Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

*****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*****

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

HAVEN (R)

MOVIE BIASES: We love Zoe but Orlando's a tad overrated.

MAJOR PLAYERS: Bill Paxton (Titanic), Orlando Bloom (Kingdom of Heaven), Zoe Saldana (Drumline), Anthony Mackie (She Hate Me), Victor Rasuk (Being Victor Vargas), and writer/director Frank E. Flowers

Welcome to Grand Cayman Island, international tax haven to the rich and infamous. With the Feds on his tail, American "businessman" Carl Ridley (Paxton) escapes Miami with his pothead teenage daughter Pippa (Agnes Bruckner) in tow to the Cayman Islands, literally strapped with cash. Her first night on the island, a charming, nonstop schemer named Fritz (Rasuk) gives her his own legally questionable tour of the island, which includes stopping by at a party run by several local gangsters. Meanwhile, a forbidden love between the dirt poor white boy Shy (Bloom) and the rich daughter of the prestigious, powerful businessman Mr. Sterling (Robert Wisdom), named Andrea (Saldana), is soon exploded upon the island thanks to the racially inflamed frustrations of her overprotective brother, Hammer (Mackie). What soon unfolds is an intersection of lives, loves, dreams, and dreams
deferred that threatens the fragile facade of this seeming idyllic island nation.

Unwinding from the inside out, "Haven" has an excellent script, with an even more fascinating entry point to the story, from first time helmer (and native Caymanian) Frank E. Flowers. Brilliantly structured and bracingly original, this movie is as slyly scripted, emotionally involving, and culturally exploratory as our most recent Best Picture winner; "Haven" is like "Traffic" meets "Crash" with a heartbreaking romance at its center. You must pay attention to keep up with all the narrative threads, but that is a good thing. I'm long tired of movies that don't challenge us socially and intellectually as this one does. Regardless of your attention span, what does transcend is a powerful love story that left me quaking with the silent, naive fury of social injustice.

Eliciting such emotions from me were the performances, top notch all around. From the incessant, vibrant patter of Rasuk's high-flying, hard living, forever frontin' Fritz to Mackie's wannabe hardass, rich boy Hammer, the cast seems just as multicultural and breezy as the island folks they represent (according to Flowers, there are 93
different nationalities represented in just 40,000 people in the Cayman Islands). Everyone's got an angle in paradise, whether it be money laundering, drugs, guns, or sex; the revelations of said motives from various characters gradually strips away the onion peel of an island paradise to discover its swampish, human layers. When you're not pulling for Paxton's dirty, businessman or aimless, druggie daughter, you find yourself intrigued by the immoral charms of the charismatic Victor Rasuk and the unscrupulous, yet money savvy lawyer Mr. Allen (Stephen Dillane).

But the heartbeat of this astounding directorial debut by Flowers belongs to Shy and Andrea. Bloom, with his shaggy haired good looks, is perfect as the direction-less, life "stuck on Spring Break" Shy, helplessly in love with his teacher mother's student. Despite a Dow Jonesy island accent (that has such a mind of its own it's reminiscent of Kevin Costner's spotty dialect work in "Robin Hood Prince of
Thieves"), Saldana, habitually beautiful with the air of serious actress about her, is downright dreamy as the object of Shy's desires. When their naivete costs them with the greater community, watching Andrea's downward spiral feels sad and unjust. Although none of the actors look young enough to be in high school, the talent of their acting radiates a depth of emotion that quickly overcomes that fact
(and Zoe's on again-off again accent). Through each other, their connection and disconnections, Bloom and Saldana raise their games and achieve dramatic heights that their previously successful yet critically unrewarding careers have yet to reach.

I may be out in a fishing boat all alone on this one, but I don't care. Welcome to "Haven," the latest great movie of 2006.

@@@@ REELS
(FOUR REELS)
An urban legend/instant classic.

Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com!

Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com




			BlackNLA Movie Reviews ***THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*** by Edwardo Jackson BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare HAVEN (R) MOVIE BIASES: We love Zoe but Orlando's a tad overrated. MAJOR PLAYERS: Bill Paxton (Titanic), Orlando Bloom (Kingdom of Heaven), Zoe Saldana (Drumline), Anthony Mackie (She Hate Me), Victor Rasuk (Being Victor Vargas), and writer/director Frank E. Flowers Welcome to Grand Cayman Island, international tax haven to the rich and infamous. With the Feds on his tail, American "businessman" Carl Ridley (Paxton) escapes Miami with his pothead teenage daughter Pippa (Agnes Bruckner) in tow to the Cayman Islands, literally strapped with cash. Her first night on the island, a charming, nonstop schemer named Fritz (Rasuk) gives her his own legally questionable tour of the island, which includes stopping by at a party run by several local gangsters. Meanwhile, a forbidden love between the dirt poor white boy Shy (Bloom) and the rich daughter of the prestigious, powerful businessman Mr. Sterling (Robert Wisdom), named Andrea (Saldana), is soon exploded upon the island thanks to the racially inflamed frustrations of her overprotective brother, Hammer (Mackie). What soon unfolds is an intersection of lives, loves, dreams, and dreams deferred that threatens the fragile facade of this seeming idyllic island nation. Unwinding from the inside out, "Haven" has an excellent script, with an even more fascinating entry point to the story, from first time helmer (and native Caymanian) Frank E. Flowers. Brilliantly structured and bracingly original, this movie is as slyly scripted, emotionally involving, and culturally exploratory as our most recent Best Picture winner; "Haven" is like "Traffic" meets "Crash" with a heartbreaking romance at its center. You must pay attention to keep up with all the narrative threads, but that is a good thing. I'm long tired of movies that don't challenge us socially and intellectually as this one does. Regardless of your attention span, what does transcend is a powerful love story that left me quaking with the silent, naive fury of social injustice. Eliciting such emotions from me were the performances, top notch all around. From the incessant, vibrant patter of Rasuk's high-flying, hard living, forever frontin' Fritz to Mackie's wannabe hardass, rich boy Hammer, the cast seems just as multicultural and breezy as the island folks they represent (according to Flowers, there are 93 different nationalities represented in just 40,000 people in the Cayman Islands). Everyone's got an angle in paradise, whether it be money laundering, drugs, guns, or sex; the revelations of said motives from various characters gradually strips away the onion peel of an island paradise to discover its swampish, human layers. When you're not pulling for Paxton's dirty, businessman or aimless, druggie daughter, you find yourself intrigued by the immoral charms of the charismatic Victor Rasuk and the unscrupulous, yet money savvy lawyer Mr. Allen (Stephen Dillane). But the heartbeat of this astounding directorial debut by Flowers belongs to Shy and Andrea. Bloom, with his shaggy haired good looks, is perfect as the direction-less, life "stuck on Spring Break" Shy, helplessly in love with his teacher mother's student. Despite a Dow Jonesy island accent (that has such a mind of its own it's reminiscent of Kevin Costner's spotty dialect work in "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves"), Saldana, habitually beautiful with the air of serious actress about her, is downright dreamy as the object of Shy's desires. When their naivete costs them with the greater community, watching Andrea's downward spiral feels sad and unjust. Although none of the actors look young enough to be in high school, the talent of their acting radiates a depth of emotion that quickly overcomes that fact (and Zoe's on again-off again accent). Through each other, their connection and disconnections, Bloom and Saldana raise their games and achieve dramatic heights that their previously successful yet critically unrewarding careers have yet to reach. I may be out in a fishing boat all alone on this one, but I don't care. Welcome to "Haven," the latest great movie of 2006. @@@@ REELS (FOUR REELS) An urban legend/instant classic. Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com! Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com © 2004, Edwardo Jackson