This is the second feature length film I've seen by director Keith Gordon. I chose to watch this film based on previous good ratings I've given other films by this director and to better my favorite directors by algorithm listing.
Mother Night
First of all, Keith Gordon shares my birthday. February 3. So that's kind of neat.
Gordon's first film I saw was The Singing Detective. I consider it quite a bit of luck that I ever did see it since I had never heard of it before and it was a handful of DVD pre-releases that I rented for free for a few days because I could when I was working at a video store. I brought the stack of movies over to a friends house and we got bored so decided to watch one. He remembered seeing Mel Gibson on some talk show mentioning the movie and said it seemed pretty strange. So we decided to put it in, not really expecting much. This was after Downy Jr. being out of the good acting roles for many years with all his drug problems so I wasn't thinking about him much. And I didn't check to see who else was in it. It turned out to be a really fantastic, brilliant film. At least my friend and I thought so.
After doing more research I discovered who the writer Dennis Potter was and that this film was a remake of just one of his many famous British mini-series. I ended up seeking that series out and viewing it all. While certainly as brilliant and much more expansive (and starring the captivating Michael Gambon) than the American remake, I still feel like I prefer the remake. Mostly because it is American rather than British (even though I consider myself a bit of an Anglophile) and because it's so much more tight and compact. And I don't think you can be as upset about this being a remake considering Potter penned the actual screenplay for the American film version as well. And because the film has such an autobiographic feel this is essential. But mostly it revealed for me how much talent also had to have come from the director of the film. The performances of the characters, the handling of the enormous quantity of different scene settings and styles. The direction appealed to me greatly. But obviously not many people will agree as evidenced by the mostly horrible to mediocre reviews it received from critics and poor reception at the box office. And this is why I say it was lucky that I ever saw this movie, because apart from the chance scenario that brought me to it, I don't think I would have ever known to seek it out myself. Nor would I probably have looked into seeing any of Keith Gordon's other films, which after viewing Mother Night I feel would be also quite unfortunate.
Mother Night is and adaptation of a Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. book. I have the sense that I'm supposed to like Vonnegut. If you are a smart, modern reader you are supposed to like him. He seems hip in a way that I've never heard anyone challenge. I've only read one of his books though, Breakfast of Champions. I was told this maybe wasn't the best one to start with since it's kind of a summation of many of his other works. Nonetheless I did enjoy it but not nearly as much as I'd hoped. Vonnegut is a smart and perceptive guy with some good ideas, but I find his style to sometimes be a bit off-putting to me. Vonnegut is a cynical guy I think but he likes to make himself seem more loveable and humane with these cutesy little touches. Calling the US Agent who interacts with him his "Blue Fairy Godmother", and the multiple copies of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" album and other little touches like that. It bugs me, but not enough to go on too much more about it.
I did love Mother Night. Again, I will attribute a lot of it to Keith Gordon. This and The Singing Detective are both surreal and stylized by very true and engaging. In both the source material must be rich with strong characters, but I feel like he brings them out even stronger.
If you've seen this movie, but haven't watched it on DVD, I would recommend it to see the deleted scenes. There are some great ones that just didn't fit for time or continuity. Particularly a wonderful scene with David Strathairn that I guess had to be taken out for pacing, but otherwise would have been one of the best scenes in the film. Also included it a commentary track by Nick Nolte where he goes on rambling on tangents about technology, religion, and other vast subjects which end up seemingly having nothing to do with the film.
Keith Gordon:
Total feature length films seen: 2
Previous average film score: 10
New average film score: 9.5
Rating: 9/10