| Posljednji
put kada sam dozvolio Nicku Gomezu da me zabavlja bilo je 1997, na Sarajevo film
festivalu. Zajedno sa svojim dobrim drugom Ognjenom nastojao sam se provuci kroz
"Illtown" (preveden kao "Zli grad" ili tako nesto), lose osmisljen
film o likovima za koje me nije bilo briga. Medjutim, drugaciji komad domoljubne
nostalgije raspalio je moj interes za njegov najnoviji projekat, "Drowning
Mona". Bila je to prica o fabrici automobila Yugo, auta koje je u Americi ismijavano
(i u americkim filmovima takodjer - pogledajte scenu potjere u "Die Hard With A
Vengeance"), ali je tamo daleko bilo prava premija. Moj tata nas je vozio na more u
nasem cudovistu sa 55 konja, pa je gledanje najava za film obecavalo barem toliki nivo
zabave. Naravno, prilika da se ugleda Jamie Lee Curtis je samo plus... Uglavnom, ta Mona,
koju igra Bette Midler, je jedna izvorna alapaca, i niko u malom gradu u New Jerseyu
narocito ne tuguje za njom, nakon sto pogine u automobilskom udesu. Cak ni njen muz (koji
je vara sa Curtisovom) ni njen sin, a kcerka sefa policije (Neve Campbell) smatra njenu
smrt razlogom za slavlje. U nizu prisjecanja, razotkrit cemo misteriju koja okruzuje njenu
smrt, zajedno sa marljivim i strpljivim Sefom Rashom (Danny De Vito). No, usput cemo
susresti mnoge face, neke namazane, neke kriminalne, neke cak uvrnute (kao Will Ferrel iz
Saturday Night Live u ulozi grobara), ali gotovo svi ce biti glupi. Neki likovi su fizicki
obogaljeni, ali je vecina njih obogaljena mentalno. Na taj racun cemo vidjeti prilican
broj smijesnih trenutaka, ali ubrzo taj pristup postaje ofucan. Kako se film blizi kraju,
prestao sam mariti za ove beznadezne idiote i samo htio da nastave sa svojim jadnim
zivotima. Nisam siguran da li je ovakav animozitet prema njegovim likovima bio Gomezov
plan ili je u pitanju moj vlastiti spontani prezir, ali ni u jednom slucaju to ne
funkcionise u filmu. S druge strane, gotovo uvijek cijenim smisao za crni humor u filmu, a
Gomez je svakako uspio u tome. Iskrena, ali nekako dopadljiva zloca Moninog lika, zajedno
sa nesretnim incidentom sa podsisavanjem jednog psa, kao i beskrajna nagadjanja o tome
kako je Monin sin izgubio ruku, svakako doprinose crnoj atmosferi filma. Uzurbani
zavrsetak filma u kojem se sve zataskava nalikuje triku kojeg smo gledali u filmu
"Waking Ned Devine", ali ne uspijeva sa takvim stilom u ovom filmu. Drago mi je
da je bilo dosta Yuga u filmu, a malo sam tuzan sto nije bilo dovoljno Jamie Lee Curtis.
Osim toga, "Drowning Mona" je simpaticna ansamblska komedija koja moze izazvati
naklonjenije misljenje od gledaoca koji nije prespavao dobar dio rediteljevog ranijeg
opusa da bi docekao kasnu projekciju Lynchovog "Lost Highway" |
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Last time I allowed Nick Gomez to entertain me with his work was
in 1997 at Sarajevo film festival. I was with my good buddy Ognjen (transl.
"fire"), and we were trying to get through "Illtown", an ill-conceived
movie about characters I didn't care much about. However a different piece of homeland
nostalgia sparked my interest in his latest venture, "Drowning Mona". It was a
story about a factory for Yugo, a car much ridiculed in America (and in American movies
– see chase in "Die Hard With A Vengeance"), but quite a catch back home.
My dad used to drive us on vacation in our 55-horsepower monster and seeing those trailers
for the movie promised at least that level of fun. Of course, seeing Jamie Lee Curtis is
always a plus... Anyway, this Mona character, played by Bette Midler, is one nasty woman,
and nobody in the small town in New Jersey misses her particularly after she is killed in
a car accident. Not even her husband (cheating on her with Curtis) or her son, and the
daughter of the Chief of police (Neve Campbell) thinks of it as a reason for celebration.
In a series of flash-back-type reminisces, we will unravel the mystery that surrounds her
death, along with the diligent and patient Chief Rash (Danny De Vito). But, along the way,
we will encounter many commoners, some sleazy, some criminal, some even weird (check out
Will Ferrell of Saturday Night Live as a mortician), but almost all of them stupid. Some
of the characters are cripples physically, but most of them are mentally, as well. That
accounts for quite a few funny moments, but soon begins to get old. As the movie goes
along, I stopped caring for these hopeless morons and just wanted them to get on with
their senseless lives. I'm not sure if such animosity towards his characters was Gomez's
intention or is it just my spontaneous contempt, but it didn't work for the movie, either
way. On the other hand, I almost always appreciate the sense for black humor in a movie,
and Gomez has certainly accomplished that. The genuine, but somehow likeable meanness of
Mona's character, along with the infamous dog-mowing episode and the endless speculation
on how Mona's son lost his hand, certainly contribute to the dark-comedy quality of the
film. The ending's hush-hush haste resembles the trick we saw in "Waking Ned
Devine", but it doesn't work as gracefully here. I'm glad that there was plenty of
Yugos around in the movie, and I'm sad that there was not enough Jamie Lee Curtis. Other
than that, "Drowning Mona" is a likeable ensemble comedy and may evoke better
overall impressions from a viewer that hasn't slept through director's earlier work to get
through to a late-night screening of David Lynch's "Lost Highway". |