POWDER BLUE
US, 2009, 116 minutes, Colour.
Jessica Biel, Eddie Redmayne, Forest Whitaker, Ray Liotta, Lisa Kudrow, Patrick Swayze, Kris Kristofferson, Alejandro Romero, Sanaa Lathan.
Directed by Timothy Lynh Bui.
Powder blue could be anything but seems to relate to the snow shower in Los Angeles at the climax of this film where Forest Whitaker comes out of a church and finds blue snow falling.
Maybe that is symbolic of how the film works. On the one hand, it is set in the gritty, realistic and sometimes ugly world of Los Angeles. On the other, it is something of a fable about human loneliness, loneliness in a city as densely populated as Los Angeles where there are mysterious links between people.
Because it is set at Christmas and involves interlinking LA stories, it is has been compared with Crash. It is certainly in that vein but the stories stretch credibility at times and play with audience emotions.
The principal story is that of Rose Jonny (Jessica Biel) a desperate single mother with a dying son in hospital who works as a stripper/exotic dancer at a club managed by Patrick Swayze (several performances included).
Then there is the story of Jack, out of prison after 25 years, meeting up briefly with Kris Kristofferson, and then on a quest to find his daughter whom he has never seen and who has always longed for him. This is a role that enables Ray Liotta to look sinister as well as more sympathetic than usual.
Eddie Redmayne is Qwerty (an unusual 'type' of name!) who works in a mortuary, looks as if he needs some good meals but lives by himself and finds it difficult to relate.
Forest Whittaker is Charlie, a desperate man who remembers the death of his wife for which he blames himself – and the flashbacks indicate that he is not wrong – who is driving around at night, railing against God for what God has done to him, then offering people money to shoot him. They include Qwerty, a taxi driver and a transexual, Lexus, with whom he has a final shocking meeting.
Each of the stories has its interest but they are not always gripping, perhaps too contrived for the screenplay. The film was written and directed by Vietnam-born Timothy Linh Bui (brother of Tony Bui who made Three Seasons which the brothers wrote) who also directed Green Dragon, about refugees from Vietnam, starring Forest Whittaker and Patrick Swayze.
1.A Los Angeles story, a story of loneliness?
2.The work of the writer-director, background in Vietnam, moving to Los Angeles, at home in the city?
3.Los Angeles as a character, the streets, clubs, hospitals, the mortuary, shops, beaches? Christmas and the blue snow?
4.The score, the range of songs, those at the club, those illustrating the various characters?
5.The structure of the film: the introduction to each of the characters, the gradual building up of the links between them?
6.The portrait of Jack: standing on the beach, looking at the waves, the tattoos on his back, man of mystery? In the bus, the encounter with Randall, the talk about the past, the money and information in the case? His searching out Johnny, meeting her, watching her at the club, talking with her, the coffee, her response, the audience guessing who he was, her describing her dreams, seeing her father, his eyes? The money and helping her? The gifts? The clash? The hospital, trying desperately to phone her, dying in the snow because he could not get a car? The gift of the money and the payment of expenses? Making reparation for his life, the absence for twenty-five years from the woman that he loved?
7.Rose Johnny, at home, her son dying in hospital, the date, his ousting her from the car, her desperation, the phone calls to her son, her drug-taking, the loss of the dog? The story about her mother, her death? Her absent father? At the club, the interactions with Velvet Larry? Her being Scarlet, the range of her performances? Dancing, the customers? Her interactions with Jack, the bond? Her fears? Going to the hospital, her outbursts against the staff? Qwerty and his bringing the dog back to her? The bond between them, talking, on the trolley, falling on the footpath, the night together, his going to the club and seeing her?
8.Qwerty at the mortuary, his job, attention to the bodies, the embalming? At home? Hitting the dog with the car, taking it home, giving it a name? The encounter with Charlie, Charlie asking him to kill him, the gun? The interactions with Johnny, the night together? The club and his shock? His manipulating the puppets with the children? Her watching, at the bus stop, not getting the bus, the reunion?
9.Charlie, driving around the city, his memories, the gun, accosting Lexus, offering the money to shoot him? Lexus and the refusal? The taxi driver and his refusal? Going to the mortuary, asking Qwerty? His wandering the city, going to the diner, Sally and her talking with him, his driving her home, the date? Going to the church, blaming God? His memories, his wife at the cemetery? The revelation that he was a priest? The church helper asking if he had come back? Lexus and the stealing of the money, the confrontation, his being appalled at Lexus shooting himself?
10.The character of Lexus, transsexual, hopes, money, refusing to shoot Charlie? Stealing the money, the confrontation, the expression of his desperation, shooting himself?
11.Velvet Larry, the club, customers, Christmas, money? His attitude towards Rose Johnny?
12.Randall, the mystery man, the mystery of Jack’s background?
13.Sally, at the diner, her ex-husband, chatting with Charlie, befriending him, the drive home, the kiss, her apology, the date?
14.How well did the screenplay elaborate the links between the characters? Their emotional lives? The blend of realism and fable?
