 |
Friday, April 11, 2003
Time-ravaged Nolte snugly fits role as 'The Good Thief'
Unlike most stars of his generation, Nick Nolte has apparently decided to embrace the ravages of age -- and his own decades of wild living -- as part of his screen persona, and every time we see him in a new movie he looks seedier and more dissolute.
 | MOVIE REVIEW | ||
| |||
In Neil Jordan's atmospheric French caper drama, "The Good Thief," he looks just like he does in his recent drunken-driving arrest photo -- the one Steve Martin flashed at the Academy Awards -- and his husky voice has disintegrated into a barely decipherable growl.
Not even Robert Mitchum or Lee Marvin in their later careers ever let themselves go with such abandonment, and the amazing thing is that it works for him. It only enhances the mischievous, bad-boy charm and world-weary acceptance of life that's the keynote of his character.
The film is a remake of "Bob Le Flambeur," Jean-Pierre Melville's 1955 French film noir (which was, in turn, inspired by John Huston's "The Asphalt Jungle") about a gambler who enlists a band of specialists to knock off a Deauville casino.
Here, Bob (Nolte) is a French American gambler and heroin addict who operates in the criminal underworld of the more picturesque south of France, and the casino he decides to relieve of its art treasures is a more glamorous Monte Carlo establishment.
His gang includes an Arab toadie (Said Taghmaoui), a post-op transsexual (Sarah Bridges), a Russian security expert (Emir Kusturica, the Yugoslav director) and a pair of Irish twins (the Polish brothers, two more off-duty film directors).
His liabilities include a beautiful 17-year-old Serbian stripper (Nutsa Kukhianidze), a determined Nice police inspector who actually loves Bob (Tcheky Karyo, Hollywood's favorite Frenchman) and a nasty British fence (Ralph Fiennes, in a cameo) who doesn't.
The movie is not quite as much fun as it sounds. Jordan is always weak on suspense, he keeps annoying us with pretentious little freeze frames in every scene, and his actors speak English with such garbled accents it's a struggle to understand them.
But it's a sumptuous mood piece. Jordan ("Mona Lisa") has few equals for evoking a gritty atmosphere, Chris Menges' photography skillfully deconstructs the cotton-candy image of the French Riviera, and the colorful characters all ring marvelously true.
Nolte is also a big asset. He looks so terrible that it's uncomfortable to see him at first, but there's something distinctly lovable about obvious lack of personal vanity, and he carries the proceedings with a grace and inner dignity worthy of Bogart in his prime.
My web site
My Yahoo!
Google
· DVDs: 'Anglo-Saxon Attitudes'
· DVDs: '21'
· Getting spooky with the latest 'X-Files' movie
· Family unveils plans for Bruce Lee museum in Seattle
· DVDs: 'Aria'
· Bruce Lee family looks for museum sites in Seattle
· On DVD: 'Penelope'
· Bruce Lee: His legacy lives
· AMC opening Northwest's first all-digital cineplex at Southcenter
· 48 hours of moviemaking is a success for Team Juicebox
· 'Mamma Mia!' is big fat Greek wedding
· Quality of jokes lost in space on apes' bland mission to Malgor
more· 'Wallace & Gromit' to become episodic video game
· Capsule reviews of 'Step Brothers' and other films
· Little to believe in with new 'X-Files' movie
· Bale asks for privacy in assault allegations
· Ruling reveals ID of online Oscar ticket seller
more
101 Elliott Ave. W.
Seattle, WA 98119
(206) 448-8000
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820
seattlepi.com serves about 1.7 million unique visitors
and 30 million page views each month.
Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com
Send investigative tips to iteam@seattlepi.com
©1996-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Terms of Use/Privacy Policy
