The Upside of Anger (2005)
Note: Spoilers.
While Joan Allen is brilliant in
this film and Kevin Costner is in his best role in
over ten years, "The Upside of Anger" is the kind
of pseudo-intellectual suburban angst film that tries
desperately to be like a piece by Todd Solondz or
P.T. Anderson and fails miserably. While it is often
compelling and interesting, and the performances are
certainly amazing, the film tries too hard to be deep,
emotional and complex and never seems to get to the
level of poetic genius that it is so obviously striving
to attain.
Scripter/director/actor Mike Binder
seems on the verge of greatness many times in the
film but always seems to miss the mark when it comes
time to go for the emotional and honest zinger. Case
in point is his inability to truly create real and
honest moments in the film: No less than three times
in the film is there a scene where the characters
reach an emotional climax and instead of providing
a moment of honest emotion or delivering a line of
dialogue that coagulates the entire scene, Binder
simply has the characters all burst into laughter.
This is eventually used as the emotional climax of
the film and, by the third time, it begins to ring
hollow and screech "contrived" at the top of its lungs.
To be sure though, "The Upside of
Anger" provides Allen with the character of her career.
Allen is honest, edgy, angry, and palpably clinched
throughout this film and her performance is one of
the best any female has delivered in recent memory
in a film. She's also playing a complex and somewhat
unlikable character in the film and Allen's boldness
and courage in bringing this character to life is
laudable. Sadly, with such stressed material, one
can only imagine how great Allen would have been in
similar, better roles, like the one Annette Benning
snatched in "American
Beauty." Seeing Allen here, one thinks that maybe
she could have given Hilary Swank a run for her money
at the Oscars that year if she we cast against Kevin
Spacey in stead. With this film, Allen again edges
closer to becoming one of the best actresses working
in American films today.
The other wonderful performer here
is young Dane Christensen who is simply gorgeous.
He may play a 15 year old, but he is 18 in real life,
so I am only being slightly pervy when I gush and
drool over him. Christensen gives one hell of a performance
as well, though, like Allen, he is saddled by a less
than perfect script. Playing a gay youth, Christensen
is simply dreamy and consummate. Gays like myself
however will be disappointed in a young gay character
that seems rooted not in nature but nurture when it
revealed he is a verbally bullied, albeit demurely,
by an overbearing and athletic father. Binder uses
this character for his own storytelling needs and
then abandons him in the plot leaving us wanting.
Christensen, thankfully, gives us as much as he can
to make the character honest and realistic.
Shot perfectly and gorgeously by
DP Richard Greatrex, "The Upside of Anger" suffers
from yet another weak score by Alexander Desplat and
by filmmaker Binder's inability to solidify his plot
and themes here. The film uses narration of Allen's
youngest daughter character to open and close the
film and supposedly provide some sort of poetic center
to the story. Sadly, like Binder's script, she verbally
circles around a point and a poignant moment without
ever hitting her target.
"The Upside of Anger," the girl
tells us, "is the person you become after it." Sadly,
the only "upside" of this film is that it reminds
us what a great actress Joan Allen is and makes us
hunger for the next time we can catch a glimpse of
cutie Christensen's winning grin.
Note:
With Erika Christensen, Evan Rachael
Wood, Keri Russell and Alicia Witt as Allen's daughters.
Dane and Erika Christensen are brother
and sister.
Viewed in Austin in April 2005.
