Igby Goes Down (2002)
I don't need to pay $8.00, more
money than I make in an hour, to see a film that tries
to show me how miserable and disenheartening it is
to be wealthy.
At least, that's what I thought
for the first hour or so of "Igby Goes Down." I mean,
it's about this rich kid who doesn't like his life
much. We learn that his father has gone whacko, quite
literally, right in front of him. His mother is a
rich-bitch pill-head. His brother is a snot-nosed,
elitist, prick. And his Godfather is a new-money capitalist
who practically fucks his heroin-chic girlfriend right
in front of his airheaded, alcohol-soaked wife. Rich
people have it so rough.
But this film's script is so astounding
and the performances are so perfect that the film
soon grew on me. First and foremost, Keiran Culkin's
performance is breath-taking. Considered with his
work in this year's "Dangerous Life of Altar Boys,"
his performance here becomes a 1-2 punch that practically
guarantees him a seat at this year's Independent Spirit
Awards. (If Hollywood were worth a fuck at all, he's
be at the Oscars). This kid is one of the most daring
and profound young actors of the next generation.
Think I'm full of shit? Watch his performance here
and compare it to Leonardo DiCaprio in "Basketball
Diaries." There is no comparisome. Culkin's poignant
and raw performance outside Claire Dane's apartment
door in the third act of the film is brutal in its
honesty and realism. It is devastating.
It doesn't hurt, of course, that
Culkin is surrounded by actors, some of them already
well-known for their talents, who are as flawless
as he. Susan Sarandon, Jeff Goldblum, Ryan Phillippe,
Danes (who needs to have a sandwich), Bill Pullman,
and Ceila Weston are simply awesome here. Amanda Peet,
who had to earn some respect to get kudos from me,
garners it here with seeming ease. This is a indie-career-
making performance she gives here. This cast is amazing.
Only one person seems typecast and unworthy of praise
and that is Jarod Harris. Not only is he doing a role
that he has done before, he doesn't do anything new
with it. And, of course, as always, he is a cinematic
eyesore. I can barely stand to look at him.
Burr Steers, an actor whose been
lucky (or perhaps talented) enough to work for Tarantino
and Whit Stillman, is the writer and director of the
film. It is his debut in these fields and he proves
himself to be a filmmaker of exceptional talents.
His use of the camera, his pacing, his casting (obviously),
his script, his dialogue, and, most importantly, his
use of music, prove him to be a talent to look out
for. The alt_pop songs that score the film, from the
likes of Pete Yorn, Coldplay, Dandy Warhols and Supreme
Beings of Leisure, are used so effectively and wondrously
that it is impossible not to be both deeply affect
by the visuals and tap your foot at the same time.
With "Igby," Steers creates a cool,
distant and detached world and then puts a (deeply
wounded) heart into it. Igby's wide-eyed incomprehension
of a world turned inside out forces a sort-of backward
bravado to come forth and a fierce yet futile kicking
against that which is unfathomable to him to be enacted.
Lost, adrift and unsure of anything, Igby finally
comes of age not because he wants to, or needs to,
but because the world opens to him, like a rotted
oyster, when he finally gets out into it. He finds
it an age of no reason, an age of incomprehension,
an age of distrust and hypocracy and pointless dreams.
With his eyes finally open wide, Igby, who thinks
he has nothing to lose, realizes he is lost, realizes
all is lost. And, alas, he feels the sorrow of losing
the feeling that there is nothing to lose. This is
a deeply moving and poignant film. To compare it,
somewhat, to "Catcher in the Rye" is not an overstatement
or a mistake.
This may not be the film that "The
Royal Tannenbaums" wanted it be, but it sure is the
film that "The Royal Tannenbaums" should have fucking
been!
Brava! Brava! Brava!
Notes:
Also starring Gore Vidal, Steer's
uncle and Rory Culkin. Rory plays Keiran's character
as a young boy.
