Successful,
talented, yet haunted man with sad eyes
and
dark, brooding good looks:
Frequency: John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel),
detective
Waking the Dead: Fielding Pierce (Billy
Crudup), aspiring politician
Dead
loved one whose absence colors his life:
Frequency: Dad (Dennis Quaid), a
firefighter who died in a warehouse fire 30 years earlier
Waking the Dead: Sarah (Jennifer
Connelly),
Fielding's girlfriend who died in a car bomb ten years earlier
Means
by which he makes contact with the deceased:
Frequency: Ham radio (no kidding) that,
due to sunspots or something (yeah, right), picks up Dad 30 years ago
Waking the Dead: Possible psychosis and
hallucinations
Death
isn't permanent because...
Frequency: ... the younger Sullivan
changes
the future (which is actually the past for him) by saving his father's
life.
Waking the Dead: ... I can't tell you
because
it would ruin a surprise.
Frequency is a tearjerker for men in the tradition of Shine and The Cider House Rules. It's about the relationship, or lack thereof, between John Sullivan and the father he has only vague memories of. The movie is tough to pull off, with convoluted internal logic that isn't always consistent. See, when John tells his father how to avoid dying, he changes the future, and suddenly his mother's life is in danger instead. Yet he remembers not only the original future/past, but also the new future/past, and so does his father, but no one else does. There's no real attempt to explain how the two men are able to link up across 30 years. The movie hints at first that he might just be imagining the contact with his father; the first time he fiddles with the ham radio is after he's been drinking to dull the pain of his wife's leaving him. But it soon becomes clear that this is actually happening, which was sort of disappointing to me -- I think it may have been more interesting if it had all been in his head, like Jacob's Ladder. Anyway, overall it's an engaging, if not brilliant, film, though the end gets horribly sappy (and rather obnoxiously implies that the only way you can truly be happy is to be married with child). It's always a seductive fantasy to think you can bring someone back from the ultimate separation, to decide you don't have to adjust to life without that person because they're not really lost... as long as you have a magic ham radio, I suppose.
With his sensitive mien and liquid eyes, Caviezel
isn't
terribly convincing as a New York City homicide detective, but he's
appealing
in a melancholy way (man, I have a thing for these sad, soulful
guys).
It's good to see Andre Braugher in a police station again, even if for
most of the film he's artificially aged and doesn't really have
anything
to do anyway. Quaid overdoes it a bit as Super Dad, who's manly
and
tough yet also tender and loving, but as usual, he's charismatic and
engaging.
I'd recommend this.
Waking the Dead is a more challenging movie, if only because it doesn't permit a neat, happy resolution like Frequency. It's also more frustrating, because it has the potential to be much better than it is. Most of the problem is Jennifer Connelly, who doesn't have the skill to pull off her role as the main plot device, though an annoying, intrusive soundtrack and amateurish camerawork don't help any. Just as his long-anticipated political career is getting off the ground, Fielding (Crudup) starts thinking he's seeing and hearing his long-dead girlfriend Sarah (Connelly), who was the love of his life. But it's completely unbelievable that he would be so obsessed with this woman. He comes from a working-class family and has always dreamed of going into politics to represent and help blue-collar people. He's planned out his life in a very Al Gore way (I happen to believe that, like Fielding, Gore truly wanted to go into politics to help people, not for the sake of holding office), but the woman he falls for is more like Ralph Nader. But not even, because Sarah would never sully herself by actually participating in politics. She's a radical activist who's unbearably sanctimonious, passionless, humorless -- but that might just be Connelly's inept portrayal. It's hard to see why Fielding would be so possessed by a woman who has such contempt for everything that's important to him. Not to mention that she's dull in the worst, over-earnest way, and she's got a hideously fake Southern accent.
I take this personally because it's an argument I'm used to -- whether one can do the most good working with the system or trying to subvert it. My sympathies are automatically with Fielding. He gives one especially passionate speech about why he wants to go into politics -- when a self-righteous Chilean refugee accuses all politicians of being corrupt and wonders why a good person would want to go into government because he'd only be corrupted, he retorts, "So we should leave government to the worst the country has to offer?" He at least tries to respect Sarah's beliefs and her friends; she antagonizes his political mentors and belittles his ambitions. I especially like that the movie ends with him as a congressman, helping people with their problems no matter how small or personal (though the director mucks it up with an idiotically simplistic device of having the people stand in front of him while he's reading their letters). In fact, I would have liked to see more of the political aspect, but that's probably just me and the others of you who live inside the Beltway.
Billy Crudup is riveting, as always. He has a wrenchingly lost look for most of the movie, with a thin veneer of affability painted on when he makes political appearances. The scenes where he breaks down are intensely moving and gripping without being manipulative or histrionic. One scene in particular, as his family gathers to celebrate his victory in the congressional race and he tries to tell them how he feels like he's going crazy, is mesmerizing and brought tears to my eyes (mostly because I've felt the same way) -- he teeters on the edge of a breakdown while they all just stare blankly at him, and then, seeing their stolid bemusement, abruptly he pulls himself back, wipes his eyes, smiles, and says calmly, "I'm fine." It might be the most powerful speech I've seen in a movie this year, all the more emotional because he underplays it. I don't want to gush -- I've been taken to task lately for my gushing, especially over dashingly handsome men -- but Crudup is one of the most talented actors working today. I won't go into how handsome and charismatic he is....
I very highly recommend about half the movie, the half that has Billy Crudup but not Jennifer Connelly. It's not very skillfully done, but when Crudup's on and doesn't have to contend with the gaping void that is Jennifer Connelly, he makes you forget the movie's shortcomings. When Connelly is on screen... well, just endure.
Some tidbits that are entertaining purely by
coincidence
pop up -- they wouldn't have been so amusing when the movie was
released
back in March. Fielding is told by his advisors that he's beating
his congressional opponent on the issues, but because the other man is
more affable, "and that comes across," they're in a dead heat in the
polls.
And on election night, Fielding's family and friends gradually filter
out
of the room as the announcer keeps saying the race is too close to
call.
Gee, that sounds familiar. At least in the movie, they
get
it resolved by the next morning, and the right man wins. Probably
because the district in which he's running isn't led by his opponent's
brother. Not that I'm implying anything.
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