THE CANYONS
US, 2013, 99 minutes, Colour.
Lindsay Lohan, James Deen, Nolan Gerard Funk, Amanda Brooks, Tenille Houston, Gus Van Sant.
Directed by Paul Schrader.
This is not a very good film. Which is a pity, because it is directed by Paul Schrader, writer of some of the most significant films for Martin Scorsese, including, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, The Last Temptation of Christ. He has also directed a number of significant films in his own right, including, Mishima, Blue Collar. Much better and more significant is Schrader’s 1979 film about a father, George C. Scott searching for his daughter in the ugly world of pornographic films in Hardcore.
The screenplay has been written by Brett Easton Ellis, novelist for American Psycho, Rules of the Game, The Informants.
The subject of The Canyons is not new. It is a look at aspects of Hollywood, the world of independent cinema, the range of characters who get involved in this aspect of film-making. But, they are not particularly interesting characters. Nor are most of them sympathetic, characters that audiences would become involved with.
The budget of the film was $250,000, a very low budget and, at times, this is obvious. Combined with the B-budget is a kind of B-movie mentality.
The film focuses on a young man, Christian, with touches of the psychopathic, who is involved in financing a small budget film in Latin America. His glamorous partner, Tara, who seems not to have anything better to do, also becomes involved in the production. However, when she encounters the man chosen for the leading role, it emerges that she had been in a relationship with him in the past and resumes the relationship unbeknownst to Christian. The young man himself is also in a relationship with an earnest young woman, probably the most sympathetic character all-round, who is involved in the production and is excited to have her boyfriend as the star.
This means that there are a lot of scenes between these four central characters, seeming to get on with each other at times, hiding the tensions that lie underneath.
There are also the sexual proclivities of some of the central characters. Christian is not above having relationships with other women, urging men-on-men relationships when it suits him to manipulate people, also participating in a foursome. When he finds out about Tara, he sets out to destroy her boyfriend, trapping him into a sexual encounter with one of his employees, an art director, as well as getting a computer expert to empty his bank account, leaving him without anything, especially when the truth of the relationship emerges for his girlfriend. He is portrayed by Nolan Gerard Funk who has appeared in the number of movies (The House at the End of the Street) and television episodes but who does not communicate here that he has much acting talent.
Lindsay Lohan is Tara, looking more than a touch jaded and older than her real age, after the episodes that have dogged her in real life. Christian is played by James Deen, a well-known Los Angeles pornography star, who does show some acting ability, especially in the tantrums and final madness-driven violence of his character. Of movie interest is the fact that well-known director, Gus Van Sant, has a cameo role as Christian’s therapist.
Quite a lot of talk. quite some sex and nudity. Some drugtaking. And, as with Brett Easton Ellis, a certain amount of boredom in presenting the lives of characters who, to audiences who really do have a life, are fairly boring.
