I Love You Phillip Morris 2009

I Love You Phillip Morris 2009

Well this week I got a hype-free foreign gem in Castaway on the Moon (2009) that was a box office failure, so I decided to sit down and watch a very hyped domestic box office failure.  I guess I was still in the mood for some odd ball romantic comedy because I popped in a copy of I Love You Phillip Morris.  This flick has a great underground following despite its limited release and lambasting by some critics.  The touchy subject matter presented humorously in the film polarized some viewers, but overall it received positive reviews from critics and came with a few personal recommendations from friends.  For those not familiar with some of the controversy about I Love You Phillip Morris, it is a story based on a real life homosexual con-artist and prison escape artist Steven Russell.  Russell, played by Jim Carey, during a stint in jail falls in love with a fellow inmate Phillip Morris, played by Ewan McGregor.  The real controversy is that the film couldn't find a domestic distributor at first due to its frequent scenes of gay sex and other sexual content.  Eventually the film was re-edited to reduce the sexual content and the film got a limited U.S. release.  During its limited release it had equally limited success, but was more successful during foreign releases and among critics.  Personally I wasn't worried about homosexual content, but fair warning to the more puritanical viewers.

So I think that will segue really poorly into some further plot discussion.  The plot is based on the very interesting life of Russell and is adapted from a book that regales the tales of Russell's life and multiple prison escapes.  The film was directed and written by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, writers on movies like Bad News Bears and Bad Santa or for their writing on the cartoon The Angry Beavers.  Phillip Morris was the pair's directorial debut and I think the screen play was really good, but I felt that the pacing was off in the film with long dry stretches, painfully obvious attempts at heart string tugs, and then fast paced slapstick comedy.  I applaud the effort of turning taboo subjects like HIV and homosexual prison relationships into comic moments, but some of it just didn't really work for me.  Oddly the implausibility of it all was one thing that kept me from really enjoying it.  I know that sounds contradictory since Russell really did break out of jail multiple times in humorous ways (it is very worth reading more about this colorful character).

Jim Carrey plays Russell in the film and does an outstanding job.  He really is at his best playing extremely weird roles and the script seems perfect for his great facial expressions, expressive clown body language and odd stares.  On the other hand his very clownishness brings the illusion of the film crashing back down.  Every of person in the film play the straight man to his outlandish clowning.  While this creates laughs it also makes the few serious scenes more awkward than moving.  Their are odd and uncomfortable scenes with Carrey awkwardly twisting his face trying just a bit to hard to create awkward laughs.  This seems more like a directing and pacing issue than an issue with Carrey.  Ewan McGregor as Phillip Morris plays his role way too straight... well more gay than straight... hmmm.... OK make that McGregor plays his role very seriously.  He does an outstanding job playing a very soft spoke and kindhearted character who falls for the suave, lying scoundrel Russell. This leaves his character as too real to be in the same film as Carrey's version of Russell.  On a final note about the acting, Leslie Mann does a great job playing the good, religious wife of Russell.  Her scenes throughout the film elicited some serious chuckles.

Overall I feel like this was a good movie that just fell short of its own hype.  It was a really fun, funny, and entertaining flick, but I can understand why it had trouble finding its audience.  It deals with some pretty heavy issues in funny but frequently in demeaning ways.  For those black comedy fans open minded enough to watch a film with a lot of Jim-on-Ewan kissing it should offer some good laughs and the last half hour has some great lines, but I wouldn't go so far as to recommend this to my catholic grandmother.  I would recommend this film to fans of black comedy and those looking for a more comedic breach into issues of homosexuality than Brokeback Mountain (2005).

Castaway on the Moon 2009

Castaway on the Moon 2009

If someone tells you to watch this romantic comedy that miserably failed at its native Korean box office... listen to them.  Castaway on the Moon is a great film that seems to carry none of the hype it deserves despite winning several awards from small film festivals.  The failure of the film is probably attributable to how hard Castaway on the Moon is to classify.  At times it straddles a line between comedy and an in-depth dramatic character film. At other times it bounces between gag humor, romance, and complex themes of isolation in modern society.  At one point it even includes a chase scene with all the adrenaline and quick cuts of a Jason Bourne flick.  Due to its odd tone, long stretches without dialogue (or more accurately monologues in a film about a castaway), and slow pace it is little wonder that Castaway on the Moon didn't see huge box office numbers or fanfare announcing its international release.  These problems are extremely easy to overlook and I think it deserves a bit of fanfare.  Well now that I have teased the reader about its story, I can give a few details.

Castaway on the Moon has two intertwining storylines.  The first story is of Kim Seong-Geun, played by a very capable Jeong Jae-Yeong, who after a series of events attempts to take his own life by jumping off a bridge into the Han River in the center of Seoul.  He wakes up perfectly healthy but stranded on an island in the middle of the broad river.  The depressing events that bring him to the edge are cleverly laid out starting with the phone call that opens the film.  The rest are presented as flashbacks, but his life before his suicide attempt is only minimally explored.  His background is used to express his despair and explain why when he wakes up on an island in the middle of the river only a half mile from Seoul that he never really tries to swim back to civilization.  Instead he chooses to live out life on his tiny wild island so close to the ordered society that he cast himself from.  Much of this storyline mimics a dark comedic take on the classic castaway stories and closely resembles films such as Tom Hanks' Cast Away (2000).  The parallels to Hanks' film include a very 'Wilson' like imaginary friend to act as a foil for Seong-Geun's monologues. 

The gags, comedy and survival of Seong-Guen are frequently shown through the lens of the other main character Kim Jeong-Yeon, played by the cute ex-pop singer Jeong Ryeo-Won.  An agoraphobic recluse, Jeong-Yeon interacts with the world through the computer and a camera at her window.  Again the character is isolated, quiet, and depressed resonating the tones of despair and disconnection felt by Seong-Geun.  Her photography brings her into voyeuristic relationship with Seong-Geun.  As she watches him live and survive they begin slowly writing to each other via the romantic classic of a message in a bottle.  Their blooming romance is the most touching example of truly damaged love I have seen since Punch Drunk Love (2002) and rarely have I rooted for a happy ending like I did during the roller-coaster of emotions that is the conclusion of the film.  I have to compliment the film on the use of language as well.  The use of English as the language of communication between the characters sets English, one of the most spoken languages on Earth, as a secret tongue used to set the characters further apart from the Korean society they partially inhabit.  This had to be done cleverly considering that English is a common language in Korea.

The few critiques of the film that I have are mostly technical.  While the acting by the main characters was good, the gags by Jeong Jae-Yeong were over the top at times and the minor roles were forgettable even if humorous.  The cinematography was good, if basic, but there were a couple of close-ups of characters that really jarred with the sky or background including one that nearly broke the ending for this hyper-critical viewer.  The last very minor complaint has to be levied against the director Lee Hae-Jun.  He choose to put a few unrealistic, possibly supernatural, aspects in the film.  These were well done gags and one got an audible laugh from me, but take the film in yet another odd direction.

Despite these complaints, I loved this film.  It was touching, sad, deep, comedic and left me with a warm fuzzy feeling that I just don't get from most romantic comedies.  While I am a fan of Korean cinema, this one deserves an audience outside of the Hermit Kingdom.  Sadly, due to its juxtaposed nature it hasn't seem to find that following.  I cannot recommend this movie enough.  It would make a great date night flick, but its deep treatment of themes of loneliness should be enough to appeal to any lonely intellectual.  I would recommend this to fans of Cast Away, couples, and anyone who thinks they can better explain the tones of Castaway on the Moon.


Three quick post scripts.  One, cheers to my buddy Randy for the recommendation.  This film was never even on my radar until you mentioned it.  Second, after a half year off from reviewing (medical stuff) I am back at it.  I apologize for the wait to the few folk who read every post.  Lastly I also need to apologize for my possible butchery of the Korean actor and character names.