michael mann meeting with fritz lang, alfred hitchcock, hal ashby and the others

Rating: Null/10 (5 November 2004)

the universal point of view, the aerial, completely vertical supervision-shot, a 'classic' since wise/robbins' opening-sequence of 'west side story', auctorial of course. this verbalizes tom cruise: 'we are nothing in the darkness of the universe.' he says it as a apology for what he is doing in life, but mann confutes him, before he has actually said. like a counterpoint there is a sequence of detail-shots -(the accurate attention on details is most important in cinematography always)- of daily work, hand-work, done by the blue collar workers on the airport or in the taxi-garage, and this work is useful and immanent, completely different to the 'job' of cruise, and thats the reason why mann shows it so careful. the other counterpoint that follows is a kaleidoscope of different taxi drivers in diverse areas of los angeles; against cruises statement mann points out the variety of human life, in characterizing the drivers short and exact through the variable music they listen in their cabs, before he focuses on jamie foxx. (generally it is great, how mann uses music in this picture, each time in an organic way). with the different drivers mann creates a first overview of the different regions of los angeles, even the outskirts, the border, the border-line; rare, that a literar metaphor works in pictures, here it does; foxx' character touches his limits, of course, but cruise as well in the end, his ending. the peripheries of los angeles evocates another movie almost forty years ago, 'key witness' by phil karlson; (another karlson-film crosses my mind, the hero a taxi driver too: '99 river street', shot in 1953). the uncontrolled, vast and rampant expansion: or the ultimate futuretown created by fritz lang in 1926: 'metropolis' (even if he had the idea to this picture, when he saw the skyline of manhattan for the first time from the railing of the ship); nearby l.a. he lives the next decades and he sees directly the growing of the city until his death in 1976. in 1975 roman polanski's view-back on los angeles in the thirties: 'chinatown'; in this age lang shots his first Hollywood picture 'fury'(1936). (the title of the following fritz-lang-movie could be a dialogueline in 'collateral', spoken by tom cruise: 'you only live once'). the town, in 1960 viewed by phil karlson, in 1985 william friedkin, 'to live and die in l.a.' and in 1986 in hal ashby's last motion picture '8 million ways to die', a final masterpiece. (the end of a career and the beginning of another: oliver stone wrote the script). now in 2004 cruise speaks about 17 millions habitants, the growing continues. so mann' film is based on this tradition, and he is conscious of this great heritage. in the year 2000 french filmmaker gérard mordillat shots a brilliant movie called 'l'apprentissage de la ville', this title could be one motto of 'collateral', martin scorsese's 'bringing out the dead'(1999), the other; (in the case of scorsese 'taxi driver' is evident, naturally, but also 'after hours').mann discovers with jamie foxx and tom cruise the city instead of the whole country of the united (?) states; the whole country, that made hitchcock with cary grant: 'north by northwest' (1959), and of course jamie foxx is a true hitchcock- hero, and also the hero of classic geek drama. because he brings out the dead unintentionally, he becomes innocently guilty; the entity of time and place conforms with the Greek drama as well; (maybe walsh's 'they drive by night' or louis-ferdinand céline's 'voyage au bout de la nuit' are other illuminative titles). the character played by tom cruise is a far relative of alain delon as jean-pierre melville's 'le samourai'. - (melville's 'deux hommes dans manhattan' is another related movie) - determinism, fatalism, resignation; in the end the voidness of all human pursuit; the counterdraft of 'the pursuit of happiness'. this are some unsystematic reflections in meditating on this outstanding movie 'collateral'; for some readers certainly too little about the story or the content: to you i say: go and watch this film (again), it will be a great experience