I Heart Huckabees
I HEART HUCKABEES
After the fantastically underrated THREE KINGS, and especially in relation to this site, the fantastic DVD that packaged that film, it has been a long wait for the latest film from this truly original filmmaker. This film is again as different from THREE KINGS as that film was to SPANKING THE MONKEY, Director David O’Russell’s first film. Once again though, for I HEART....
I HEART HUCKABEES
After the fantastically underrated THREE KINGS, and especially in relation to this site, the fantastic DVD that packaged that film, it has been a long wait for the latest film from this truly original filmmaker. This film is again as different from THREE KINGS as that film was to SPANKING THE MONKEY, Director David O’Russell’s first film. Once again though, for I HEART HUCKABEES, the film comes packaged in a value for money DVD, crammed full of extras and attention to detail, with extras tailored to suit the film itself.
The film itself is pretty original and packs a big cast that delivers the goods in a number of laugh out load moments. It concerns a young activist, played by Jason Schwartzman, who after a coincidence decides to enlist the help of two existential detectives, played by Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman, to investigate what turns out to be his own sense of reality to explain away the coincidence. On route, the existential detectives end up being enlisted by virtually every significant character in the film, with all of them beginning to question the notion of their own realities. Hoffman believes that everything is connected together, so everything means something no matter how insignificant it may first appear. The detectives follow Schwartzman around and become embroiled in his world, investigating every little detail of his life, including Jude Law, the boss of the Huckabees store who Scwartzman is campaigning against. Law is slick and a pretty confused guy himself and sides up with the detectives in a plot that he is hatching against Schwartzman, mainly that of taking over his activist group ‘The Free Spaces Coalition’, so that he can on face value appear to be running an environmentally friendly business. Then the plot takes on a number of satisfactory twists and turns before arriving at a satisfactory conclusion that descends into a pretty funny farce.
It is a surreal film, full of wit and astute observations. With a cast that also includes Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts, Talia Shire (Coppolla’s sister) and Said Taghmaoui (the guy from LA HAINE and THREE KINGS), and it is a real credit to O’ Russell that he manages to get surprisingly good performances from all concerned. Yes, even Wahlberg and Jude Law for once. Schwartzman appears to be playing a version of O’Russell, not only looking like him but also sounding off with some of the same issues that appear to be embedded in his previous films. Wahlberg plays a married guy determined to follow up the nature of his own relationship to the world, after having his eyes opened. He sees oil as being the primary evil in the world and is constantly faced with a number of contradictory opinions concerning that very subject. On route, during his ongoing investigation by the detectives, he encounters Isabelle Huppert, who is the polar opposite of Hoffman and Tomlin, who believes that everything is born out of chaos and that nothing makes any sense. Wahlberg believes this to be a more satisfying approach to explain away his confusions and it is not long before Schwartzman himself is pursuing Huppert’s philosophy, much to the discomfort of the detectives, who seek to disprove her theories. Although on face value it appears to be a Hollywood movie, it could also be argued that this is anti-Hollywood in virtually every sense.
During particular moments the film employs some quite spectacular special effects to depict Scwartzman’s own psychological confusion. Look out for the one where Jude Law develops breasts, it is probably one of the most surreal events from any film in recent memory. But he film is packed with such instances and on this note alone should appeal to quite a wide spread of people.
The DVD has many additional features that also add to the film itself. First up are the 2 commentaries. The first one is by O’Russell on his own. He discusses many of the films central issues and although he tends to do a fair amount of backslapping for his actors, he discusses why they are good, specifically why they have been brave to take on a film such as this. He also discusses the film itself, which like his commentary for THREE KINGS is always interesting, even though it doesn’t quite live up to certain other commentaries that do the same thing, for example those by Werner Herzog and the one by Abel Ferrara on the Region 1 KING OF NEW YORK Special edition. That said, it is still a good commentary, especially when he side tracks and we get to hear his opinions on certain issues. A trait similar to that shown by Oliver Stone and his detailed, layered chain of thoughts on all his DVD’s (apart from the criminally unreleased TALK RADIO and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, which is film only).
The second commentary has O’Russell accompanied by Jason Schwartzman, Mark Wahlberg and via the phone Noami Watts for 5 minutes. Just like the usual DVD director and actor commentaries, this one takes on a less serious tone than the former. One thing that becomes very apparent is that even though he is still young, O’Russell is a maverick who has a lot of respect from virtually everyone in the film. This is further seen during the other extras as well. The guys discuss many things concerning the film and quite a few other little details that have nothing at all to do with the film. Both of these commentaries are a good accompaniment for anyone who liked the film and add more to an all round appreciation of the film.
I HEART HUCKABEES PRODUCTION DOC. (35 mins)
This is a good mixture of fly on the wall and interviews mixed together to provide some sense of what it was like on the set of the film. Wahlberg for some reason is sat on a chair during his sound bites with a huge security guard stood right behind him. It is hard to tell whether this is for effect or this is the way he travels around. The rest of this segment though shows the actors a lot less guarded. Watch out again for the tit filming sequence, it looks even more surreal here than it did when it appears in the film, and watch out for Hoffman’s moment that even tops Gene Hackman’s when he is dressed up as a woman in THE BIRDCAGE. Some of this footage is credited to being shot by Spike Jonze, as an aside. We also see O’Russell’s inability to stop laughing and his all round enthusiasm for the film he is making, an enthusiasm so contagious, his cast and crew actually appear to be enjoying things. This is a good little section and well worth checking out.
EXTENDED AND DELETED SCENES (4 scenes, 18 mins)
These are not just your ordinary deleted scenes. Some of them have input from the director behind the camera, as well as consecutive takes of the same shot. The first one with a kid and Schwartzman is an improvised scene that is pretty funny. Another one has a cringe inducing moment with Jude Law when he starts to rap and breakdance. Anyone who dislikes him as much as I do had best skip this one, it undoes all the good work he did in the film itself. As mentioned, these are not the run of the mill deleted scenes, so again are worth a watch.
OUTTAKES (3 mins)
Watch out for the Wahlberg’s surreal ADR line at the start and also look out for the old women in the lift that are about one second away from getting flattened by Schwartzman and Jude Law during their fight in the lift. Again for Jude Law haters out their, look out for the scene where he and Schwatzman are slapping each other on the face, you can hear O’ Russell in the background shouting “harder” and then laughing. This is funny!
MISCELLANEOUS THINGS PEOPLE DID (4 mins, 30 secs)
This is a montage of things that are usually called outtakes, set to music. You get the idea that O’ Russell just goes around kissing everyone all the time. Look out for Schwatzman’s Schwarzennegger moment and O’ Russell breast feeding. You also get to see the reality of what filming is like when things are being shot and how much everyone swears, with so many per second Dennis Hopper might even be impressed. This is a giggle.
INFOMERCIAL, COMMERCIALS AND PSAS
This part is split in to 5 additional parts.
1. OPEN-SPACES COALITION SIX PSAS (2 mins)
This is a series of adverts for Schwartzman’s character in the film. Look out for the one aimed directly at Bush and his administration. This is a series of short adverts that are all pretty funny actually, although I don’t know why this surprises me.
2. COMMERCIALS (2 mins)
Again, adverts for the Huckabees store taken from the film itself. These are all pretty good and have the same humour on there own as they did when we saw a couple of them in the film. Most of them have Naomi Watts dressed in virtually nothing, so this one might get a few viewings.
3.JON BRION BRINGS IT TO HUCKABEES (13mins, 30 secs)
This is a segment about the music for the film, although with a difference. At the start we are introduced to the guy who has built the biggest hybrid Wurlitzer theatre organ housed in his own private residence. As this instrument is the films primary instrument we see Composer Jon Brion taking it through its paces. This is really interesting! Then we move into more conventional territory for this type of segment by seeing the latter stages of the film’s production when the music is being finalised and added to the film. Again though, interesting enough to be worth a look.
4. PHOTO MONTAGE (3 mins, 30 secs)
Not just the usual selection of on set photos or stills taken form the film itself. This is a montage, set to music, that uses graphics to merge together certain parts of the film, to present an overall impression of the film and its making. The graphics reminded me of the ones used in the documentary THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE and the one about Olivier and Marilyn Monroe called THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL. This segment typifies the attention to detail that this DVD has.
5. INFOMERCIAL (29 mins)
This is set out like a chat show, with Hoffman and Tomlin’s characters interviewing a couple of American Professors, discussing all kinds of issues, relevant to the film itself. They discuss the ten dimensions, Quantum Mechanics, as well as the ordinary and the extraordinary. There is also an interesting conversation about how more restrictive Western Religions are than there Eastern counterparts, all in relation to the notion of the soul. The conversations are split up by Jon Brion singing some of his songs from the films and Add breaks that are the Adds mentioned above. This is a unique extra and worth watching, although the fast forward button does come on handy for certain parts, most notably for the musical interludes and the adverts.
JON BRION’S KNOCK YOURSELF OUT MUSIC VIDEO (2 mins)
This is one of the songs from the film put to a music video that involves Jason Schwartzman and Mark Wahlberg. If you like the song, you’ll like this segment.
All in all this DVD has some good little features as well as a good film. Although not for everyone’s taste, this is a little gem of a film. It is funny, challenging, enlightening, thought provoking and has some great ideas. It is refreshing to note that there are people like O’ Russell working in the USA, who believe that film is a tool for communication that can enrich our lives and make us think about our relationship to the world. Although fore fronting the notion of coincidence and chance, in a way that Krzysztof Kieslowski would have been horrified by, this film does incorporate those issues that have been the bedrock of European filmmaking for some time, not surprising considering that German financing was needed to get the film green lit. The visuals are good, the special effects original and the actors all weighing in with one for the CV. I am sure this will be the top of Jude Law’s list. Hoffman delivers one of his better performances and Tomlin is excellent. You are never more than 10 seconds away from something funny, even though it is the ideas themselves where most of the humour resides. But then again this was the guy who managed to make the first Gulf War funny and challenging at the same time. The DVD has an original layout that encompasses the film’s central themes, so the style of the DVD has been deeply considered. The extras as a whole are all pretty good and their presentation excellent, leaving one more question to be answered. When will you be renting this one out or adding it to your already growing pile of great DVD’s?
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