The Paperboy
I am stumped; well and truly stumped. Never before have I left the cinema with this reaction
(what the hell did I just watch?...See Ron gets it.)
permanently stuck to my face. You see, I have just watched The Paperboy and I am flummoxed. Even now as I write this, I cannot get passed this confusion. Do I like it? Well...
The Paperboy is set in the sixties (I guess) and stars Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey and John Cusack. It revolves around two idealistic reports Ward Jansen (McConaughey) and Yardley Anderson (David Oyelowo) who return to Ward’s home town to investigate the killing of Sherriff Thurmond Call. Prime suspect Hillary van Wetter (Cusack,) who has been convicted and placed on death row, is believed to be the victim of small town prejudice and the reporters, along with his pen pal girlfriend Charlotte Bless (Kidman,) hope to exonerate him. But the entrance of Bless on Jansen’s life is a huge one, especially for his younger brother Jack (Efron) who falls madly in love with her.
That all seems well and good but somewhere along that rather simple plot outline, controversy took over narrative. Let's get a few things out of the way;
-The movie is narrated by Macy Gray.
-Nicole Kidman pees on Zac Efron.
-There is some kind of tantric sex scene.
- McConaughey gets hog tied
.- John Cusack is a hillbilly who lives on a swamp.
-Efron spends 90% of the film semi naked.
(that last one may not be such a bad thing..)
Now those are out of the way, we can move on. Director Lee Daniels (who directer Precious,) really shoves as much as he can to make you squirm in your seats and those shocking moments that follow the story really work. It’s the scenes that don't have a place in the film but seem written in as a crude attempt at being provoking that really jar. This along with shaky camera work, artful verses simple shots and dream like sequences really add to the summery haze you feel watching this. And that could be the intention. It is set in the Deep South after all, you could argue that the aurora of summer sun and almost drunk like cinematography is there so we feel we are the characters in the film.
One thing, though, teeters on bright pink heels above the rest and that is Nicole Kidman. I was wrong to recently dismiss her as wooden and bug eyed. Between this and Stoker, she really has cemented her accolades. Here, as Charlotte, she is incredibly believable as a forty year old white trash woman who writes to men in prison. Her character is by far the most complex and with an almost Sweet Charity feel to her rocky love life, the film really works when she is on screen. Any other actress may have taken the role and pumped it full of clichés and insanity. Kidman gives Charlotte a life, a story and realness. Fun and vulnerable, Kidman is simply engaging.
And while she is the sparkling diamond here, the rest of the cast are great and unrecognisable including a rather good Macy Gray. Even Efron wails his way even further than his Disney roots. The cast really work on their craft here.
Hey, I'm all for trashy cinema (after all, Repo! The Genetic Opera is lodged in my top five films due to its inexcusable fun.) But you have to be trashy for a reason. Whether you are going for drama or comedy, you have to decide and The Paperboy cant. Is it about racism? Is it about prejudice? Is it about love? Who knows?! Anyway, The Paperboy shocks, provoke and disgusts and then some. It could be sheer brilliance or complete garbage, who knows? I can’t even decide. This is the film, after all, that received a 16 minute ovation at Cannes (a minute longer than Drive previously.) And no one can decide whether it was cheers or jeers. So for now, I'll let it simmer. Maybe in a few years we will come back and hail it as a cult classic. It certainly has the almost "John Walters" foundations to be one.
Do I like it?
I don’t even know.
Would I recommend it?
Absolutely.
TTFN
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