I “Heart” Huckabees (Single DVD)
Picture: B-
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: B
David O. Russell, outside of a film about the current
Middle East War being censored, has not made a film since Three Kings
back in 1999. Now, he takes his biggest
risk narrative risk yet with I “Heart” Huckabees, a 2004 comedy with a
few differences. Combining the
Screwball Comedies of the 1930s and 1940s with intellectual egghead comedies
since sound arrived to film, Russell boldly attempts to both revive and reinvent
some of the greatest of lost comedy forms.
Only the freedom for obscenity via the R-rating gives the film’s age
away on a syntactic level.
Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman, pushing the limits)
is a writer and politically aware young man who finds his life out of
balance. By “coincidence” he finds the
card of two “existential detectives” Vivian and Bernard (Lily Tomlin and Dustin
Hoffman perfectly matched and loaded with chemistry) to investigate what is
wrong with his life. Fellow worker Brad
Strand (Jude Law, in one of the few memorable of the Chris Rock-noted
overexposed castings Rock correctly called at the Oscars) is driving him crazy,
while Tom Corn (Mark Wahlberg) is a fireman (read Fahrenheit 451?) who
thinks all the world’s crisis are tied to petroleum unconditionally. Just when Albert & Tom think they are
either on the verge of breakthrough or failure (i.e., there perpetual confusion
in the film) arrives Caterine Vauban (Isabelle Huppert, turning over every
cinematic image she is known for on its ear), who has alternate philosophies
that are diametrically opposed to the detectives.
When first viewing the film, it is easy to be thrown off a
bit, even if you are prepared for some of it and know philosophy well. Tippi Hendren, now known as an
environmentalist, gets to play on that angle, while Russell gets to play on her
persona a bit from her classic Alfred Hitchcock films. Marnie (1964) offers all kinds of
relationship issues as relevant as those here, while The Birds (1963) is
historically the first natural disaster film outside of Biblical Epics. Naomi Watts literally is Miss Huckabees,
while Jean Smart and Talia Shire make welcome appearances. They help the gender crisis of the film to
be expounded upon in all kinds of ways.
Though everyone in the media has used “heart” to describe
the symbol of the title as if it were a game of Password, but the cold
media has not used the term “love” for some reason. Is it because this is not a serious melodrama? Is it because the swearing and quirkiness
does not equate love? Is it because
love and chain stores simply do not go together? Is it because no one in this film has any idea what the word
means? That too is like some kind of
existential puzzle; certainly referring to the unattainable, and that some
things are beyond language. The searing
is not in vein here, it just shows the frustrations of the characters who are
in trouble and do not know whether to give up or not. Like The Shawshank Redemption back in 1994, the awards
shows missed this one. The rest of the
mysteries we will leave to you.
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image looks good and
except for some digital, which is a bit off-putting, but the pan & scan
version is a disaster that should be skipped altogether. Peter Deming, A.S.C., uses the full scope
frame more effectively than we have seen lately on most feature films. Shot in real anamorphic Panavision, the
combination of Kodak and Fuji films are uncanny. Can’t wait for an HD version.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 & 5.1 are more similar than usual as the sound
is too much in the front three speakers and DTS would help little here in one
of the most annoying such cases of a modern feature film’s sound mix since Paul
Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights in 1997. Why Russell would want this limit is odd, even for this film, but
Jon Brion’s score is one of the best we have had from a feature film in a few
years and makes for an uncanny match to the film like even fewer we have
seen. It is a triumph of film scoring
that is remarkably overlooked.
There are two versions of the film released, including a
double set and this single version. The
only two here are two audio commentary tracks, both with Russell. One is solo, the other where Schwartzman,
Wahlberg and Watts join him. The double
set offers a production featurette, The Charlie Rose Show to promote the
film, 22 extended and deleted scenes, 5 outtakes, 6 ‘Open Spaces Coalition’
PSAs, commercials, a photo montage, the long version of the Infomercial, its
extra dialogue tangents and Jon Brion's performances, behind the scenes of the
detective's infomercial, trailers, Jon Brion's Knock Yourself Out music
video, Music Video commentary and behind the scenes of Jon Brion's Knock
Yourself Out. That is a great set
if you want to pursue the film’s themes further. The commentaries alone confirm my suspicions of what Russell was
after. For those who expected the film
to only mock philosophy the way Stanley Donen’s Funny Face (1957) did
without taking it seriously, think again.
I “Heart” Huckabees is at least a minor comedy classic.
- Nicholas Sheffo
