Edmond

At first glance, horror meister Stuart Gordon would not seem the obvious choice to direct an emotional psycho-drama cinematic rendering of a David Mamet play, yet with Edmond, he displays a deft touch for the material and allows the actors to carry the day.

Originally penned as a stage play, Edmond tells the story of namesake Edmond Burke (William H. Macy), a mundane white collar worker who has spent his entire life being a faceless cog in the big industrial machine. The rescheduling of a business appointment to 1:15 (a number which re-occurs in the film) propels him to idle away his time with a visit to a tarot reader who tells him he's not where he's supposed to be. From there he begins a slow spiral into depravity and insanity that begins with telling his wife he's leaving her and progresses to an outback-like dreamwalk into New York City's seedy underbelly of bars pimps and prostitutes.

Written in the wake of a divorce, Mamet infuses the script with racial discourse and epithets that are stunning in their caustic vulgarity as Edmond pours out years of pent up hatred on one of his muggers revealing a window into his shallow soul that only becomes more intensely evident as the movie reaches its conclusion.

In the scene where Edmond tells his wife their marriage is over, he explains to her that she hasn't satisfied him spiritually or emotionally for quite some time. Yet, after watching his progression trough the course of the story, it becomes clear that spiritually he has no soul, and emotionally he's a shallow but volatile cauldron of disjointed thoughts.

The film is a tour-de-force for Macy, who is in every scene and morphs from a character of Caspar Milquetoast proportions to unhinged bigoted psychopath and back again by the movie's end. Along the way he's complimented by solid performances from Joe Mantegna, Julia Stiles, Mena Suvari and Bokeem Woodbine. As if in a wink and nudge to his own work, Gordon even manages to insinuate longtime stalwart Jeffrey Combs into a small but telling scene during Edmond's descent into insanity.

By the time Edmond arrives at the end of that journey, however; at that place where he ought to be; I couldn't help but think he had merely wasted his life catching up to where his soul was long ago.

This movie is similar to "Falling Down" in its plot, and "Crash' in the way it deals with lives spinning our of control because of racism and other intolerance, but I thought it was far more believable and had a more satisfying end than both. I have watched "Edmond" three times over the last two days (it only goes for 74 minutes) and I was very happy to have hired the DVD rather than to have seen it at the Cinema as I was able to go back and watch the scenes that did not sink in as profoundly the first time round. The first time I watched it alone and found I missed a lot of important dialog and imagery that was crucial to the story because I was thinking about the previous scene...so when the end hit me, I found my head was spinning and I couldn't believe what I was seeing and thought I must have missed something. Wasn't this man a homophobic, racist, bigoted, atheist?...So i watched it again and saw that I had (my fault not the films)in fact missed some crucial but minute facts. So, the second time I was able to fully get my teeth into it and because I knew the outcome I could concentrate on the brilliant, realistic performances of the actors and direction without thinking about what had just happened or worrying about what would happen next. No one could fail to notice the extreme brilliance of William Macy. I knew he was an amazing actor but I think this is better than some of the best academy winning performances that I have ever seen and I cant believe it was overlooked by the academy! Also Julia Stiles performance was fascinating...Even though Stiles role is only short it is the turning point of the film. Macy goes from a mild mannered, suburban business man, in what he feels is suddenly a monotonous, loveless, one sided marriage, living a very white, middle-classed existence to a manic, explosive, violent, bigoted, homophobic, 'grass must be greener on the other side', racist before you know whats hit you. Even when he smiles it is in the most inappropriate places. Also, watching Stiles the second time I realized that she wasn't just a silly, wanna be actress trying to be cool and politically incorrect, but a person who was deeply struggling with the fact that the stranger she has stupidly and casually brought home with her may well end her life...So, what does she do? Go against him or agree with him? Does she say what he wants to hear or stay true to herself? You will not be able to take you eyes of the rawness and brutality of this scene for one second. The third time I watched it with my husband, who was as blown away with it as I was, but I found myself pointing out stuff to him so he wouldn't have to watch it twice to get it as I did...although, I realized everyone gets something different out of a film, so I was wrong to do so, and so I wont do that here either or it may spoil your own experience. Watch this film with an open mind. I know this parallel, seedy, underbelly of life does exist, so far removed from my sheltered, secure, tolerant, safe world, made up of the downtrodden, abused, rejected, masses who don't know how else to act as they have never known love, safety or security (and sadly, probably never will). As well as the actors performances themselves, I take my hat off to the brilliant direction and music of this wonderful film adaption of an equally wonderful play. It is like a book you cant put down...you just have to watch it to the end without distraction. I believe these are the roles actors wait for all of their lives and will happily do for nothing.

William H. Macy is nothing short of spectacular in this film, as was every other actor that graced the screen. The performances were a real credit to both the actor's creativity and the masterful direction of Stuart Gordon. Not to mention a pretty interesting, yet, twisted script by Mamet. This is a film that very easily could've fallen apart, being an adaptation of a stage play and all, yet Stuart Gordon weaves it all together masterfully, with yet the smallest and finest of threads. Mamet is not an easy guy to do. However, the entire cast and crew associated with "Edmond" all do it masterfully.

NYC Filmmaker

Interesting, if not altogether captivating slice o' night and consequences of one Edmond Burke; a man who is driven to the edge, and all areas after, following his decision to essentially walk away from everything due to feeling unfulfilled in life. Working from this always relate-able premise, Mamet crafts a more intelligent, more realistic version of last decade's controversial but safe Falling Down, and in turn offers some of the year's best societal release. Problems arise however when the actions slow down and the talking speeds up, where monologues and even back and forth dialogs seem to be coming from the writer's mouth instead of the characters. This all goes south in the second half, where Macy's sermonizing kills some of the script's authenticity and integrity, due to the long-winded, self righteous, and ultimately distracting and uninvolved nature of his lines. For a film that approaches a gritty New York night with style and ease, with a scriptwriter as esteemed and knowledgeable as David Mamet, it was a shame to see some of the later scenes become a pulpit for Mr. Mamet to talk through instead of more subtle suggestion, but it is still far from making this movie avoidable. With some of William H Macy's most powerful work, Edmond is still a triumph of a character based thriller, leaving me satisfied with it's profound conclusion.

It's always nice to watch William H. Macy act even though his character is almost the same as in Fargo. William H. Macy is the main character Edmond, a guy fed up with the attitude of others, that gets spiralled in a journey of bickering and violence. You could compare it a bit like Falling Down but that movie was just much better. I don't say Edmond is a bad movie, it's worth a watch, but to me there are just too much moments with endless pointless conversations, especially towards the end. The violence might make some people uncomfortable but to me it didn't, those were actually the best parts of the story.