Reader Recommendation: Of Unknown Origin (1983)

As recommended by Mitch at The Video Vacuum

Rounding off this month's series of reviews is Mitch's recommendation - Of Unknown Origin which he sold to me as "Robocop fights a killer rat". Well how the hell was I going to turn down a pitch like that? For one I'm a huge fan of Peter Weller, a hugely underrated actor whose distinctive voice and mannerisms make him a great, if unconventional, leading man. And secondly, the film was directed by George P Cosmatos, who went on to direct Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra - two of the most macho, over-the-top action films of the 80s. What would happen when these two got together? Well, to be honest I'd already gotten a little preview when I caught their 1989 team-up Leviathan - a okay-ish Alien rip-off - but I was hoping this earlier collaboration would be better.

Of Unknown Origin sees Weller play Bart Hughes, a young businessman living an idyllic existence. He's just finished renovating his expensive New York Brownstone house, he's married to a beautiful wife (Shannon Tweed in one of her first performances*), and he's well on his way to making a fortune in his Wall Street job. When his wife plans a holiday he decides to stay at home and catch up on his work instead so that he can get a promotion. And it's when he's home alone that he starts to notice evidence that his house might have... a rat. So he starts setting traps and poison, but none of it works. You see this rat is smart and it's going to push Bart to the bring of sanity before he can find a way to kill it.

What I enjoyed about this film is that it combines two of my favourite movie subgenres:- "yuppies in peril" and "man vs animal". The film was obviously trying to make some pointed jabs at Weller's noveau riche businessman being forced to strip himself back to being a more primitive man in order to take down the rat. The lesson here is that all the money in the world won't stop a rat destroying your house if it wants to. The film also contains one of my favourite horror movie cliches where the lead character goes to a library and looks up exactly what they are going up against. You don't get that much nowadays, kids are more likely to look up stuff on wikipedia or google which is far less cinematic.

The film is basically a one man show by Peter Weller. There's a couple of background characters and subplots here and there but the central focus is on Bart. I've got to say with a lesser actor this wouldn't have been as good. Weller has a lot of dialogue where he's talking to himself or taunting the rat. Usually this stuff comes off as really fake and amateurish (see: Diary of the Dead) but Weller has a knack for making it sound realistic. The film is definitely self aware of how ridiculous it all is though. Again, if they'd taken it too seriously it wouldn't have worked so well. In someways I would have liked a few more scenes away from the house but I can appreciate how keeping the film mostly set there built up far more suspense.

A lot has been said about director George P Cosmatos since he died. Both Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone have made suggestions that he didn't direct much of Tombstone or Cobra. Regardless of these rumours his direction on Of Unknown Origin was first rate. Given that the film is mostly set in one location, with one actor it never feels slow or boring. He does a lot of rat POV shots, scurrying through the walls and makes great use of rat close-ups that make you squirm in your seat. And they will make you squirm, no matter how hard you think you are. If Jaws put people off swimming in the sea and Psycho put people off taking showers, this one will stop you from sitting down on the toilet for weeks.

Cosmatos also manages to make the rat seem genuinely very scary, which is quite hard when you think about. A lot of people might be reading this review and think "Oh it's only one rat, why all the fuss?" Yeah, it is one rat but it's the size of small dog! The bits where it manages to attack Weller are genuinely quite ferocious and terrifying. Sure, this is an 80s horror film but for once it's not about a body count. Cosmatos just wants to scare you stupid and that's got to be commended.

I'm trying to think of any faults I found with this but I just don't think there were any. Okay, maybe I found the size of the rat hard to gauge. In some shots it looked huge, in others it looked much smaller. Let's face it you either want to see a killer rat movie or you don't. If you do, watch this, if you don't, then don't. 

GRADE: B+


To read Mitch's original review click here http://thevideovacuum.livejournal.com/685018.html

* For those with an interest, yes Tweed does show her usual... um assets as per all her films.

Reader Recommendation: Adaptation (2002)

As recommended by Chris at Recently Viewed Movies

I thought it would be nice to take a break from action or sci-fi movies and review something a little different this week and Adaptation is definitely that. I was so pleased that Chris gave this a 10 out of 10 on his blog because it's probably one of my favourite movies. As someone who dabbles in film-making in my spare time it's an incredibly enjoyable film because it not only breaks down the difficulties and frustrations of putting a film together but it also does it in a playful and self-reflexive manner. I guess some could call it self indulgent but I don't think that was ever writer Charlie Kaufman's intention.

The film sees Nic Cage play a fictionalised version of Charlie (who wrote also the meta-fictional Being John Malkovich) who has been assigned the insanely difficult job adapting Susan Orlean's non-fiction book, The Orchid Thief which concerns the exploits John Laroche, a poacher of orchids. While trying to write the script he attempts to interview Orlean (played by Meryl Streep) and Laroche (Chris Cooper) but still struggles to find a way of pulling out a narrative out of the book. All the while he's constantly harassed by his brother Donald (a fictional twin) who has just started writing scripts too but is a far more crass and hammy writer. In the end Charlie is forced to enlist the help of his brother but will it end up ruining his script?

I don't think you can start a film off in a bigger way than Adaptation does. It literally starts with the beginning of the universe before fast forwarding through billions of years of history and evolution until it arrives at Charlie Kaufman (played by Nic Cage) sitting at his typewriter trying to come up with a way to start his new screenplay. It perfectly encapsulates what it feels like being a screenwriter. You're constantly second guessing yourself, never thinking that you've written any thing of any worth, always trying to avoid horrible cliches.

It should be noted that the real Kaufman was genuinely given the assignment to adapt The Orchid Thief and he genuinely did struggle for years to try and turn it into a script. In the end, I think this film came out better because he took such creative license. The film took on its own life and became about the process of adaptation on several levels. Kaufman adapting the novel, the orchid adapting to its environment, Laroche adapting his poaching method by using Seminole Indians, and finally Kaufman adapting his writing methods in order to fit with Hollywood's conventions. Charlie Kaufman didn't stick himself in the film because he's vain, he put himself in because it was the only way he could conceivably complete the story.

Nic Cage is note perfect as both Kaufmans. He particularly excels at playing the happy-go-lucky Donald who wanders through the entire film with an irrepressible grin on his face. Streep and Cooper also both give very nuanced performances too (the latter being rewarded with a Best Supporting Oscar) but my favourite actor in the film is Brian Cox who has a small cameo as creative writing instructor Robert McKee (again, a real life figure). McKee's advice goes completely against everything Kaufman stands for. There's a very amusing bit where Kaufman attends McKee's lecture and his inner voiceover starts narrating what's happening before being abruptly cut off when McKee says voiceover should never be used as it's lazy screenwriting!

In fact, it's one of the most enjoyable elements of the film that as you're watching it, it slowly devolves into a more straight-forward (and ridiculously fictionalised) movie. Kaufman's idiot brother starts helping  with the script and it starts to follow more and more of McKee's advice. Have an active protagonist, have an end goal, have a three act structure, have an escalating sense of urgency.

I did read Orlean's book a while back and it is a very good read. I think the way the film concludes isn't a slight against Orlean's book it's more against Hollywood execs for their lack of awareness. One of the most overlooked performance of the film is Ron Livingston who plays Kaufman's agent Marty as a bored man-child who doesn't know what he's doing. It's implied that he's basically read the current bestseller list and picked the one at the top to be adapted without realising that it's non-fiction. There's also some pointed jabs at big budget Hollywood films in the fact that Donald's script The 3 (about a serial killer who has multiple personality disorder and one of these is the cop who is investigating the murders!) is terminally stupid but manages sells for seven figures.*

I guess I can see why Adaptation isn't universally loved as much as Kaufman's Being John Malkovich or Eternal Sunshine. It is quite a cliquey concept - an in-joke for screenwriters gone way too far - but at the same time there's a nobility to it. Fact based films always end up changing history to fit a narrative structure (just look at Braveheart) and by refusing to properly adapt Orlean's book he's allowed her and Laroche to remain real people rather than fictional constructs.

GRADE: A-

To read Chris's original review click here http://recentlyviewedmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/weekly-wrap-up-1120.html

* If you're ever curious as to what The 3 would have been like check out James Mangold's Identity (2003)