Formerly "A Movie A Day" :/

Thursday, August 27, 2009

In the Company of Men - 1997 - Dir. LaBute

All right, so I'm going to start this the way I've started many others... by saying I don't like someone. In this case, its director/writer Neil LaBute. I think the guy is a bit of a douche. I dunno. He seems to specialize in basically an emotional version of what the Saw Series does. It's like Emotional torture porn. And like the Saw Series, I UNDERSTAND why it's around... and hey, I even take an interest in it in some sense. But I don't like. Not one bit. Initially, it sounds interesting. People being cruel to each other, often time for petty reasons. I'm a bit of a misanthrope, I can get behind this. But I dunno. Sometimes it feels like it hinges so much on the cruelty... that it's like a showcase or a PORNO for it. I was mostly watching this for Aaron Eckhart. Whose a great guy! I mean, he does mastermind a series of betrayals and lies on perfectly innocent people often times for his own personal gain, but HEY! He's such a good and handsome actor. I did notice to me that he does seem to realize what he's doing in a much larger scope. Although, he's playing a character whose deviousness seems to know no bounds so perhaps paranoia kicks in after a while. But it seemed like he wanted the get Howard demoted and creating this game aided in that. The film certainly generates a lot of thought throughout the movie. There seems to be just enough lying that it really is difficult to pinpoint how someone might ACTUALLY be feeling. Although, I suppose, the characters might not even have the best ideas of that sometimes. I must admit, there are layers here. Mostly because the script is born in lying. Although, like I would with Torture Porn, I feel like I might be looking for meaning in what is just flesh and blood being spilt. So honestly, I am a bit torn. It is a good movie, but I find them completely unsatisfying and have a bit of difficult giving LaBute a lot of credit for its creation. Especially since people seem to willing to already be giving him credit. I do have to say, his last scene is quite striking, I'll get behind that.

Doesn't matter what he's saying. If Aaron Eckhart is wearing those glasses, you know he's being a dick.

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