SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS
Cast: Christopher Thornton, Mark Ruffalo, Juliette Lewis, Orlando Bloom, Laura Linney
Important to note: Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut and winner of a Special Jury Prize from Sundance Film Festival.
Attended a movie screening and a mild Q&A session for this up and coming independent film yesterday. It's available for wide release hopefully sometime soon. But it was released for Sundance in January. Got to see Mark Ruffalo, Christopher Thornton, and Orlando Bloom in person and even took a picture with Orlando~! That was pretty exciting.
Trailer:
Summary:
Delicious Dean (Christopher Thornton) is paralyzed and wheel chair bound, and currently living on the streets of Skid Row in Los Angeles. But he soon discovers that he has to power to heal people, yes, heal people, just by touching them. But the irony about this is that he doesn't have the power to heal himself. While Joe (Ruffalo), a Catholic priest, urges Delicious to use this power for good, Delicious extorts his power and uses it to gain money and fame instead.
Critique:
For some reason, this movie bothers me a little. The storyline is there, the characters are believable, but what's actually happening, like the power to "heal" is so ridiculous that you know this can't possibly be real. And that's sad because there's some significantly amazing acting on all of the actor's behalf, especially Christopher Thornton.
The cinematography was pretty good, there are scenes that are shot with some hand-held cameras, and blurring of the city skyline and of course, filming on location. This is a movie about a homeless man, living in his car. With such a low budget film, you don't have money to hire set builders and extras dressed up AS homeless people. Therefore, you do what you have to, so they set it in downtown Los Angeles in Skid Row where you can feel the nitty-gritty of the street life. Just watching the movie made me uncomfortable and cringe because I felt I was transported there, getting dirty with everyone else.
The story conveys the meaning of "having faith" in people, but not in an in-your-face religious evangelistic style film. More or so made for secular audiences but main message is there. You don't have to be anything close to religious to slightly enjoy this film.
But when I say enjoy, you have to take it with a grain of salt. While the acting is fantastical, the moral of the story is tangible, and the cinematography is great, the movie is just so predictable which renders the whole movie uninspiring. Obviously when you hear about a story about someone gaining power and has the chance to use it for good (helping others) versus evil (fame and fortune), you're already going to know the ending of the story. Good always triumphs.
That's the problem with good versus evil story lines. If good doesn't win, the audience gets pissed because they just watched a pointless movie. If good does win, the audience labels it as predictable even though there are a couple of plot twists. That's the real catch-22.
Last thing that I have to say. The Ending. Is. Terrible...
So should you watch it?
I mean, I personally had no intention of watching it and was surprised at the screening to see a movie that I had absolutely no idea about, I didn't read the summary or watch the trailer beforehand, but if I was left up to my own devices...I don't think that I would've watched it. But if you want to watch a raunchier version (ie homeless people, rock music, drugged out bandmates, oh, and Catholic influences) of this predictable story line, than, yes, by all means, you should watch it. Oh yes, another incentive to watch it: Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut! It's pretty good for a first-timer!
Grade: B-
For an awesome directorial debut by Mark Ruffalo ( I know this is my 3rd time using the same word and mentioning this but I don't know what else to call it -_-") and great acting, but a lack of spontaneity, although there are a few plot twists, on the storyline of good versus evil. There's better films out there that convey the same meaning and message without falling into the perils of predictability. Oh yeah, and it was a bit too long for my taste.
I'm truly sorry that I didn't like it as much as I should have. Especially after an awesome Q&A session with Ruffalo, Thornton, and Bloom. They were so sweet, and Ruffalo was talking about his film like an expectant father. Reminiscing about the making of the movie and the hardships of acting and directing at the same time, and of course, the financial issues. The movie took more than 10 years to make but I couldn't appreciate it for what it was, even though I wish I could have.
Interesting fact: Christopher Thornton, who plays the main character, Delicious Dean, wrote the screenplay because he was inspired by his own wheel-chair bound experiences. Yes, he actually is paralyzed and in a wheel chair. Cool right?
What I am feeling is...sympathy for Mark Ruffalo :(
"LIVE IT. LOVE IT. KILL IT."
