Big
Bad Love (2001)
Sort of a "Requiem for a Dream" about an alcoholic
rather than a heroin addict, "Big Bad Love" is a tourdeforce
from husband and wife actors Arliss Howard and Debra
Winger.
Winger costars here and acts as producer behind the
scenes, but it is Howard who is the real driving force
behind the film. As star, director and co- scripter,
Howard has taken the seemingly semi-autobiographical
work of short story author Larry Brown and molded a
story and a group of characters that are unique to filmdom.
Of particular interest is Brown's character of Barlow,
played by Howard. Barlow is a drunken divorcee living
in the rural south who continually writes and attempts
to get published. The character is pure blue collar
angst but with a brain. Given to verbal rants of his
written work, Barlow spirals down a dark and lonely
pathway attempting to find himself - or perhaps lose
himself.
The character, meanwhile, also must deal with his
sexual feelings for his ex- wife, played by Howard's
real life wife, Debra Winger. The couple also have two
young children, which Barlow cannot seem to be truly
responsible for, and an againg mother who continually
shames him for his lack of responsibiliy.
Arliss is phenomenal here in all his myriad roles.
As actor he is perfection. He is Barlow and his rambling
drunken diatribes become echoes of, perhaps, some of
the greatest peotry-prose from modern literature. When
you hear Howard spout, you want to read the book. That's
the very best compliment I can pay this character. Howard
nails it - no doubts. As writer, it is his wonderful
blending of laguage and character that surely makes
the film work. This spirals into his direction as well
which is sprawling, arid, vast and artistic. If Howard
were Brown and Brown were Barlow and Barlow could make
a film, "Big Bad Love" is almost exactly the film he
would make. Howard continually spoke, in a Q&A session
after the screening I was lucky enough to see, of "making
the movie that was inside my head." That speaks volumes
about what we get here because Howards film is visually
dark yet arid, beautiful yet ugly, black yet loving.
His film is remarkable. A master work.
The cinematography by Paul Ryan is perfection. There
is a ton of imagery in this film and Ryan, like Howard,
brings forth exactly the right visual quality at exactly
the right moment. The film is a beautiful painting,
much like the one Barlow paints IN the film on a boxcar
outside his rotting, trashy, rural home. The editing
by Jay Rabinowitz of "Requiem for a Dream" fame (I just
looked this up on the IMDB - I didn't know this when
I wrote the first sentence of this review - WOW) is
perfect. Cut with the percision of a diamond worker,
the film flows like a magical stream-of-conciousness,
often evolving from placid nothingness to rabid fever
dream yet never feeling unevenly paced or overtly cinematic.
There is much beautiful work behind the scenes here.
Another thing of beauty is the music in the film.
Utilizing numerous singer/sonmgwriter style tunes, I
thought, mid-film, that the movie was like a Tom Waits
song on film. Almost immediately after this thought,
a Tom Waits song appears on the soundtrack. It is as
if the music chosen here were made specifically for
the film. The mood it evokes is perfect. But the most
amazing musical moment in the film, perhaps the most
amazing sequence of the film period, is when Howard
as Barlow and costar Paul LeMat as his best friend,
are in a car accident. In it's aftermath, Howard uses
Patsy Cline's "Crazy" to accentuate the scene. In a
master stroke, Howard begins with the song slowed down
to almost half-speed and warbly as hell while his Barlow
crawls from the bucolic gully into which the jolt of
the wreck has ejected him. The song begins to speed
up and go out of control as Barlow realizes his friend,
LeMat, has been injured badly. This single use of music
negates all the "cool" and "hip" cinem atic film moments
in the young and up-and-coming directors' films by its
sheer brillance and its perfect coupling with image.
At just over 2 hours, "Big Bad Love" may be a tad
bit long, but the vast landscape of human wreckage,
human fear and broken love that Howard exposes here
is complex, conscise and troubling. This is a strange
masterpiece, a blue-collar art film that will surprise
and enthrall almost any viewer, especially those who
are fans of film.
This Film Reviewed
from the 2001 Austin Film festival!
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Card
Script:
A+
Acting: A+
Cinematography\Lighting: A+
Special Effects\Make Up: A+
Music: A+
Final
Grade: A
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