davo

There are a lot of reviews here discussing philosophical and aesthetic responses to this film, which has great art direction and a less genre-bound sensibility that some of this director's previous excellent work. I am sure it would have had more of an impact on me if I had seen it in a theater. There are some good performances by the actors, with Beau's character being very much in Joaquin Phoenix's wheelhouse of the weird and moody. But what got me to tune in to it again tonight for a second viewing was to see Parker Posey in what was is literally the most revealing role I have seen her assay, and I am not just talking about her almost always interesting acting. Quite appealing!

The source material for this film is the memoir LAST THOUGHTS WHILE VANISHING FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH by Louis Sarno, but that text is significantly different from this film. Number one for me, the protagonist "Larry", is nowhere near as charming nor funny as the real Louis Sarno, though the character evidently has some of the same diseases as him. Louis was hired as an advisor and facilitated actual Aka (pygmy) people appearing in the film. They are the most authentic part of it, along with locations in the Central African Republic. Within that country relations among people and groups can be quite complicated (well-shown in Sarno's text,) but for dramatic effect a logging company becomes the chief adversary and the actor Isaach De Bankolé is wasted as a one-note villain.