Another Saturday Night At The Movies

So, last night I rented The Ice Harvest, based once again on my trust in John Cusack's choices in terms of scripts.  It looked like a safe bet, a darkly funny film noir with Cusack and Oliver Platt, who rarely turns in anything but a great performance. Billy Bob Thornton's name on the poster didn't make my eyes light up - I find his work and his choices to be spotty at best.  But Harold Ramis was  directing - Ramis directed Groundhog Day and dozens of other marquee movies, so he's always going to be solid.  I figured it was worth the risk.

And ... I guess it was. It's one of those movies that I mostly enjoyed, but would hesitate to recommend to anyone who didn't have precisely my sense of humour and appreciation for the genre

 .Based on the novel by Scott Philips, The Ice Harvest is a comic film noir set in very cold and icy Wichita, Kansas. John Cusack is Charlie, a soft-spoken lawyer who works for local mob boss (Randy Quaid). Charlie hangs out in strip clubs, pines after femme fatale Renata (Connie Nielsen), and basically watches life happen all around him. Ready for a change, he and the much more hardened Vic (Billy Bob Thornton) steal $2.1 million from the boss and plan to play it cool before leaving town, trying not to create suspicion. All they need to do is make it through Christmas Eve--but of course Charlie spends the long night getting caught up in a series of very funny, very dangerous, and very bloody events.

Film noir is tricky stuff, I find.  Done well, it is breathtaking - the twists, the turns, the suspense, deceipt, raw sensuality, danger, and always that black, black sense of humour.  It's such a rich, structured genre - the unsympathetic loner, the femme fatale, the secrets buried in riddles wrapped in mysteries that pull all the characters along and draw the audience deeply into the story.  Body Heat, Body Double, Blood Simple, Chinatown - all of them dancing along a fine line.  One step in the wrong direction, and you slide over into camp.  A slip the other way and it's just ... well, boring.

Ramis walks that line admirably, I think - a few missteps here and there, but by and large he knows where the laughs are hidden when the lights go low.  The script is mostly solid and there are some laugh-out-loud moments (I love it when gangsters meet surprising and grisly-but-comically-ironic ends).

Oliver Platt is brilliant as a drunken pal married to Charlie's ex-wife - his performance alone is worth the price of the rental; and Connie Neilsen (who I literally could not remember from any of a half-dozen other movies I've seen he in, including Gladiator) was delightfully steamy as la femme dangereuse.  Billy Bob was ... well, Billy Bob - I don't ever see much depth or variety in how he plays characters, once you take Sling Blade out of the equation.  And Cusack was ... well, Cusack.  Puppy dog looks, sardonic grin, bafflement, self-doubt - this movie certainly played to all his strong suits.

The Ice Harvest moves towards a fairly brutal and violent ending, so be forewarned.  As I say, if you love films noirs and join me in thinking they just don't make enough of them (of any real quality), you should probably give this one a run.  If you're lukewarm on the genre, or just looking for some straight comedy, don't be fooled by the packaging - this is not a yuk-a-minute chucklefest.  (Although, that particular phrase?  Is.)

Comments

[Kristine]

I love John in anything he does.
I have a strange cluster of films I like.

I might rent this one and we can see if we have the same.

[Tanya]

I Love John Cusack. I have got to find this film.

Having a John Cusack Movie night on Friday. Anyone wanna come? :)

[Bucky Four-Eyes]

I really really loved Blood Simple. I'm so split on the Cohen Bros' movies. I either really dig 'em or I can't stand 'em.

Ice Harvest sounds like one I'd like. John Cusack + film noir + sick, brutal humor is a winning combination for me.

[Bucky Four-Eyes]

OK, that comment sounds like I think Ice Harvest is a Cohen Bros film. I do know better!

[MrsDoF]

Since I just finished watching _Must Love Dogs_ on your recommendation and liked it very much, I will now have to find _Ice Harvest_.
John Cusack movies are definitely worth their rent.
I own _The Sure Thing_ and _Pushing Tin_ for good measure.

As my choice for my birthday date, DoF took me to a movie place to see _A Prairie Home Companion_. He did a write up at his blog Decrepit Old Fool.

[Jim Fogg]

The Grifters (film noir)and Being John Malkovich are 2 great Cusack movies in my opinion. Also liked Gross Pointe Blank and most evertyhing he's done. He has a pretty impressive list of credits.

[wordgirl]

I adore Harold Ramis and John Cusack, so I'll probably rent this. I share your views of Billy Bob sans "Slingblade".

Film Noir is another favorite. When I was a kid I found a box of books in my grandmother's closet. They had belonged to my mother when she was young. One in particular was Vera Caspary's "Laura". I read the book and was sucked in immediately. How amazed was I to find out much later that a movie had been made from the book? Gene Tierney, Vincent Price, Clifton Webb, Dame Judith Anderson, Dana Andrews. I love everything about it and watch it on rainy days when my eyes need the comfort of a black/white movie with killer dialogue. Please tell me you've seen this movie. If not...run (do not walk) to rent it.

[Squirl]

I should check this one out. I really liked John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton in Pushing Tin. Jim Fogg also mentioned a couple of my favorites, The Grifters and Being John Malkovich.

I will usually watch anything that has John Cusack, too.

[sheryl]

I think I pretty much agree with everything you said about Ice Harvest... except I think I liked it just a smidge less.

For an odd-er take on Billy Bob's standard character, try Dead Man. Iggy Pop plays his prairie girlfriend. For no reason to do with Billy Bob, it's one of my top three fave films (takes a unique stomach to enjoy it though, I admit).

[Jim fogg]

How about Billy Bob in The Man Who Wasn't There. An under appreciated movie.

[Nils]

Dunno. I think I was the man who wasn't there. In the audience, I mean.