homersimpson_esq
Posts: 19969
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Springfield
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05. Someone To Watch Over Me (1987) 
If Legend had a lot to live up to, then Someone To Watch Over Me had a weight of expectation to bring Scott back to the dizzying heights of his first three films. Someone... marks Scott's first foray into contemporary cinema - his previous films being set in our past, our future, and an alternative universe - and one could argue this is where the film hits its first perceived stumbling block. Scott is a self-proclaimed master (and justifiably) of 'world building' - he creates a world inside out and puts the heart and soul of that world onscreen. So it is then, that with a contemporary film, the world is already created, and Scott has to illicit from that world aspects that fit in with his own style and technique.
Perhaps the most satisfactory way of viewing Someone... is to see it as a period piece as well. It is a film set in 1987 that happens to have been made in 1987. Those singular aspects that mark this film as 80s-set - that music, that hair, and so forth - are specifically 80s, and almost intentionally pick out cultural signifiers to place this film within a social milieu. More importantly, and which backs up this argument, is that interwoved with the 80s genre staples are some shots of beauty, and some great musical choices - Opera, choral music, jazz, and in one significantly self-referential scene, part of Vangelis' score for Blade Runner (Memories of Green, on the OST) - to work as counterpoint to the 80s music and styles.
At its core, Someone... is a very average genre thriller. Happy (if slightly wet) family guy cop gets promoted. Beautiful socialite witnesses a business deal cum murder (the idea that spawned Sister Act a few years later) and has to protected by said cop. Relationships forged under stressful circumstances rarely work out (as Speed so blatantly tells us), but it doesn't stop them trying. This is the basis of the film, just as the more established horror genre is the core of Alien. What raises the film above average is the nuances in the film, and Scott's own inimitable style. Where one might expect the relationship to start with a passionate kiss, followed by a love scene (with the camera panning tastefully away for a 15 cert, or lingering for an 18), here the relationship develops as a mutual understanding, a sense of comfort and a real idea that there are feelings behind the eyes. It is not a loveless affair, but an unconsummated romance. That Berenger's Michael Keegan is torn between the love for, and of, two women makes it a trickier situation than one might think. This subtlety is under the whole film, and makes it that little bit better than average. Scott's lighting and framing make it a great little film. I think Scott is on record saying that he loves the Chrysler Building, and it certainly shows. Almost every cityscape shot has the building in frame. Of course, the cityscape on whch the film opens, and to which it returns time and time again, already conjures images of Scott's third film. Here, however, the effect is entirely different - peaceful, calm, serene, and with the titular song over the top in the first of three incarnations (Sting first, saxophone second, Roberta Flack over the end credits).
Summary
Mimi Rogers, looking fabulous, is fine as the initially aloof, but warming, determined, yet fragile socialite; Tom Berenger (I don't think I've seen him in anything else... not even seen Platoon!) is solid as the cop, torn between two women, and out of his depth; Lorraine Bracco gets in practice as the neglected housewife ready for her role in Goodfellas three years later (although, she more than holds her own here). Andreas Katsulas (G'kar in Babylon 5) is a great villain. Nevertheless, while this is a four star film, it doesn't come close to any of his previous films, bar Legend. It definitely doesn't work if you think of it as a contemporary thriller for today. However, see it as a period piece set in the 80s, and it works brilliantly. It is a film of the 80s, but has aged well, thanks to Scott's (and his cinematographer Steven Poster) consistently beautiful photography. It's no classic, but it's a great film that has stood the test of time.
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That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne.  TREK WARS |
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RE: The Complete Ridley Scott - 
........... 
Still haven't seen American Gangster yet.
......I try and watch it today.... 
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