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Sunday, May 19, 2024
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HOLLYWOOD BLACK MASS
EDITOR'S PICK
'Black
Mass' - An absorbing film lacking emotional core (IANS Rating - **1/2)
Rating:
**1/2
What I like about Johnny Depp is that, with every act of his, he transcends as
an actor. He surprises you by eerily getting into the skin of the character with
his demeanour and various unconventional get-ups and makes you believe that he
is the character he plays. And that too convincingly.
In "Black Mass" with his balding pate and glassy blue eyes, Depp
depicts the role of the Irish American mobster and leader of the Winter Hill
Gang, James "Whitey" Bulger, who ruled the roost of the organised
crime in Boston.
His performance as Bulger, the chilling, psychopathic monster lording over the
Boston underworld through intimidation and violence, is his best and most
understated in years.
But the film itself is a formulaic gangster biopic that chronicles how
"Whitey", brother of the elected president of the Massachusetts State
Senate in 1978, Billy Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch) was able to dominate the
crime scenes in the city, unchallenged by fellow criminals and was able to stay
out of prison right till 1994 because of the FBI Agent John Connolly (Joel
Edgerton) who used him as an informant to help curb the Italian mafia out of
North Boston.
The relationship between the Bulger brothers and Connolly is fascinating, but
doesn't have much passion or emotional pull. Joel Edgerton's character, a mass
of moral and ethical contradictions, is complex and intriguing and he has his
moments of on-screen glory.
Similarly the others who have some memorable moments are: Rory Cochrane, W. Earl
Brown, Jesse Plemons and Scott Anderson as Whitey's inner-circle boys, Peter
Sarsgaard as a drug-dealer businessman who has the misfortune of ending up on
Whitey's bad side, David Harbour, Adam Scott and Kevic Bacon as the Federal
Agents and Corey Stoll as the federal prosecutor determined to nail Whitey.
On the other hand, Benedict Cumberbatch with his limited screen presence seems
wasted.
The screenplay by writers Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, narrates Whitey's
story in a non-linear fashion, from 1975 in the form of testimonies from
Whitey's associates, after the gang has been disintegrated.
What makes the narration appealing is that it directly plunges to the present
day without getting into Whitey's back story or the reason of his incitement
into the underworld.
While the script tries to give us a panoramic view of the South Boston criminal
underworld, it struggles to find something new to say about organised crime and
the loyalty between these men.
With gritty cinematography by Masanobu Takayanagi, the era is well captured as
the film is elegantly shot in palette of blues and blacks.
Stefania Cella's production design and Kasia Walicka-Maimone's costumes
definitely are worth a mention.
Overall, Scott Cooper's direction results in a well-made and absorbing film,
inundated with appropriate menace, but lacks the emotional core and sociological
angle. Black Mass thus seems like more of a documented procedural routine.
Looks like Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's fight is yet not over, even after breaking all the ties.Read More
