Just One More Cut...

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2002)

Is what this film needed. There were aspects that were vintage Spielberg, but there was a tightening that was needed. The film has no business being 2:20 long. But that said, there were some wonderful aspects about it.
First, Christopher Walken gives a brilliant performance of a man who silently encourages his son to continue defying authority. The lines in his face outline the path his Willy Loman life has taken; and like every great actor's trick, there is something mysterious behind his eyes, someone he won't even confide into his own son about; it's like he has one last ace up his sleeve. It is the aspect of him that his son worships, that elevates his father into God-like status for him. He is suspended in animation they way young Frank, Jr. has suspended the family he left when he began his caper.
Leonardo DiCaprio shines in total believability as the young Frank, Jr. He totally immerses himself into this role and produces such a fresh-faced kid who skirts just his side of rogue-ishness. Because DiCaprio can bring more of his own life and experiences into this role, it is his best yet. Notice the subtleties of maturation from the beginning to the flashbacks. This film is a calling card for DiCaprio and we sit in anticipation as to what his next roles will be. He just might be the new original star we have been craving - not a carve-out of the past. Maybe America has finally produced its own "Olivier," but an actor of the cinema (America's acting pedigree), not of the theatre. And DiCaprio's magic will finally legitimize cinema's form of acting as an art.
While some have call this Spielberg's imitation of Soderbergh, I think it's the director still trying to find his Howard Hawks voice. Now that he has become an icon, he will try to be a dilletante in many genres. His second act bump recalls the suspense he built in "Jaws," envoking applause at the ingenuity of the script/direction. He needs to try another "Sugarland Express," see if he can get past substance and tell a small simple story without epic treatment. A bold experiment for Spielberg would to now MAKE a made-for-tv movie, maybe try a Soderbergh pretention and create a road-show film. While "Full Frontal" was an exercise in "cinemart", for Spielberg it might have actually created some interesting results. What if this very film would have been made for less than $5 million with the same exact people. I bet the results would have been more exciting than the finished product.
And so I come to this conclusion: it was entertaining and enjoyable, just overproduced. Mr. Spielberg, please try something like this again, only put some restrictions on yourself. Don't build everything, shoot something on the fly - challenge yourself by restricting yourself. I'd love to see the results.