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The Proposition

Director: John Hillcoat
Writer: Nick Cave
Cast: Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, John Hurt, David Wenham, Emily Watson, Richard Wilson, David Gulpilil.

Synopsis:
Late in the nineteenth century, newly appointed lawman Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) does everything in his power to protect his dainty wife Martha (Emily Watson) from the wicked frontier culture surrounding their village. When he captures Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) and his psychologically unsound younger brother, Mikey (Richard Wilson) - Irish outlaws whose family is linked to atrocities in the region - Stanley makes Charlie a proposition: bring his psychotic, poetry-spewing older brother Arthur (Danny Huston) to justice and Mikey will live. This "deal" plays out in a violent maelstrom that consumes everything in it's path.

Trailer:
http://www.themoviebox.net/movies/2005/ ... railer.php

Reviews:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/re ... 1001096921
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117928 ... Id=31&cs=1

There was a lot of great stuff at the TIFF but this was far and above my favourite.

Sony site:
http://www.sonypictures.com.au/movies/t ... index.html

Opening in the US, finally!

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1000596 ... oposition/

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independe ... oposition/

Nice poster too. I'm really looking forward to this, I've heard nothing but great things.

J. Hoberman's review: http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0618,h ... 82,20.html

Here's a little capsule by yours truly (meaning me) for those interested.

It's definitely atmospheric and well-made, with lots of true grit and filth, but it's not amazing. It's still very highly recommended, but it ultimately feels a little slight. It's funny that this type of movie could easily be a half-hour longer, while a more bloated, less substantial film like MI:3 should probably be a half-hour shorter.

Nice review. But a "career-high" performance from Winstone? Wow. That's some stiff competition there.

If nothing else (and there's plenty else), he's the reason to see the film.

Kurt Russell? I'm there.

He made me cry in Vanilla Sky. He totally stole the show. =D>

I was greatly impressed by this film. It has an earthy atmosphere and traditional style and narrative force that I had thought had vanished from 'action' filmmaking, but Nick Cave, John Hillcoat and cinematographer Benoît Delhomme (Michael Radford's The Merchant of Venice) created something special here and, as has been noted, the performances are uniformly strong, but Winstone excells himself in a role that let's him express his full range.

Definitely well worth seeing.

What everyone's trying to say is it's cool. It's a cool movie. Lee Marvin cool.

This may be the ONLY summer flick I'll appreciate a year from now.

When I sat down in the cinema to watch this, I had a few regrets at first, I just thought I had just got a bit over excited about it. Just because it was different to everything else i was about to see. ...

However, I found the film great from the outset and worth the wait... the look of the film was great, acting wonderful, and greaty put together. My fav film this year at the moment...

I was disappointed. Not by the direction or acting, but by the script, which I thought was lousy. And hey, I'm a Nick Cave fan! I even liked his novel. But this was not very good. Lots of trite exchanges- some very belabored humor. And it takes itself too seriously (well, that's Cave for you). There was only one memorable line in the whole film ("Are we misanthropes?" "Hell no, we're a family!").

denti alligator wrote:I was disappointed. Not by the direction or acting, but by the script, which I thought was lousy. And hey, I'm a Nick Cave fan! I even liked his novel. But this was not very good. Lots of trite exchanges- some very belabored humor. And it takes itself too seriously (well, that's Cave for you). There was only one memorable line in the whole film ("Are we misanthropes?" "Hell no, we're a family!").

See, I think this is the problem with the script and the actors, the actors some how, out shown the script far more... why? well probably because you've got people like Winstone to really make the script sound better than it really is. Look at 'All in the Game'; not a very good story, rather poor script throughout; but what really highlighted it was Winstone, why? Because (most of the time) he can make something out of something more than it is. It can be said (to some extent) with John Hurt also....

denti alligator wrote:("Are we misanthropes?" "Hell no, we're a family!").

Ha, I actually thought that was the only really trite line of dialogue in the whole film, albeit delivered with some panache by Mr. Huston. But the line is completely unsubstantiated by any story-time with Huston and his supposed "family."

denti alligator wrote:some very belabored humor

There was humor in this film?!

The dialog's a little spotty at times, namely when Cave gets in the mood to wax poetic, but only very seldomly. It's a compelling, fun story and paints a grim, unflinching, realistic vision of the Old East. My only other criticism being the Guy Pierce character was a bit too goody-goody to be a believable ex-bandit. But one can hardly let such trifles spoil such a rare film going experience. Visually, it's as accomplished and stylish as a Road to Perdition-type movie but lived in and still alive, it sounds at least that good. Plus it reinvents or reinvigorates the Western with that matter-of-fact graphic violence, and the characters portraying stoicism as self-preservations rather than heroic bravado and just a general unromanticness and antimelodrama that actually rings true. I supposed Deadwood and Dead Man touched on this kind of take on the genre first but, still, this is the coolest movie in a decade.

Afraid I agree with the detractors above. Some nice moods, a tensely quiet quality to the way the dialogue was delivered, effective use of music, some striking landscapes: but though the performances were sometimes interesting, the characters and dialogue never were, and the ideas of the film were few, simple, and didn't really get my mind a-twitter. Maybe if Mr. Ebert hadn't blathered about BLOOD MERIDIAN in his review, my expectations wouldn't have been so high; McCarthy's rich language and the eloquence of his villain, Judge Holden, make Cave's script look like B-movie baby formula. I was bored and disappointed, waiting for the film to really get INTERESTING, and it never did.

If you've not seen the film, try to enter it with VERY LOW expectations and you might salvage something from the experience...

A.

I saw only about 1/2 of the film due to other engagements, but Bruce LaBruce, whom I went to see the film with, really liked it (I think it was his favourite film at TIFF last year). I think I'll have to catch it again.

pemmican wrote:If you've not seen the film, try to enter it with VERY LOW expectations and you might salvage something from the experience...

Agreed. This is the film I would expect from Cave's name on the credits, not the magic others are apparently experiencing.

Bruce LaBruce? I'm jealous. What did he enjoy about the movie?

I forgot exactly...he was gasping a lot during the film though He thinks the acting is superb, but that's all I recall.

Bruce has really smart taste in film BTW. As a juror in Turin, awarded TROPICAL MALADY for best film. He's also a big fan of classic Hollywood oldies (you can read is autobiography to know that though - very hilarious read!). Great guy, and surprisingly less wild than I thought he'd be - haha.

Oh, I LOVE Bruce LaBruce! http://www.brucelabruce.com/

I finally saw this tonight, and before I get to the actual film, I have to say that visually, this is one of the most beautiful I've seen in a while. Though Benoît Delhomme had the Australian outback to work with, even the interior shots were gorgeous. Great set design as well.

As for the film, I really enjoyed it. That said, I think it's very much due to the cast who are uniformly superb and elevate what it is an admittedly extremely familiar story. But it's a testament to the actors that even the completely predictable final twenty minutes had my stomach churning. Ray Winstone was great, but I thought Danny Huston was incredible.

I'm not sure what the beef is with the dialogue. It was neither amazing nor terrible, but fit very well with the overall mood of the film. Also, the "We're not misanthropes, we're a family" line isn't supposed to taken seriously - it was a joke, and I thought it was a very funny one.