Coming perhaps unexpectedly from 'hit and miss' comedy
director of ‘Pineapple express’ David Gordon Green, Prince
Avalanche, his new release,takes a more subtle approach to humour than his previous 'in your
face' style of filmmaking following two isolated road workers in their efforts
to repair the surrounding area after a forest fire.
With such a
constrictive narrative, Gordon Green allowed little space for comedic movement
and rightly so as in a few ways Prince Avalanche is not a comedy at all, sure
it has a lot of hilarious moments, but for the most part these moments are
simply entwined with the day to day interactions of two hugely likeable, honest
characters. This creates for a film which never ceases to put a smile on the
audiences face, despite its lack of narrative material it consistently holds
interest through its sheer realism and depiction of people in an atmosphere
riddled with cinder and contrasting wondrous greenery. With the cinematography
to match any ‘cinematic spectacle’ Prince Avalanche often feels like a nature
documentary, with its truly inspiring shots of nature continuing the struggle
through a beaten up area of collapsed forestry. This certainly builds the
themes of the film sufficiently but perhaps lectures for a little too long;
lasting for an unnecessary duration of time they occasionally felt like they
were simply filling time until we revisited the two protagonists.
Alvin and Lance, the
films two lead characters played by Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch are absolutely
fantastic effortlessly displaying a realistic relationship of two people almost
forced into friendship. This chemistry allows for the film to offload its
messages and themes without being even marginally whimsical at any point, which
is impressive considering the almost kitsch situation of the two characters and
their personal lives. Gordon Green orchestrates his comedic lines with
precision and realism, being inserted into comments at the most appropriate
times, with the performances of both leads making the lines all the more
hilarious until eventually their sheer screen presence paints a smile across
your face.
With the plot unable
to run its simplicity throughout the whole 90 minutes, new strands are added to
the tale towards the end and throughout making it all the more interesting.
These new elements are ambiguous in there meaning and sometimes slightly
puzzling adding a wholesome undertone that leaves you thinking, acting as a
relevant sub-plot to the films central narrative. Prince avalanche is a
consistently surprising and heart-warming film which zigzags across the
linear line of filmmaking, displaying two outstanding central performances and
a tightly woven narrative, Prince Avalanche is a total joy to watch.
9/10- A refreshing and truly touching view at the lives of
two begrudging friends.
Calum Russell
No comments:
Post a Comment