Rage

Sally Potter's "Rage" is a very unconventional picture in so many ways to I was attracted and impressed with the concept put together of having a story with a talented group of actors and how to make they perform in solitary close-ups and in monologues that actually makes a full play where they are all connected despite never appearing on the same shot. I was curious by the whole thing and it becomes of the most interesting film experiences of recent years, and it also goes for the plot of what she wanted to tell us: to deal with the crazed and glamourous world of fashion - something you don't see these days (with the notable exception of "Ready to Wear" and I'll go back to present a harsh comparison of both).

The story and concept presented: it revolves a huge fashion where a group of characters from all walks of life are directly or indirectly involved with. An all-star cast were well-chosen by Potter: Dianne Wiest, Jude Law, Eddie Izzard, Bob Balaban, John Leguizamo, Steve Buscemi, Patrick J. Adams, Riz Ahmed, Adriana Barraza, David Oyelowo, Judi Dench and a few more are part of this unusual art project and they play characters as distinct as a rebel photographer, a tough security guard, a diva-like drag model, an organizer of the event, a delivery guy, a fashion agent and many others, each with their individual characteristics that can go from being nice people or really arrogant figures or they can change their ways as the events pass by - and they do pass by which revolves a tragic incident and each react in unexpected ways reaching out to the point of despair, fear, or simply rage.

Like said before, they don't interact with each other, they simply look at the camera in great looking close-up shots or sometimes moving around frantically, and as for background each actor/character has a colour design behind them, no props or almost anything is used. So, they're all alone delivering their monologues interacting with an invisible blogger who's covering the fashion show and the tragedy.

Sounds boring, right? Totally. Yet Ms. Potter manages to create a film/play where the actors performance and characters speaks great volumes with their own personas that the movie is anything but boring, exhausting or pretentious. You feel the action, the humor, the drama and the intensity of all so you're hooked through the whole experience. And as for the story and it meanders it's an honest view of the fashion world and all the parties involved going from models, managers, photographers, and the people from behind the scenes. Vanity, vanity, all is vanity; and there's the crudeness between those who have against those who have not, the unfair treatment workers have, the arrogance displayed by people who want to grow in such scenario by hurting people's feelings and backstabbing each other is a common place (but truth be told those issues goes on other working places as well). A dog-eat-dog world where even a death is view as something worthy of admiration and fascination rather than the sadness of the act.

You don't get to see what happens except for the static play format so a lot of what happens you have to exercise the power of imagination. And that's where I get my criticism against Altman's "Ready to Wear". That movie had a spectacular ensemble, it was filmed in Paris during the Fashion Week, it had cameos for many supermodels of the 1990's, and you the visual and the lux speaking great volumes. Was it a good movie? Absolutely not. That was a comedy of errors that had no balls to criticise the fashion world or something say good about it, so it goes all too crazed to appeal to all audiences yet it didn't get anything worthy of view. It was revolting in so many levels that it's beyond belief. "Rage" on the other hand, with the similtarity of an all-star cast takes the same environment without actually showing it yet there's magic, intelligence and creativity. I simply loved, specially the performances of practically everybody (Wiest, Law, Izzard, Ahmed and Buscemi are my favorite) - except for an unfamiliar face who got a nasty role and it didn't feel he was a professional actor, he was way over the top.

More than entertainment, movies are an artistic experience that reflect the times we live on. It must have a speech, a message, an intent even if it's just make us laugh or cry, to feel frightened or in pain. It must hit through your head and your heart, and if possible to make you connect with the world in a different way, see the world in a different light and cause a positive reaction on you to the point you can change your actions, reflect on what you're doing and with luck, you are transformed. Only a handful of films can aspire to that, and maybe I'm seeing a lot more in "Rage" than what people can actually find - and it's low rating is a proof of that. But trust me, I felt connected with it, I've seen a technique that I hadn't seen before and the concept worked. It's not a masterpiece, there are some flaws in it but it got real close of a spetacle to the senses, and since it got close I have nothing but admiration for it. 8/10.

RAGE is certainly not a movie for everyone. I could see how it would make some people very angry, and I am sure many people walked out of this. However, being an actor myself, watching these performances in their most intimate and raw presentation was nothing short of brilliant. Sure, there are a few flaws, but the truth behind the film is good acting can and SHOULD stand alone. All you really need is a great actor, and a camera pointed at them. It's a series of monologues given by some of the best actors out there. The performances that stood out to me most were: Judi Dench of course, John Lequizamo (who gives perhaps his best performance here), Bob Balaban (who is both hilarious and heartbreaking), Dianne Weist (who can do no wrong), Riz Ahmed (who I didn't know before this and hope to see again), and finally the best of all Adriana Barraza! You should rent/buy this movie just for her monologue about desiring to be invisible. Its a strange little film. But also a brilliant one.

So it's no secret that experimental filmmaking is a necessity of cinema and some experimental films succeed and others don't. Rage is one of those that doesn't quite succeed in its experimentation on narrative style. Rage is about a New York blogger named Michelangelo, a character we never see or hear. Michelangelo is documenting a New York fashion show by interviewing various people behind the stage in front of various neon colored backgrounds. The entire film is just individual character interviews intertwined to create a story. There is no character interaction and no sets whatsoever. The entire film is done with actors, sound effects, and a blue screen. And believe it or not, the film does actually end up telling a cohesive story, just in the most inconvenient way possible.

Simply put, you can't tell a story like this. You just can't make this kind of narrative work without some extra flair or nuance to spice it up. You simply can't tell a unique enough story with just actors in front of a blue screen. The film, for the most part, kept my attention the whole way through, but it is not something that I would watch repeatedly. It is good for one viewing, and the most you can take out of that one viewing is that this is a narrative style that just doesn't work. This film could make an interesting contemporary stage play with a few tweaks, but as a film it is missing key elements that make cinema what it is. I commend Sally Potter, the director, for coming up with new and inventive ways to tell a story through the film medium and I would never discourage her from continuing to expand her experimentation, but I do hope she realized that this attempt was a failed one.

Moving on from the narrative style, I really can't complain about the story itself or the characters within it. That is really the tragedy of this film is how much potential its story and characters could have had, if told in a more effective manner. The story takes unexpected twists throughout, and grows surprisingly dark and captivating. Each character is very well designed, but you have to take into consideration the fact that we only see a small part of each character's potential. Like I said before, there is zero character interaction in this film unless you count the things said directly to our invisible narrator. It is difficult to fully judge a character's depth when you never see him or her interact with the other characters of the film. But for what we are given by these characters, it is all very interesting. Each character has their own philosophy and outlook on life and the fashion industry, and these personal values each one of them expresses drives the story home. A lot could have been done with what was laid out across the screen, but the over experimental narrative style held it back significantly.

And to add insult to injury, the characters were played by excellent actors who I would have loved to see go further with their roles if the narrative had allowed for it. There are some very big names in this film and a variety of A-list faces. There is everyone from Steve Buscemi as the disgruntled photographer, to the kind old Dianne Wiest who wants her perfume company to succeed, but also wants to keep everyone happy. Jude Law goes the extra mile for this film and plays the transsexual runway model Minx. It is one of the most enticing yet disturbing roles in the whole film, and Law does a great job. Judi Dench plays a painfully honest fashion critic, who delivers one of the last and most enthralling speeches of the film. She ends the film on a particularly dark, yet fascinating note and her performance is great for what she has to work with.

I see this film getting torn up by critics and audience members alike, but I feel it deserves much more credit than it has received. Obviously it is very flawed, but it is not an outright horrible movie. The narrative style simply doesn't work and it definitely holds the film back a lot, but apart from that the film delivers a lot of good things. The story, while not perfect, is undeniably interesting, and so are the characters. The actors do a great job in their limiting roles and the only complaint I can make about them is that I just wanted more. Overall, Rage is a failure in minimalist filmmaking. The film makes numerous references to Andy Warhol, but I'm sure Warhol would have been disgusted by this film, as its style almost ended up being a mockery of his own, unintentionally of course. With a lot of tweaking and revising, though, Rage could be a great film or even stage play that would most definitely be worth watching.

The blue screens combine well with the characters lipstick colours , the performances at some points are really good but halfway through this movie i just couldn't wait for it to finish. I actually watched it on fast forward. For one thing you cant have a movie on people just talking in front of the camera. Its just hard to believe that this were done by a teenager. And those questions that coming straight from a fashion experts mouth were really hard to buy. Coming from the same person that made "Orlando" i was deeply disappointed since i was expecting much more. The aesthetic result is quite good but nothing more than that. This is one of my favourite worst movies ever. This is a film experiment but it just doenst work. Leave it for film schools or even museums but i wouldn't recommend this as entertainment

Sally Potter takes chances. There are so many unique aspects of this film that reviewing it is difficult. The major aspects of the film include the very au courant 'rage' of blogging as a means of communication, the 'rage' to stay young and in fashion (that almost daily changing series of fads of what is in and what is out), the 'rage' of focusing everyone's attention on celebrity antics including drugs and death, the 'rage' to buy everything (if you don't own it and it looks like it is going to be popular then buy it), the 'rage' of climbing into the media world, be it film, fashion, television searching for that promised 15 minutes of fame, the 'rage' of PR, minding the selling promotion of a product without concern of its value, the 'rage' of creating new fragrances with a special name for fame, and the 'rage' for maintaining a wealthy or famous class and a poor or service class. Potter manages to take us through all of these phases with brilliant writing, fascinating character studies, experimental lighting and photography, and one of the best uses of color fields ever on film.

The premise is simple yet strong. A blogger named Michelangelo follows the backstage proceedings of a New York Fashion Show: we never see him, we see only his daily blog entry and the images of the interviewees through his cellphone camera - the individuals all are part of the hyped fashion show cum ramp walk of fashionista Merlin (Simon Abkarian) who designed the clothes, Miss Roth (Dianne Wiest) who owns the company, Mona Carvell (Judi Dench) the fashion critic who writes for the media coverage, Otto (Jakob Cedergren) who works managing PR, Mr. White (Bob Balaban) who directs the show until he is replaced by the overeducated image builder Dwight Angel (Patrick J. Adams), Frank (Steve Buscemi) a hard nosed photographer who has spent better time on the war fronts in the Middle East taking 'meaningful pictures', financier Tiny Diamonds (Eddie Izzard) who buys everything he wants including his bodyguard Jed (John Leguizamo), models Minx (Jude Law in drag) and Lettuce Leaf (Lily Cole), pizza delivery boy transformed in to model Vijay (Riz Ahmed), and Anita de Los Angeles (Adriana Barraza) the seamstress who simply wants to remain invisible. Two deaths occur - one car accident and one shooting - and that brings in Detective Homer (David Oyelowo) who investigates while displaying his own brand of Shakespeare to the blogger's cellphone camera.

All of this complex story happens in the form of interviews - each star is dressed in well designed clothes and each poses in front of various colored screens. The ending of the interview brings the whole experience together. Potter's immaculate and imaginative script gives each one of these gifted actors room to shine in a one person act. It just simply works and never for a moment does it become dull. Sally Potter gave us 'Orlando', 'Yes', 'The Man Who Cried', and 'The Tango Lesson'. She is one of the most imaginative and skilled writer/director units in the business.

Grady Harp