Meet Joe
Black
Directed
by Martin Brest
Screenplay
by Ron Osborn & Jeff Reno and Kevin Wade and Bo Goldman
Starring
Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, and Claire Forlani
178
minutes. Rated PG-13. Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1. 1999
Despite the fact that Meet Joe Black is an amazing, touching film
that is brilliantly written, acted, and directed, a lot of people, I think,
will shy away from it. They'll wander into Blockbuster or Hollywood, see
that it's on two videocassettes (a necessity given it's three hour running
time), and instead rent (God forbid) I Still Know What You Did Last
Summer or Mighty Joe Young. The fact that Meet Joe Black
has only the minimal amounts of violence and sex will further deter a lot
of people, I think.
My
God, they'll think. You want me to watch people talk for
three hours?
Yes,
and it is well worth your time. Meet Joe Black is a fascinating
look at - and celebration of - life and love. The fascinating and wonderfully
complex script is amazingly well-acted by Hopkins, Pitt, and Forlani (though
it's hard to look at Forlani and not recall her rather embarrassing performance
in the film epic Mallrats), and Brest's direction gives the film
a subdued and rather intimate feel, as if we were actual witnesses to the
events going on in the lives of these people. The best example of that,
I think, is towards the end of the film, where Pitt and Forlani are having
a conversation in the middle of a crowded party. Brest's camerawork makes
this one of the most intimate scenes in the film, despite the fact that
there are hundreds of people milling about around them.
This
is of course, the updating of the play Death Takes a Holiday. Hopkins
plays a man who, as he approaches his 65th birthday, receives a visitation
from Death (Pitt), who offers to prolong Hopkins' stay on Earth if Hopkins
agrees to be Pitt's guide, and show him what life is all about. That Death
would want to know about the thing he takes from millions of people every
day is a bit disturbing, but somehow logical.
This is the most talkative movie I've seen in a good while, make no mistake.
You are basically watching people talk (and occasionally shout)
for three hours, broken up only by a rather startling accident scene towards
the start of the film and an extremely intimate and compassionate lovemaking
scene about halfway through the film. But it is Anthony Hopkins
and Brad Pitt talking, and it is just a terrific script, and it
is
filmed by an extremely talented and experienced (Beverly Hills Cop,
Scent of a Woman) director who manages to make this one of the most
intimate films I've ever seen.
This
movie is a pain to watch on video, simply because you have to get
up and switch tapes in the middle of a very captivating film (score one
more for the DVD, which is not only presented in the widescreen format
to preserve the 1:85.1 aspect ratio, but is also dual-layered to fit the
entire three hours onto one side of a disc). And yeah, it's three hours.
But many of the greatest films ever made (Gone With The Wind, The Good
The Bad and The Ugly, Hamlet, Heat, Spartacus, The Ten Commandments, Braveheart,
The Godfather) have been three hours long or more (no, I didn't forget
Titanic.
I intentionally omitted it). And it's a smooth flowing, terribly intimate
three hours that will hypnotize and captivate you to the point that when
the end credits start to roll, you'll blink, not believing that three hours
have just passed.
Bottom line: Intimate, captivating, and thought-provoking.
My grade:
A-
My advice:
See it on DVD if at all possible, just to avoid the tape swap.
Get the movie
poster!
