Lap Dance

Rating: Null/10 (19 February 2009)

Aranofsky drives me crazy. He understands film well enough to goof up expertly.
Sure, everyone will be impressed with how Rourke performs, and Tomie as well. But they are performers playing performers under a directing style that allows actors to run as wild as they wish. That could be useful if he had a long form film into which they could meld. But he  in all his films goes simply for a story that allows for the establishment of a tone and then he simply hammers the daylights out of it.
There's something worth arguing about though. He has this technique of anchoring the camera to his character, often by a tether. It is front, following, side, always with the body. Our Italian American filmmakers do something like this, except not so precise and consistent. It is from a specific philosophy of storytelling that has people defining the cosmos. I wonder how possible it is to make a successful, textured film with this approach. There simply cannot be enough flavor, sunshine, penetration in the mix. Film is wine, not grapes.
Tomei's character would have been stronger if the age of the actress was the same as the character, or less.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.