Pictured John Leguizamo in Crónicas.
It's the 19th Century and throughout the Bavarian countryside Will ( Matt Damon ) and Jacob ( Heath Ledger ) are having a whale of a time posing as The Brothers Grimm, spinning variations on the famous fairy tales and convincing superstitious villagers that they can rid them of their local ghosts, demons and the like. But their success falters when they finally encounter the real thing—a haunted forest presided over by trees that have come by way of The Evil Dead and The Wizard of Oz—and a genuine curse courtesy of a nasty witch. Aided by the rough, tough but gorgeous Angelika ( Lena Headey ) , however, the duo gather the courage to head back into the woods and shake the area from the spell cast by the witch.
This rather fanciful concoction is the work of screenwriter Ehren Kruger and director Terry Gilliam. Kruger wrote the recent haunted house gothic The Skeleton Key and the Ring pictures while Gilliam has worked the fantasy genre in many of his previous outings. When you add blond heart throbs Damon and Ledger to the mix you suddenly seem to have an action/fairy tale amalgamation that sounds like a recipe for success. But surprisingly, this overdose of talent makes for a rather bland stew.
It's not the fault of the art direction, as Gilliam's magical forest, photographed in deep golden russets, rivals the one Ridley Scott had created for Legend. In fact, the film's a visual delight and the script does its job spinning on the all too familiar fairy tales. Nor is it the fault of the cast, as they ably embrace the silly story and ribald situations. Ledger, especially, brings plenty to his role as the younger distracted brother that yearns for love while Headey is sure to give Keira Knightly a run for her money as the new pin-up girl for lesbians. And one never tires of the beauty of Monica Bellucci, this generation's Sophia Loren, who is best when she's required to do nothing more than pose, as she is here as the Mirror Queen.
So with all that, why is the film oddly unenthralling?
Every great director has his or her share of films that show them to be marking time between masterpieces. Hitchcock with Under Capricorn and The Wrong Man, Coppola with Peggy Sue Got Married, Scorcese with The Color of Money, and Jane Campion with everything after The Piano. These are not bad films ( and many have their avid devotees ) , but they're flawed because they lack any hint of their famous director's personalities and they could have been directed by any fairly competent craftsman. The Brothers Grimm is just such a film. For all the visual flourishes and attention to detail, it's still a too neat, rudimentary movie and Gilliam's outsized personality is barely in evidence.
This isn't the first time that Gilliam, the director with the oddest combination of sensibilities, has signed off on a movie that's satisfying but not particularly memorable ( The Adventures of Baron Munchausen being another ) . But in Gilliam's case the bar—after Brazil—has been raised very high. Perhaps one expects too much from a director who has succeeded—and failed—so spectacularly.
The Brothers Grimm is certainly worth seeing on the big screen—this is not one to wait for the DVD to check out, the epic sweep makes sure of that—but it's not a Saturday night film, either. Rather, it's a perfect Sunday matinee where an audience of older children and childlike adults ( yours truly included ) will quickly fall under its spell.
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Someday John Leguizamo is going to find a role that can show off the enormous talent he has shown in his solo shows. His outsize gift for finding comedy in the most tragic of circumstances is truly revelatory, as is his eerie ability to tap into the female psyche. The small independent thriller Crónicas, in which Leguizamo plays a hustling tabloid reporter, a spiritual cousin to Geraldo Rivera, isn't the role either, but it displays his serious side in ways that few of his big-budget films have.
Leguizamo's character Manolo works for a sleazy Miami-based tabloid TV show as a correspondent. He's on assignment in Ecuador with his cameraman Ivan and Marisa, his female producer ( the tough but lovely Leonor Watling, who was a standout in the lesbian comedy My Mother Likes Women ) . Marisa is also the wife of the star of the show ( Alfred Molina, who's briefly glimpsed ) . They're like television versions of war mercenaries and they have no qualms about getting in and getting out fast with their story intact and people's lives ruined along the way.
Though the trio's supposed to be in Ecuador to meet with the head of a drug cartel, they stumble on the track of a brutal serial killer of children. Manolo thinks he's found either the real killer or information on his identity and naturally, his ego and quest for stardom bring about tragic consequences. At every turn, the desperate poverty of Ecuador is forgotten in the blaze of the TV lights and seemingly all rules and morals are tossed aside for a chance to momentarily get on the idiot box. This is a thought-provoking first effort from writer-director Sebastián Cordero with a chilling ending.
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Local Film Events: On Saturday, Aug. 27, the Gene Siskel Film Center, which has been hosting a retrospective of the Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia, presents the Chicago sneak preview of his latest, The Perfect Crime. The director, who has been hailed for his black comedies and is often called the 'next Almodóvar,' will be present at this one-time 8 p.m. screening. My review will appear next week when the film opens at the Landmark Century. See www.siskelfilmcenter.org .
Sister Jeannine Gramick, who has struggled with the Catholic Church over ministering to the GLBT community, has had her experiences documented in the film In Good Conscience: Sister Jeannine Gramick's Journey of Faith. It will be screened followed by a lecture from Sister Jeannine on Wednesday, Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. at the St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 939 Hinman St. ( corner of Hinman and Lee ) in Evanston. Admission free, donations welcome.
