Birds of a Feather
4 Out Of 5 Stars
This intriguing, if slight, allegorical drama features a cast that works a low key script effectively. "Passion Play" (and no, it has nothing to do with the Christian Ritual dramatic presentation about the Death of Jesus) features Mickey Rourke, Bill Murray and Megan Fox in a love triangle over an angel. That angel happens to be Fox, who Rourke discovers in a carnival sideshow after surviving a mob hit ordered by Murray's gangster, Happy. But Happy isn't going to be happy unless he can keep this angel for himself.
Roarke, who is playing a washed up jazz trumpeter Nate Poole, refuses to accept that this heavenly being is going to be stolen from him, and for that matter, neither does Rhys Ifans, who runs the Freak Show Lily (Fox) ran away from. The surprising thing about all this is Fox, who plays Lily with just enough smoldering hurt that all my usual prejudices about her were dispelled. Each character is trying to escape their own rhetorical demons (Poole to free himself from his drug destroyed past, a life devoid of beauty and joy for Happy, and literal cages for Lily) that the noir-ish elements of the film work well. Murray, who can really do malevolence well (he's even better in "Mad Dog and Glory"), slithers his way through Happy's role with his usual low key smarmy. In his efforts to continue his come-back, Rourke does a decent job as the dazed Poole, even if it just comes off as a lower degree version of his character in "The Wrestler."
My biggest gripe was that I had the twist figured out by the time Poole finds the side-show. I won't reveal it, naturally, but if I could pluck that particular feather from "Passion Play," my guess is so will a bunch of other viewers. Don't let that stop you from watching this, though. Softly spun movies like this are hard to find.
No comments:
Post a Comment