The
Yards (2000)
Slow moving and hopelessly dramatic, "The Yards" refers
to both "the yards" of a prison, from which Mark Wahlberg's
character Leo has just returned, and the subway "yards"
of NYC, where his character hopes to gain employment.
Leo's aunt has recently married a man who runs the Electric
Rail Company, which makes equipment and cars for the
subway system. Hoping to become a "productive member
of society," Leo goes to his new uncle who has offered
to help him start over and thus begins his submergence
into the underworld of politicos and payoffs.
Writer/Director James Gray, who works with co-scripter
Matt Reeves here, creates a plot built on a house of
cards. Leo becomes involved in an intricate and obvious
underground of corruption almost immediately. Everything
that can go wrong does as soon as he is on the scene.
It's like he's jinxed or something. And buying into
this set of pretty contrived circumstances is the only
way were going to follow this film as it slithers it
way through it's pretty obvious story.
Having nothing really new to rely on here, only a
sort of nod to "Serpico" and 70's films of that ilk,
Gray fortunately peoples the film with some of the most
remarkable actors around. Drawing from New Hollywood
and the old guard, Gray brings together no less than
Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Charlize Theron, James Caan,
Faye Dunaway, Ellen Burstyn, and, by God, Steve Lawrence.
And while each and every one of these remarkable talents
bring great skill to the film, they are stuck in a plot
so typical that it is hard for them to shine. Wahlberg's
Leo is particularly a problem in that he is quiet. The
actor performs his role admirably, showing much emotion
with a look or a nod. But in the end we hope for much
more from him and from the scripters. Opting for exposition
that does not rely solely on dialogue, the filmmaker
and scripters set themselves up to be unable to explore
the film's themes fully. It should say more than it
does about family, corruption and a the code of silence.
Perhaps Gray and Reeves thought it was dramatically
ironic that Leo be a quiet young man considering the
theme and plot of the film. If this is the case, it
barely works.
Gray also sets the film, again nodding to all these
70's influences, during a time when the city is experiencing
brown outs. This allows him to play with lighting where
images fade often into almost complete blackness only
to once again emerge with the return of the light. It
looks cool but it's been done before.
"The Yards" is only worth watching for the performances
delivered. Wahlberg continues to be, in my opinion,
the most underrated actor of present times. His quiet
protagonist here carries the film on the weight of the
actor's ability to convey much without saying much.
It will be nice when Wahlberg is allowed to stretch
into more challenging and complex roles (i.e. antagonists)
but for now, this role marks yet another great performance
by him. Phoenix as well continues to prove that he has
talents yet untapped by modern cinema. Given a masterful
script, these two could act circles around almost any
star in the business. Here, they are able to keep us
interested quite enough. These youths are juxtaposed
against three of the most remarkable talents ever to
grace the screen, Burstyn, Dunaway and Caan and hold
their own quite well. These giants of the American cinema,
struggling to find roles in a youth obsessed age, are
thereason to see the film. They execute perfectly and
prove that there are many more performances of great
depth and skill to be found from them still. "The Yards"
just whets our appetite for more, and better, from every
member of the ensemble.
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