DVD 1/19/10: Damages S2, Passing Strange, Big Fan, The Invention of Lying, No Impact Man, Gamer
[Note: This is an abbreviated column. Part of the copy was lost due to misbehaving computers. Apologies to the DVDs affected, at least one of which will be re-reviewed next week.]
Damages: The Complete Second Season (NR, 2009, Sony Pictures)
It isn’t very often a serial drama can spoil entire pieces of a season in the first episode’s first scene and get away with it. But “Damages” doesn’t simply pull this trick off — it perfectly toes the line between teasing and spoiling, giving just enough away to answer some questions before they’ve been asked but opening up so many more doors that it scarcely matters. The balancing act resulted in one explosive first season, and the best news about season two is that “Damages” not only goes back for more, but pulls it off perfectly yet again. Those unfamiliar with season one need only know that, while “Damages” technically is a legal drama, it’s a legal drama in the same sense “Eastbound and Down” is a comedy about a baseball team. There’s a case running throughout the season, and it isn’t insignificant, but the real mess lies inside Patty Hewes’ (Glenn Close) own firm (and, this time, mind). Spoiling more than that would ruin the fun of discovering just how cold-bloodedly well “Damages” dresses down its characters, so if you haven’t seen the first season, consider this your sales pitch. And if you have, here’s the spoiler-free setup: Season two picks up immediately where season one left things, the first scene (six months into the future) is as jarring (albeit on a wholly different level) as season one’s introduction, and despite some new trials and new characters, all that was wonderful about season one is doubly wonderful in its catastrophic wake.
Contents: 13 episodes, plus commentary, deleted scenes, one behind-the-scenes feature, character profiles and, for those who need a memory jog, a thorough (17 minutes) recap of the first season.
Passing Strange (NR, 2009, IFC Films)
With respect to all the exquisitely shot, A-list-laden musical-to-film conversions that have hit the screen since it became fashionable to do so again, “Passing Strange” takes them all to school, by taking the concept back to the basics. “Strange,” like most recent musical films, comes on the heels of a Broadway hit — in this case, a fantastically lively coming-of-age story about a young black musician (Daniel Breaker) who discovers himself while trotting the globe in the 1970s. But rather than reinvent the production as a splashy film with Hollywood superstars, director Spike Lee just shoots the actual production with the original cast. The so-simple-as-to-be-perfect approach not only gives us “Strange” in the same manner that made it a hit in the first place, but it also allows the cast to do proper justice to a script written for a live audience instead of a camera. That live audience, in turn, provides a special energy that most musical films carelessly toss away in their migration to screen. “Strange” is an outstanding collision of classic coming-of-age storytelling and staggeringly good live music, but the ability to enjoy it in this incarnation — not only as the audience did, but virtually in a seat alongside them — adds a priceless component the rest of the genre should not be so quick to dispose. Original cast members Stew, De’Adre Aziza, Eisa Davis, Colman Domingo, Chad Goodridge, Rebecca Naomi Jones and Breaker star.
Extras: Behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, theatrical promo.
Big Fan (R, 2009, Vivendi)
“Big Fan’s” dependably funny leads (Patton Oswalt and Kevin Corrigan) and package design suggest a wacky comedy in the offing, and the premise — Paul (Oswalt) is an obsessive New York Giants fan who toils in a lousy job, expends all his aspirational energy perfecting calls to the local sports station, and seems destined to live with his mother (Marcia Jean Kurtz) all his life — doesn’t change the perception. But while assumptions say one thing about what’s in store, the tone established from the moment “Fan” flashes the title card says something else entirely. Make no mistake: “Fan” has funny moments that are presented as literal comedy, and Oswalt and Corrigan each have chances to flash the talent for which they’re best known. But more than amusingly funny, “Fan” is darkly funny, and more than that, it’s just plain dark — a harsh dissection of the hopeless endeavor of caring so profoundly for something upon which you have no effect and for players who, if they even know you’re alive, couldn’t care less in return. “Fan” takes liberties to tell an extreme case of this phenomenon, but it resonates hard nonetheless. The cheery exterior is bound to trick a few real-life Pauls into watching this and having some unflattering epiphanies about themselves, but it’s hard to knock a movie for ambushing viewers when the ambush is so much better than the assumption. Michael Rapaport and Jonathan Hamm also star.
Extras: Two behind-the-scenes features, NPR “Fresh Air” segment, outtakes, downloadable poster.
The Invention of Lying (PG-13, 2009, Warner Bros.)
The unsung everyday utility of a well-told lie previously received a very funny close-up in “Liar Liar,” and now, with “The Invention of Lying,” we finally get a look at the other side of the coin. This time, in a world closely resembling ours, no one ever tells a lie — it’s biologically impossible for reasons “Lying” smartly refuses to attempt to explain — until a lowly jobless screenwriter (Ricky Gervais as Mark) triggers an internal switch and tells the world’s first lie. No one calls him out on the fib, of course, so the lies keep coming until Mark establishes a new reality that falls more in line with his fantasies. In the process, though, “Lying” gradually falls out of line with what’s typically expected from a comedy: Its explorations of a fibless planet are clever and considerably well-reasoned given how impossible the whole notion seems, but outside of one outstanding scene featuring Gervais doing what he does best and a confused public playing along perfectly, the result is more think-out-loud fascinating than laugh-out-loud hilarious. That absolutely isn’t criticism, by the way: “Lying” seems to knowingly go this route for the sake of its premise, and it’s too bad more comedies don’t opt out of their obligation to make viewers’ sides hurt when the alternative track would make for a better movie. With that said, of course, here’s your warning: If laugh-out-loud hilarity is your endgame, this likely isn’t your movie. Jennifer Garner, Louis C.K., Jonah Hill and Rob Lowe also star.
Extras: A “prequel” documenting the dawn of lying, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes feature, outtakes, Karl Pilkington (Gervais’ best friend) feature, video podcasts.
No Impact Man (R, 2008, Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Colin Beavan’s challenge in “No Impact Man” — survive, along with wife Michelle and their young daughter, in New York city for one year without making any dent whatsoever on the environment — is a cool idea that, while an extreme case for the sake of setting an example, has value as self-discovery (for them) and fascinating entertainment (us). The only problem? Not to be mean, but it’s Colin. “Man” kicks off on a lively note while it introduces the family and sets up the experiment, and the possibilities reach another plane when we really get to know Michelle, whose consumptive lifestyle makes her concerns about suddenly living in the dark and without a fridge empathetically easy to understand. But once the experiment kicks into gear, that lively tone starts putting up walls. Be it due to selective editing or something else, Colin’s likable beginnings give way to a portrait of a worst-case-scenario activist prone to childish behavior and an inability to see even his wife’s side of things. The people Colin enlists to reach the next level often are even worse: If they look so coldly down on someone trying to advance their causes, one can only imagine what they think of the rest of us, and those thoughts are bound to push regular viewers away rather than bring them in closer. The conclusion of the story brings with it an arguable sense of accomplishment for the family, but all that potential alienation makes it awfully difficult for the story of their endeavor to claim a similar victory.
Extras: Sundance Film Festival audience Q&A, bonus footage, Freeganism feature, bike activism feature, fruit vinegar recipe, clean (swear-free) audio track for educational use.
Worth a Mention
— Gamer (R, 2009, Lions Gate): A review of “Gamer” wasn’t possible for purposes of this column, because the first 20 minutes of the film were so gratingly awful that the will to keep watching was crushed like a bug. Maybe the remaining 75 minutes of the movie, which trots the umpteenth “convicted criminals fighting for freedom in a living video game” plotline of the last few years, redeems everything. You’re free to find out on your own time. Michael C. Hall, Gerard Butler, Kyra Sedgwick and Alison Lohman, among others, comprise a cast that’s way too good to be slumming it like this. Extras include commentary and two behind-the-scenes features.