Hello all. I know its been a while since I posted about a movie. But you know... school, stress, school, more stress.....
But I will write my review on the new Spider-Man movie later.
I just finished watching Cyrus with my little brother. He recorded it and wanted to watch it, so I said sure. I only remembered the plot vaguely from commercials, surprised I remember it at all since it came out 2 years ago. Basically, John (John C. Reily) is alone, coping with the fact that his ex-wife is getting re-married. Then he meets and falls for Molly (Marisa Tomei), but her son Cyrus (Jonah Hill) isnt happy about that.
Now, from what I remember about the advertisement and the posters, the whole thing is depicted as a wild comedy, and that's probably why I didn't see it in theaters. With the scenes they cut out of the film for the trailer, I was assuming alot of forced comedy. And when I watched it tonight, I must admit, I did find myself expecting it. After all, the two leads are John C. Reily and Jonah Hill, two actors who work prominently in comedies.
Which can be harming to an actors career. After all, anyone who's scene John C. Reilly in Magnolia knows he can really act.
However, this is overshadowed by films like Step Brothers,
and especially his character Dr. Steve Brule Check it Out! with Dr. Steve Brule.
When I watched the film, I found myself waiting. And waiting. And then you realize, its not that kind of comedy. Yes, there are humorous moments, but its not a zany comedy. This was in fact, a mumblecore film. Should have known from the two film festival stamps on the poster.
"Mumblecore" is the classification of indi films that have a distinct style of being natural and low budget. By natural, I mean that the overall tone of the film, through the acting, dialogue, and cinematography, is made to feel like events are happening as if its how regular people interact with each other. The cameras are set so the perspective mimics the point of view from someone invisible witnessing the scene, so it will shake and swivel a bit. Not necessarily a "shaky cam" resembling those of mock documentaries, but how "normal" sight would thought to be in calm situations. A key component is improvisation. The actors are directed toward whats needed in the scene, maybe given some key lines to express, but most of the dialogue comes straight from the actor, not the writer.
The interactions between the characters John and Molly are very good. There is alot of good chemistry, and it didnt seem forced at all. It gave a sense of a real, honest relationship between two really lonely people.
What really made you pay attention is Jonah Hill's performance. You knew his general motives just from the advertising, but something about the character just made you keep watching, which is a sign of really excellent acting. But its not because of what he does, it's what he doesn't do. The son is just staring, and there is definitely emotion in his eyes, but you don't know the specific reasons. You dont know if he was ok with John dating his mother at first, or if he was set on hating him from the start. You dont know if it's because he's mad, or if he's possessive of his mother, or if he's psychotic.
Hill's take on the character is to make him slightly dysfunctional, not in a comedic sense, but in a disturbing sense. You're left questioning whether or not he's sane or sick.
The ending was pretty abrupt, but with how the last scene played out, it was an overall good ending. And that really embodied why you kept watching the film. You had no idea what was gonna happen next.
If you feel like a quiet night in, with an interesting, mellow story, I'd say give this a rent.
