Directed by Tony Bill
Starring Jodie Foster, Tim Robbins, Todd Graff, Elizabeth Berridge and John Turturro
Time for a little inside baseball on the 30 Flicks project. I initially selected the 1982 film Eating Raoul as one of the films to be viewed. It was a movie that I knew about for a long time and had been putting off watching it for reasons that I'm not entirely unsure of. But as time went on and the writing of this here blog ticked by, I became aware that the films that I've liked the best (Walkabout and Picnic at Hanging Rock) fit a similar description. And True Stories? As mentioned, I'm a huge Talking Heads fan and had a pretty good idea that I would enjoy it. Thus, I decided to roll the dice and pick a film that was also in my Criterion Channel watchlist - one that I never even knew existed until August of 2021.
When doing my initial browse through the Criterion Channel, Five Corners seemed like an interesting proposition for several reasons. It definitely doesn't hurt to have Jodie Foster on your marquee; nobody plays the relatable, likable girl-next-door better than Ms. Foster, even in movies where she is supposed to be a badass feminist. The description also seemed intriguing, as an anthology film taking place in a small neighborhood is generally a safe bet. Tonally, the movie is VERY different from what I expected, for better or worse. Surprise is a good thing. Five Corners mixes emotionally fulfilling surprises with a somewhat messy story, ultimately converging into a fairly middle-of-the-road experience. My milquetoast criticism has reached its apex with that previous sentence. Onto the movie!
Film critics often like films with unconventional structure. This must be clear to any unfortunate soul who may or may not have read this blog thus far. On some level, I understand this, as a person whose job description is to see as many movies as possible must get bored with seeing the typical three-act beats over and over again and will grow to appreciate movies that try to break the mold. Five Corners is one of those films that seems tailor-made for critics. It essentially tells two very different stories with two different groups of characters, smash cutting between them with the finesse of a penguin on roller skates. Two events set the stories in motion: the release of lifelong criminal and attempted rapist Heinz (the always awesome John Turturro) from prison, and the murder of a dickhead algebra teacher via bow and arrow. Points for the accurate movie poster.
Let's talk about Movie A first, since it is by far the more interesting of the two plots. The film takes place in the Bronx of 1964 in a neighborhood where Heinz has just returned after serving his prison sentence. He is initially a likable character, more in line with the path that I anticipated the movie would take as a parable of rehabilitation and redemption. Spoiler alert: it isn't. His alleged rape victim was Linda (Jodie Foster), tough-yet-sensitive girl who works in a pet store and is still dating the man who tried to stop her attack. Said man now also walks with a slightly humorous gait due to his ineffectual heroism. The guy who REALLY saved her ass is Harry (Tim Robbins), who has since recanted his violent ways and is dedicating himself to pacifism and the rising non-violent black rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King.
Without a doubt, the character of Harry is the best thing about the film. There is a stunningly well-done sequence where he meets with two activists in a diner, offering his services to go to Mississippi and essentially get beat up (and possibly killed) for his cause. He relays the story of how his policeman father died a hero, and when asked if the killer was black, he states that he doesn't remember. Great, great stuff that tells us a LOT about this guy without spending five minutes giving the audience boring exposition. There is a nice little arc that Harry goes through as well, given credence from an early great performance from Robbins. As much of a condescending douche as I've always thought this guy is in real life, I can't deny that I really enjoy him as an actor. Separating the art from the artist and all that.
Do I have to talk about Movie B? Alas, I must. It begins with the aforementioned teacher taking an arrow to the back, and then Random Greaser Guy driving around at night with two girls in the back seat getting high. No longer wanting to look at their faces (really), he offers two random high school passer-bys five bucks to take them off of his hands. Thus begins a day of weird adventures where they share wholly uninteresting conversations, go bowling, and talk some more. There's also an endless bit in an elevator shaft. The only other thing worth mentioning about this group of characters is that one of the girls is played by Elizabeth Berridge of Amadeus fame, who has some of the most unreal natural assets that any actress could ask for. See her in Tobe Hooper's classic slasher flick The Funhouse if you want to know what I mean.
Five Corners is a very uneven film. The two main stories could not possibly be any more different in terms of tone, made all the more jarring by the film's editing which often smash cuts between them with the finesse of a buffalo on roller skates. Worst metaphor ever? Possibly. The audience generally expects a movie that unfolds in this manner to gradually bring the two stories together, but they never really do. I mean, they ultimately DO in a rather ham-fisted way in the film's climax, but we never really get that conflagration of events that CLICK. Also, the third act of the film is shockingly simplistic, turning from a story about people to a rather conventional chase, fight and shootout movie. Maybe if 30+ years hadn't passed and I hadn't become so bored of chases, fights and shootouts that I could shoot someone myself this wouldn't bother me, but it does.I went back and forth about my overall enjoyment of this film. Ultimately, I DID enjoy watching it because the movie has some amazing scenes and performances. Every time either Turturro or Robbins are onscreen, the movie takes on a whole new life, although the former does eventually become a cartoon character by the end. Foster is also great, despite her (and several other cast members, in all fairness) horrible Bronx accent. Director Tony Bill also does a great job evoking the overall mood of life in the 1964 Bronx, painting everything with grays, blacks and muted colors meant to convey the overall grind of daily humdrum existence that gets interrupted by some very unexpected events. And you've also got to give it to any movie that features a character scooping up an elderly woman and gingerly throwing her out of a window. Double spoiler alert.
Rating time: Five Corners gets *** out of ****. It's just enough for a Roger Ebert thumbs-up recommendation. Still, those shifts man...
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