Sunday, December 8, 2013

Out of the Furnace

Towns like Braddock, Pennsylvania exist all over America. The small, dirty towns that flourish or falter based on the strength of the local mill that employs most of the town’s citizens. Braddock, as portrayed in the new domestic thriller, Out of the Furnace, is the kind of town people don’t escape from. You’re born with a broken heart and develop into a shattered dream. All you can do is try to survive contently.

So explains Russell Baze (Christian Bale) and his younger brother Rodney (Casey Affleck). Russell’s life is a healthy balance of work and love. He busts his ass at the mill to make ends meet, but is lucky enough to come home to Lena (Zoe Saldana). It isn’t much of a life, but it’s enough to keep him happy. Rodney is less satisfied. He’s temporarily home from another tour in Iraq, and is pissed about leaving again. There’s a consistent anger in Rodney’s shaken voice. But this is the life he was born into. And so it is and so it goes.

Things happen. Bad things. Tragic things. Time is served and money is owed. We meet more people from Braddock. People like the sleazy but honest John Petty (Willem Dafoe), who’s trying to make good on his own debt by having Rodney work off his own debt. John’s debt is owed to Curtis DeGroat (Woody Harrelson) a tweeked-out meth head psychopath who runs a bare-knuckle boxing circle in (very) rural New Jersey. Shortly into the film, for reasons I won’t fully explain, all of these characters become entangled through of series of unfortunate events. But these events aren’t random. They’re chosen. As in, the characters are aware of the risks they take, but take them anyway.
And here is Out of the Furnace’s biggest selling point. More than the many fine performances, more than the film’s uncannily ability to so accurately characterize a time and a place, Out of the Furnace succeeds best as a rust and bone morality tale of false hope. These characters dare to dream that they can have a better life. More money. Children. Happiness. They spin themselves in a web that’s impossible to untangle, but it is utterly thrilling to watch them try.

Woody Harrelson is a master of playing likeable men who find themselves in unlikeable circumstances. Which is what makes DeGroat so compelling. There isn’t a shred of amiability in DeGroat. He’s a monster looking to inflict as much pain as possible. It’s a remarkable departure for Harrelson, and the actor does wonders with it. Bale and Affleck also find themselves playing against type. Bale is the more fiery actor of the two, equipped with an intensity and commanding presence that has garnered him countless acclaim. But his Russell is different. He thinks. He listens. He talks only when he needs to, and moves only when he has to. It’s a quiet, captivating performance unlike any we’ve seen from Bale. Essentially, it’s Affleck who has the Christian Bale role in the film. The angry, screaming, furious man America gave up on. Affleck literally shook me up in this film. I haven’t been able to get him out of my mind.
Scott Cooper, who co-wrote and directed Out of the Furnace, knows these kinds of towns, and their people, very well. That was evident in his first feature, Crazy Heart, in which we followed a shit kicking country music star around rural America as he slowly fell deeper into his own drunken hopelessness. I enjoyed Cooper’s subtle take on a flawed America in Crazy Heart, but I’m in love with his more bold approach in Out of the Furnace. This is a technically restrained film full of relentlessly angry people. I knew the men (and few women) of Braddock so well as imagined through Cooper’s lens. I wanted to reach out and help them in anyway that I could, but, of course, I was forced to sit back and watch them crumble.

Out of the Furnace is one of the most gut wrenching experiences I’ve had at the movies this year. Many will disagree. Many will be unmoved and possibly angered by the film’s message and discouraging characters. Me? I was never mad at the people of Braddock, only infuriated by the circumstances they found themselves in. Who am I to judge how a person handles an unimaginable situation? I only choose to sit back and let the film fly. A- 

22 comments:

  1. I thought about seeing it this weekend w/ Dallas Buyers Club (review will be posted tomorrow) but the mixed reaction had me choose Philomena instead. I wanted to see it because of the cast but the reviews have definitely been polarizing. Maybe when it comes on TV, I'll check it out.

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    1. Thankfully, I hadn't seen or heard any reviews for Out of the Furnace before I saw it. I absolutely loved it, and am a little surprised by the sharp divide it has caused. Way it goes, I guess. Going to be on the look out for your Philomena review. Looked...okay to me.

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  2. I was one of those people who was pretty unmoved during this film. While I certainly thought the performances were all top notch (I wish Shepard had a larger role in the film though) it all just sort of washed over me. I saw this the same day I went and saw Nebraska, which has stuck with me while this one is just sort of there. I remember it but it really didn't do much for me that I haven't found in some other family-based revenge thrillers. Solid review though, kind of makes me wish I had a similar experience with it that you did.

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    1. I was actually pretty stunned by the sharp polarization this has caused. I looked at other reviews for the first time right after I posted mine and wow. It's right down the line. Was it just too generic for you? I mean, you know me... we like what we like and that is ALL good, but I'm curious why people aren't digging this more.

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    2. I don't think it was that it was too generic, as a thriller it's actually pretty melancholic and humanistic, which is more than I can say for most of what comes out of that genre. I just think that it didn't really resonate with me because of how it resolved itself. I get the revenge thing but it just sort of feels somewhat unnatural given the tone that the first 2/3 (or about that much) exhibited. Like it was all human and real during that time and then Bale and Shepard go out and save the day!

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    3. That's totally fair. I fully understand your point. Parts of the ending were a bit touch and go for me (I mean... why the chase upon leaving the bar? Why not just blast him in the leg in that first field?). A did enjoy the film, but I wouldn't hail it as perfect, you know?

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  3. Well-articulated review; good to hear someone whose opinion I respect likes this! I'd personally relegated it to "pick it up on DVD" after the relatively negative response it's mustered. I like everyone involved with this picture, so hopefully my opinion will end up closely to your than the growing consensus.

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    1. Thanks man. Yeah, I was very surprised by the overall reaction to this one. But hey, lot of movies out there this year that I didn't like that most everyone else did. Impossible to tell which way it's gonna go!

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  4. Really good review Alex. Definitely interested in seeing this. I saw that you put on Twitter that the guys did a Q&A and laid into us bloggers. What did they say?

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    1. Thanks man. The critic bash was based much in part on the personal attacks many bloggers write into their reviews, which I've always found repulsive. You can read more about it in the Q&A I just posted here. Hope you dig it!

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  5. I can already tell I'm gonna love this movie. 'Prisoners' had this same kind of polarization - and me and you both agreed on how awesome that movie was. But maybe I'm just too much into 'canned realism' films... :)

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    1. You could very well be right! I thought about Prisoners a few times while watching this. It's a very different film, but the concept of wavering morality is constant between them. I really hope you like this one!

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  6. Good review Alex. The movie seemed like it wanted to be more about the lower social-class and how they were on the bad end of the Stock Market crash, yet, it totally gets away from that once the New Jersey rednecks show up and start beating up everybody in sight. It worked well as a thriller, but you could tell that it wanted to be about so much more and it just did not quite go there.

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    1. Thanks Dan. I agree that the film's message was far greater than it tried to let on. In fact, it was a tad too heavy handed for me at times, but overall, I quite enjoyed the film. Even the Jersey 'necks.

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  7. hmmm i wish the film spoke to me as much as it did to you. i felt very distant from the film, like i didn't' understand anyone's motivations in it. i think the writers spent so much time plopping the characters in this existence without explaining them to us. plus, saldana's character was so infuriating and wholly underwritten, especially as she pertained to bale's character.

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    1. Ah see I really liked the lack of character development. For instance, I had a great conversation after the movie with my GF about whether or not Bale's character had been in prison before. His tats, to me, suggested he had, but Cooper never fully let on one way or the other. I love it when movies to spell everything out. Not to say that you do... definitely not what I'm saying. I fully get where you're coming from with this one, but yeah, it really did speak to me.

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  8. I really want to see it. Sounds like Bale has a different kid of a guy to portray here than he usually does - I loved when he played against his usual driven, angry type in The New World. And Harrelson is always awesome.

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    1. I think you'll dig their performances (Harrelson is SUCH a fucking psycho), but I'll be curious to see if you like the film as a whole. I was getting a minor Prisoners vibe from it, so be warned!

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  9. I actually liked it even more than you did man. The performances were brilliant, and the film reminded me of work done in the 70's, like The Deer Hunter, Deliverance and Coming Home. It seems like a film that will be seen in a better light in 10-15 years. Regardless, it's in my top 10 right now.

    Affleck blew me away here. I thought he'd be an Oscar contender when I read the synopsis, but he's unfortunately off their radar. He's my supporting winner right now actually. Saldana also stood out, but Bale, Harrelson and company were all on point.

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    1. As I said on Twitter, this comment made my day. It can be difficult to really enjoy a film that no one else seems to like. But I love going to bat for underdog flicks. I didn't get a chance to mention it in my review, but the whole time I watched this film, I kept think of The Deer Hunter. Cooper was so obviously (and warmly) paying tribute to that film, and I think it worked excellently.

      I really wish Affleck was more in the running for Oscar contention. Damn shame.

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