The Singing Detective (2003 feature film)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: C     Film: B-

 

 

It is taking a very long time, but Dennis Potter’s trilogy of great British mini-series that deconstruct the Hollywood Musical are taking forever to come out on DVD and even longer to be turned into feature films.  The first of his trilogy, Pennies From Heaven, became a highly-underrated Herbert Ross feature in 1981 with Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters.  Critics, as usual, missed the point and the film did not fare well at the box office.  Twenty-two years later, we have The Singing Detective, made nearly a decade after Potter turned in the screenplay version.

 

Robert Downey Jr. is the title character, more or less, stuck in a hospital with a serious skin condition.  As Dan Dark, he is stuck in his hospital bedroom drugged out and maybe losing his mind a bit.  As a mirror character in the script he wrote that bares the title of this film, he is a tough 1950s gumshoe detective.  His oddball psychiatric doctor (Mel Gibson) is trying to help him, more or less, resolve some issues.  It just may be too late.  The impressive cast also includes Adrian Brody, Robin Wright Penn, Jeremy Northam, Katie Holmes, Carla Golino, Jon Polito, and Alfie Woodard.

 

If Pennies From Heaven was meant to go after the Busby Berkley era of early Classical Hollywood and the Depression that loomed high in the 1930s, then this film wants to do the same with Film Noir.  The problem, at least with this feature version, is that it does the opposite.  It is not dark enough to be effective, especially as compared to real Film Noirs of the 1950s, in making any point.  Potter’s British TV version seemed more effective, especially with Dark’s reality and perceptions being more ambiguous and clearly questioned.  Here, the line between hid delusions and reality are too clear cut, reducing the musical moments to something more akin and less imaginative to a lesser Music Video.  Director Keith Gordon kept the 10-year-old screenplay the way Potter wrote it, but fails to come up with ironic distance that could have drawn parallels between when it was written and when the film was actually being shot.

 

Because Pennies From Heaven had a large budget, that helped prevent this film from being made under the assumption it too would need a similar budget, but the low(er)-budget excursion looks great thanks to Patricia Norris’ effective double duty on production and costume design.  He film cannot be faulted for that or Gordon’s ambitious attempt to stay faithful to the original screenplay.  Although it is interesting and has some good moments, the film falls short.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is not bad, but lacks the type of finer detail that a new film should have.  Though cinematographer Tom Richmond did some stylish shooting, nothing is overdone and the film has a consistent look.  The use of color is often more heightened than usual, but we wish it had been more so.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 AC-3 mix is a disappointment, except on “Poison Ivy” and a few other songs.  It is too compressed, laid back and is likely the 384 kilobits-per-second type that is unbelievably still being used by anyone.  The only extras include some trailers and a commentary by Keith Gordon that is not bad, but runs into trouble towards the end as he seems to run out of things to say.

 

Another thing is the constant crude language throughout, intended by Potter, but one that is eventually pointless.  Again, when compared to the world of real Noirs, not as subversive or strikingly in contrast to the early Hollywood Musicals.  That is left too plain and is another aspect that needed a new strategic approach.  Still, in all this, The Singing Detective was one of 2003’s better films.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo