A trip to the movies in recent years is often like eating at McDonald's. The movies like the food are predictable, blah, and without any flavor. Fortunately, for moviegoers this fall there is a great find in theatres. The find, Elizabethtown (PG-13) is the latest product from fabled writer/produce/director Cameron Crowe. The movie stars Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst as two strangers that meet on a cross country red eye flight.
Bloom plays Drew Baylor a young shoe designer that is about to crash into the lowest point in his life. Dunst plays Claire Colburn, a flight attendant that has never met a stranger. The remainder of the cast is made up of headliners (Susan Sarandon and Jessica Biel), risers (Judy Greer), and the jaded (Alec Baldwin and Bruce McGill). While the supporting cast is outstanding, they are just that: supporting.
The real focus of this film belongs where it should be, on the story that unfolds between Drew and Claire. These two individuals, drawn together by happenstance manage to form a bond that feels as real as any onscreen affair that has ever has been portrayed. Bloom and Dunst do an excellent job developing their character into a believable person with depth and dimension while forming a relationship with the viewer.
While much of what Hollywood produces today is predictable chick flicks that have a fast moving plot and instant romances, Elizabethtown manages to avoid this dilemma. The onscreen chemistry that forms is genuine and most of all believable. The depth that is given to the characters helps the audience to feel the onscreen emotions.
So how does Elizabethtown vary from the rest of Hollywood? That is simple; Crowe did not make this film to be a cheesy ninety minute movie where the laughter is one liners, the drama predictable, and the actors unreal. Crowe is able to provide a depth to the main characters not by providing a lot of background information, but rather portraying the connections and bonds that form between two people when the meet for the first time. We leave the movie feeling like we know who the characters are, and we know the same amount as the characters know about each other.
Crowe manages once again to utilize the films soundtrack to convey emotions to the viewer like he has in all his movies. The film lends to Crowe a wide palette of genres to utilize and he is able to tie in a large number in this 2-hour film. The songs do not feel out of place or forced nor out of sync with the emotions that are being conveyed on the screen leading the audience through an audio as well as visual emotional trip. The music in the film becomes extremely poignant towards the end of the film, unfortunately, the details cannot be explained, but after experiencing this film, you will understand.
The story itself focuses on life in the small berg of Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Yes, it is a real small town, and for better or for worse the kind of people portrayed in this small town are real small town USA. If you are from a small town you will be reminded of family gatherings, dinners, and knowing everything about everyone. If you are not from a small town, you will come away with a new view on small towns.
Small towns often take a bad wrap in cinema for being full of hicks and other less desirable people, but Crowe does not allow this to happen. He makes former small towners living in the city want to move back to a small town (myself included). He provides all the idiosyncrasies of small town living that are unique in a small town, and nearly impossible to find in the city.
Cinematography is pretty standard for Hollywood, although Crowe used a bit two many close-ups of Dunst's face. Who would have known that her eye teeth were a bit forward of her incisors otherwise? The backgrounds in the film are all warm and make the viewer yearn for the summer that is slowly fading away. Conversations in the film present the viewer with angles and views that are appropriately in the right position to make the audience feel like part of the film.
Elizabethtown opens October 14 nationwide and its box office success is up in the air. It opens up against a mediocre handful of films and it is truly a gem among them. It is a refreshing film that will probably see moderate box office success and judging by the audience reaction at the screener on October 13th, it will garner a lot of word of mouth success. So yes, Hollywood (or at least Crowe) can put out a great film, but I will probably never land a T-Bone at McDonalds.
"Elizabethtown" opens October 14, 2005 and is rated PG13. Drama. Written and directed by Cameron Crowe. Starring Alec Baldwin, Jessica Biel, Kirsten Dunst, Orlando Bloom, Susan Sarandon.
