assignment,' and the fact that she completely disappears from the plot before the heist, never again to make an appearance, just seemed lazy to me. We assume the cab scene was her jumping towns after her "business" with Goode was over, and that she stops the cab for a moment because she feels bad about knowingly leading Levitt to what she knew would be his murder. None of this is confirmed, however, and I'm wondering what others think.

I kept wondering after the film ended if Chris ever caught on to her 'involvement' in the heist or if he just forgot about her. He never knew her name, but it's not like she could disappear without a trace either. This film is set in modern times - she could be tracked down very easily. As of now, I guess I can conclude that he just forgets about her, just as the story seems to (deliberately?), or that he protects her by never mentioning her involvement. I feel some illumination on her would've made the overall impression of that part significantly more affecting. On a dramatic level I wasn't satisfied.

Overall: excellent performance by Levitt and 2/3 of a good script, but I won't grade on a curve - it's a disappointment.

[Jeff]

Spoilers, probably:

That's a good assessment, Dylan. Every point you make is correct from my perspective. I had the same issues with the film, but I guess for me the whole added up to more than the sum of its parts. Frank indeed hit all of the familiar notes for this type of story, but I still had fun seeing them played so efficiently.

I think that Hot One-Legged Ex-Girlfriend was there solely to represent the guilt that Chris had to confront and overcome before he would be able to move on. Part of his routine seemed to be parking outside of her workplace and contemplating the possibility of talking to her. He was weighing whether she would react as she did in his dream or want nothing to do with him.

As for Luvlee Lemons, her abrupt disappearance from the story was, for me, its most glaring problem. The viewer is certainly left with the impression that she was with Gary all along. I think Chris realized he was being taken advantage of, but either couldn't process what that meant or he enjoyed fucking her so much that he just didn't care. His interaction with Carla Gugino's character at the beginning makes it clear that he hasn't been with a woman since the accident. When he decides to leave the farmhouse after hearing Gary's plan, he gives sort of a resigned sigh when she leads him up the stairs. Notice that he also does not react or bother to come to her defense when he overhears Louis taking her to task at the kitchen table. I'm not sure what I would have done with the character at that point either. She doesn't need any closure with Chris, because there was really no relationship there to begin with. That too-tidy voiceover narration at the end probably should have brought some conclusion to her part of the story though.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Scott Frank, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Matthew Goode are interviewed over at GreenCine.

[colinr0380]

There is an episode of Elvis Mitchell's The Treatment that features an interview with Scott Frank here

[patrick]

I watched this over the weekend and thought it was a strong directorial debut with great performances - well done all around, although I agree that Scott Frank left some things a little too vague for my taste. However, what was the "twist you'll never see coming" that's alluded to on the back of the DVD cover? One of the things I really liked about this film was how straightforward it was - for as many times as this movie has been compared to Memento, they're completely different: one movie tells a story, and the other tries to fuck with you.

[Hrossa]

I thought this really went off the deep end in the final ten minutes or so. After doing a marvelous job of telling a story with great characters that we care about Scott Frank gives us such a conventional little whipped cream topping of a conclusion that I found it hard to believe. How could Frank think that

Spoiler

the "happily ever after" bit which relies heavily on voiceover to fill in each of its sickeningly familiar details

is what we'd want to see?

I was really into this. I was surprised it was as engaging as it was. But in the end I just felt violated.

Watch this. Definitely do. But turn it off as soon as

Spoiler

Matthew Goode gives up the ghost.

[Antoine Doinel]

Picked up a used copy for $5 last week, and finally had a chance to sit down and watch it tonight and thought this was very, very good. For me, the biggest strength of the film lay in how well sketched out the secondary characters were. Lewis and Deputy Ted were fantastic characters, and when added to Levitt's great performance, really made for fascinating world for this crime to unfold. It's very difficult to pull off this type of film, particularly when it's loaded enough eccentricities that it could just be a bunch of stylistic tics. But Frank does a great job in making us care and know about the characters first, before setting everything into motion.

A solid film from a gifted screenwriter. I really hope he gets more of his own projects off the ground as he shows some great promise behind the lens.