iews With Hideous Men English MovieCast And crew
Genre: Comedy
Release Date: September 25, 2009
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distributor: IFC Films
Starring: Chris Messina, Michael Panes, Lou Taylor Pucci, Denis O'hare, Timothy Hutton
Director: John Krasinski
Producer: Eva M Kolodner, James Suskin, Yael Melamede
Reviews
After her boyfriend mysteriously leaves her with little explanation, grad student Sara Quinn is left looking for answers as to what went wrong. Directing all her energies into her anthropological dissertation, Sara conducts a series of interviews with men in an effort to uncover the secret thoughts that drive their behavior. As she records the astonishing and disquieting experiences of various subjects, Sara discovers much more about men and herself than she bargained for.
PARK CITY -- "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" is one hell of a date movie. A surgical examination of the male psyche based on David Foster Wallace's book and written and directed by John Krasinski, there is plenty of food for thought and argument. A savvy distributor could stir up enough controversy for a select theatrical run before the film settles into a healthy ancillary afterlife.
Not since "In the Company of Men" has the male gender been so ruthlessly portrayed on screen. Taking Wallace's chapter-by-chapter interviews and cutting them into interwoven fragments, Krasinski (best known for his role in NBC's "The Office") has managed to create an unconventional narrative flow. Ingeniously structured and beautifully acted, the film at times is a bit clinical but never less than compelling.
Krasinski has added a female character, an academic played by Julianne Nicholson, who interviews a cross-section of men about their relationships with women. Most of them don't have a clue, but their deceit and manipulation are so clever and deep-seated it's like watching a car wreck on the side of the road: You can't take your eyes off of it.
It's somewhat simplistic to say that all men are this terrible, but it makes for better storytelling. The interviews start on a lighthearted note and progress to some nasty revelations about what men are really capable of. Sometimes the interviewees appear in an antiseptic room talking into a microphone, and sometimes the events they're describing are dramatized.
There's all sorts of crazy stuff, like the guy who for some unknown reason is compelled to shout "victory for the forces of democratic freedom" just before he has an orgasm. Or the one who breaks up with five different women with the same line.
Then things start to get darker. Bobby Cannavale plays a man with one arm who knows how to use his affliction for sympathy and then close in for the kill. On another occasion, Sara (Nicholson) overhears brash businessman Christopher Meloni describing to his friend Denis O'Hare what happened when he hooked up with a despondent woman abandoned by her boyfriend at the airport.
An inspired set piece has Frankie Faison visiting the men's room where his father made a career out of servicing the needs of white men, and explaining how the disgust he felt about his father informed his whole being.
The actors all work at a high level, and their monologues using Wallace's precise language literally feels like a class in acting. Timothy Hutton is suitably smarmy as Sara's professor, but Krasinski turns in the most devastating performance to climax the film. He's Sara's ex-boyfriend and her intellectual equal who fashions an elaborate rationale for why he cheated on her with a woman for which he had nothing but contempt. It's a chilling moment to which Sara responds with icy silence.
For the most part, the film is more cerebral than emotional, and the denseness of the material makes the brief 72-minute running time feel like more than enough. Editor Rich Fox has done a splendid job giving momentum to a story that could have been shapeless, and John Bailey's photography puts the action in sharp focus, the better to see the deeds done.
It's not every day that you get to watch a film about betrayal, carnal desire and the supposed intrinsic nature of men to think below the waist -- all at 8:30 in the morning. But on Tuesday, as the rest of the world tuned in to see a new president take the oath, myself and a half-asleep Sundance crowd shuffled into the Racquet Club theater to see John Krasinski's "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men."
By the end of the film, I considered my admission price of sleep and historical perspective well worth it.
Obviously, most people know Krasinski for his work on "The Office," and your first thought as you watch "Interviews" is that he's a looooong way from Jim Halpert. But while this pensive, somewhat nihilistic "In the Company of Men"-like exploration into the darker aspects of the male mind will undoubtedly scare away some segment of his core audience, fans of the NBC show aren't your typical shiny happy sitcom lovers. For those who simply enjoy smart entertainment -- and are daring enough to consider great achievements in highly-varied genres -- "Office" and "Interviews" will seem on the same level.
Adapting David Foster Wallace's 1999 collection of short stories, Krasinski proves himself to be a talented writer/director. Adding in a character named Sara (played perfectly by Julianne Nicholson), the film version has the graduate student attempting to find the reasons behind her recent dumping by talking to various men about their sexual taboos, formative experiences, and reasons for behaving badly.
When "Interviews" is finished with you, what you'll remember are the stories that touch you most. Some are funny, others sad -- and a few simply don't work. But the most impressive thing about Krasinski's direction is his self-assured ability to know when it's time to mix in visual elements, and when it's best to simply point a camera at a good storyteller and let the actor speak.
My personal favorites? One man speaks of being ashamed of his father -- a lowly bathroom attendant -- while we see a younger version of the father taking great pride handing towels to the privileged, tending to their needs as if he's a maitre d' at a fine hotel. Another standout has "Law & Order" star Christopher Meloni sharing a coffee with a friend and telling a story about a woman he picked up at the airport -- as he, his friend and the coffee cups keep popping up in the background of the story, looking on at this large-breasted babe like Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Other interviews -- like Will Forte's laundry list of what he loves about women, and Michael Cerveris' tale of dealing with his father's rage -- aren't quite as memorable. When you find yourself stuck watching one of the less-compelling interviews, the film can drag a bit -- and the soundtrack doesn't help as it makes you feel like you're trapped in the bohemian coffee shop from hell, with Maynard G. Krebs working the bongos.
Glimpsed briefly but mentioned throughout the film, Krasinski finally shows up on-camera for the film's big finale: A powerful scene that has him explaining his reasons to Nicholson for dumping her. In a film full of a-holes, the charismatic actor has no problem casting himself as the king of the scumbags. All we can do is admire Krasinski's skill with the complicated monologue, marvel over his impressive filmmaking debut -- and hope that sweet Pam Beesly has enough sense to stay far, far away from this guy.
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