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Citizen Fincher: A Rewatch Retrospective

December 3, 2020 Scott Thurlow Guest Spots

Joe Soria

Twitter – @airosah

Letterboxd – https://letterboxd.com/airosah/

Anyone who spends a significant amount of time with me finds me disagreeable. 
-Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman), Se7en 

The eve of a new David Fincher release seems to be an ideal time to reflect and celebrate the career of one of Hollywood’s most consistent and influential filmmaking voices of the past 30 years. 

His upcoming release Mank appears to be a departure for him –  his most personal and realistic, shot like it was made in the 40s based on a script from his father who has since passed away, and probably a limited amount of murder/death.

FINCHER RULES

I felt like destroying something beautiful. 
-Jack (Edward Norton), Fight Club

Just like Fight Club has rules, so do Mr. Fincher’s films adhere to a set of guidelines worth covering.

Commercial from the start Fincher did his time with a decade plus of music videos artists as varied as Madonna to Ry Cooder to The Wallflowers (Sixth Avenue Heartache) but once he made it to Hollywood he was a go big or go home type director. No small scale, micro budget indies here. Just star studded, mid to high budget beautifully shot films.

His work is carefully considered with precise execution, often choosing tougher projects with subject matters that he can properly realize. Quality and consistency are Fincher cornerstones. His discerning eye of interesting, dark material makes him trusted by film lovers of all breeds.  He is no slowpoke but propensity for larger projects and attention to detail may clarify his limited output of 3 films per decade compared to other big Hollywood directors in his strata.

Dirty up movie stars Take beautiful movie stars and beat them up a bit, make them “uglier,” or distressed as if they haven’t slept in weeks. Scarring, bruises and bandages recommended. See: Mara, Pitt, Pike, Gyllenhaal et al. 

Run time not a limitation The actors may talk and move fast with flashy edits, but Fincher is not afraid to linger and his film’s runtimes more often than not top the two-and-a-half hour mark.

Make it dark then turn down the lights some more Shadows and washed out color palettes are a must. Yellowy, aged, decrepit are a plus. Basically, it always looks like a winter night all the time, or is raining etc. constantly ala Se7en.

Make it heavy, brutal and violent From the depressing prison of Alien³ to the dark alleys and crime scenes in Seven’s unnamed town, the dimly lit basement and shithole living spaces of Fight Club or the gloomy winter Nordic landscapes of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Fincher sure has a type… of preferred scenery.

Don’t forget the voyeurism Fincher being an avid Hitchcock fan clarifies the connective tissue of his oeuvre even more. The amount of watching people from dark areas and thinking about doing bad things to people or figuring who is doing bad things to whom is another hallmark of his. It’s all a mystery that leads down a deep dark hole.

Haunting, bleak, denuded scores Whether it is the Dust Brothers, Reznor/Ross etc.  the scores of his film are a character unto themselves providing their own sinister layer.

Impeccable music choices I dare you to try getting “Hurdy Gurdy Man” out of your head after watching Zodiac. And Fight Club might have one of the top all-time climactic needle drops in film history with the Pixies’ “Where is My Mind?”

FINCHER TIERS

You are probably going to be a very successful computer person. But you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole.
-Erica Albright (Rooney Mara), The Social Network

Numbered ranking is hard and an exercise of how you feel at the moment. Tiers are where things really sit. But having a nice round number of ten allowed me to rewatch all of these films in full in a 2-3 week period to get fully immersed in the filmography. COVID is good for something.

Seeing as Fincher likes his characters dazed, hazy, beat up and knocked down it only seems natural to split these tiers into alcohol levels at a bar that you should not be visiting right now.

TOP SHELF

The Social Network

Se7en

Fight Club

Zodiac

I mentioned my distaste for ranking but when it comes to the number one choice it is The Social Network and then the rest. Make the rules, break the rules. (High school me would still offer to battle present day me in the alley in defense of the greatness of Tyler Durden.)

This propulsive, quippy, cutting apocryphal origin myth is so good on so many levels. Watch Fincher take his best script (an Aaron Sorkin opus that hums), assemble a cast of burgeoning stars – Jesse Eisenberg, Arnie Hammer, Rooney Mara, Rashida Jones and Andrew Garfield, an unreal Justin Timberlake performance, scored to perfection with his first Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross collaboration (potentially score of the decade) and put all the pieces together in the most scene to scene engaging film he has ever made.

Don’t fish eat other fish? The marlins and the trout!
-Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), The Social Network

An important clarification, The Social Network is not the story about a web platform full of family photos, garbage and vitriol. In fact, the key to the whole story is exclusivity and coolness. When The Social Network was released ten years ago, it was THE SOCIAL NETWORK. Revolutionary but not necessarily genius. Fuckin A Addictive and integral to daily life for netizens. A decade later it is a much reviled, debated abomination filled to the brim with confusion and resentment. The funny thing is that the film actually predicted the downfall of what people liked about it in this movie. Once everyone can join and there is advertising it would become uncool. And boy did it ever. That and because of your uncle.

The Social Network is like a fine wine that gets better with age. It was a timely document that is even more prescient and pointed in hindsight as the capturing of a moment that can’t be replicated – an exploration of the Silicon Valley creation myth at its heyday right after the dotcom bubble. The early days of the humble geeky, fun internet are gone. And unlike the other tech origin tales, this is an east coast elite Ivy league snipe-fest, big money infighting at its peak.

A film full of typing and depositions and drinking beer feels like the most action packed film Fincher has ever done. Between the energy of the initial all-nighter coding explainer, the internship contest and that beautiful interstitial UK rowing contest, Fincher shows that he can make anything thrilling. In fact, that is what makes this film so truly impressive a feat –  without spilling a globule of blood, this is as violent and searing a movie as he’s ever made. The perfect weaving of all of Fincher’s favorite themes, motifs, and characters coming in right at two hours of no fluff. 

Se7en gets a nod for setting the formula and the Brad Pitt breakout. A grimy, Hitchcockian story that amps up the gore and the voyeurism, and brings in that perfect, iconic, final twist. The early excellence showcase that for most would be hard to exceed.

You wouldn’t happen to have any animal crackers, would you?
– Dave Toschi, Zodiac

Zodiac expands the world of the one week timeline of Se7en into an exhaustive decades-long true crime tale, multi-perspective period piece featuring three amazing co-lead performances in Downey, Ruffalo, and Gyllenhaal.

Fight Club – This one creeps in from its importance to my film culture youth and did hold up on a rewatch. Edward Norton and Brad Pitt are at the peak of their powers and get a script worthy of their talents. Some of it does feel a bit dated 20 years later, like the slomo intro sequence and sex scene but they were also a real filmmaking trend starter that lasted for years.

What does hold up? Many of the things that felt revolutionary like the anti-consumerist vamps and the whole segment of pretending to have diseases to get comforted (still funny). The performances from the headliners (Pitt, Norton, Helena Bonham Carter) as well as peak Meatloaf. The scenes of Norton’s dreary office, his single serving friends and his awful road trips to car collision sites. And lastly, the need for a place to feel included and to get out that negative energy building up inside of you. (As long as you are not hurting someone who isn’t expecting it, blowing off steam in a productive manner can be healthy.)

MID SHELF

The Game

Gone Girl

The Game is a high quality puzzle box film where Fincher succeeds in modernizing the Hitchcockian potboiler. Probably the most overlooked Fincher film, it doesn’t have the pomp and circumstance of the top tier choices, but what it does perfectly is utilize Michael Douglas as the counterweight to his Gordon Gekko role. The character is also amazingly wealthy but without the smarm living in predictable manner with silence and solitude. 

This era of Douglas was full of interesting choices that mostly hit the mark – Basic Instinct, Falling Down, Disclosure, The American President, Wonder Boys, and Traffic. Still, The Game is missing a supreme distinctive quality to catapult it to the top level. 

Why should I die? I’m not the asshole.
– Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike), Gone Girl

Gone Girl is a well made adaptation of a popular Gillian Flynn novel. Rosemund Pike has the best role and performance of her career leading this kidnapping story remix. Ben Affleck is passable as her husband under the microscope of the law. And a quick shout out for a heat check performance from Tyler Perry as the high priced attorney working the case. Overall, this is an interesting film with a great performance at its center that I never took a huge shine too. 

If you are in the mood for a dark thriller, this pair are a good double feature with as solid twists as any. If you haven’t seen ‘em, they will go down smooth enough.


WELL / REPLACEMENT LEVEL

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Alien³

Panic Room

Being a fan of the original books and the Swedish film series, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo seemed like the series made for Fincher. But something didn’t quite click. Maybe it was the disconnected attempt at Nordic accents played by a bevy of Brits and Americans (Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara and Robin Wright). Maybe it was just the explicit brutality and the abusiveness which is direct from the book. It has style and energy but falls flat overall in execution and cohesiveness.

Panic Room is the most straightforward, Hitcockian work of Fincher’s career and it suffers as what is often the shlockiest. With a decent concept and script, it takes a lot of his preferred themes and motifs but ends up their weakest most watered down version. Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker, and a very young Kristin Stewart put in admirable work but overall it just doesn’t fire on all cylinders at any point. 

It’s like a lion. Sticks close to the zebras.
-Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Alien³

In an interview with The Guardian in 2009, Fincher stated in regards to Alien³, “No one hated it more than me; to this day, no one hates it more than me.” I’ll say it is not the best of the series but it is passable for a debut and showcased some of what he could do visually, so still worth a look for that.

SWILL

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Before my rewatch of Benjamin Button, I thought my memories of the film might have been harshly negative. Nope, it was just as incomprehensible as ever.

Brad Pitt stars in this alternative New Orleans-based version of Forrest Gump. Instead of sitting on a bench and talking about a box of chocolates though, Mr. Button is born old only and ages in reverse. Cate Blanchett, one of the world’s other greatest film actors, spends most of the movie quivering and old in a hospital bed thinking about old/young Brad Pitt. Oh yeah and it just so happens that is also the day of Hurricane Katrina? As the kids say, WTF?

I hope you enjoy my clock.
-Monsieur Gateau (Elias Koteas), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Who am I to try and stop someone like Fincher to step outside their comfort zone? Oscar bait, special effects, big budget, passion project sorta jazz. Fincher’s chance to escape the dark corners of a room full of murder and blood. But I can imagine he could have done anything he wanted, this choice just seems off and the results are just as off.

One interesting thing that this film has going for it is what I can see as the only war scene he has ever filmed. At sea, nonetheless. And it is quite amazing. If it weren’t for pretty much every other scene, this would be an interesting film. As a close to three hour slog of grandpa Pitt, this one is a true eternal never-rewatch if there ever was one.

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So there you have it, 10 films over 30 years summed up in a few pages. Some worth savoring and some worth ignoring. Early reviews indicate that Mank is definitely a return to form for Fincher (and maybe his first real Oscar bait) but only time will tell. Happily, we won’t have to wait too long.

I did leave out the Netflix TV work but I will pour one out for the excellent Mindhunter overseen and sometimes directed by Fincher. If you are looking for something excellently creepy to watch this winter, you could do much much worse.

The World According to Bobb

May 5, 2020 Scott Thurlow Guest Spots

by Joe Soria 

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As a wise person never said: “a great actor is like porn, you know it when you see it.”

But there has always been a level of actor that usually has a long glass ceiling for stardom. They spend their careers in interesting smaller roles or “that guy” in memorable movies and TV shows. Even now you may not know a lot of their names, going back to the early days of Peter Lorre, Eli Wallach, & Elisha Cook Jr. to Christopher Lee, Michael Gambon.

In the pre and nascent internet times, those people remained as studies in consistency and to be enjoyed without much bother by the viewer. I used to call them the Underappreciated Actor’s Guild, some call them “character actors.” More recently you could look at Harold Perrineau, Stephen Root, Wood Harris, Amy Ryan, Joe Morgan, David Morse, Stephen Toblowsky, Lance Reddick, Jennifer Coolidge and Frankie Faison.

Then they match up, get noticed, get awards and become draws. Not huge draws but sweetener. They may top the marquee from time to time but usually they make a film lived in and a worthy watch. A lead needs something interesting to play off, to ratchet it up.

But more and more, these “character actors” have seen their stock rise to the top unlike their forebears from Tilda Swinton to Idris Elba, Micheal Shannon to Taraji P. Henson. They stew in the background like James Cromwell and then they become Supervillains.  

I mean who else could cross over between the Mandalorian and Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul other than Giancarlo Esposito (well maybe his adversary – Pedro Pascal the masked Madalorian himself and Drug cop in Narcos S1 and S2?).

In my 90s/2000s era heyday, these types of actors were initially recognizable in the oeuvre and repertory companies of great directors, the usual suspects – The Coen Brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson & Quentin Tarantino. 

Coens always use people like M. Emmet Walsh, Jon Polito, Charles Durning, Peter Stormare and Tim Blake Nelson. PTA was more of a Luiz Guzman, John C. Reilly (before he was a step brother, focused on shaking and baking or walking hard). And without Tarantino (and Spike Lee) would there be the decades long everpresence of Samuel L. Jackson? But look really close and the gems cross over between these three.

Indulge me. Let’s play the crosspollination game for a minute. An easy one. William H Macy in the Coens’ Fargo (1996) then PTA’s Boogie Nights(1997) & Magnolia (1999). Philip Seymour Hoffman actually did a PTA/Coen sandwich – PTA’s Boogie Nights (1997) & Magnolia (1999) with his scene-stealing role as Brandt in the Coens’ The Big Lebowski (1998).

The champ here and gold standard will always be Steve Buscemi. He started with other contemporaries – a dash of Jarmusch’s Mystery Train (1989); a pinch of Abel Ferrara’s King of New York (1990) then the Coen/Taratino super run of Miller’s Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), and Reservoir Dogs (1992.) 

In 1993, he took a break to play Willy “The Weasel” Wilhelm in Philip Kaufman’s Rising Sun and then went onto double duty in 1994 with Pulp Fiction and The Hudsucker Proxy. He co-starred in a highly memorable cold opening with Tarantino in Desperado (a character named Buscemi by the way) then appeared in Fargo (1996) and The Big Lebowski (1998). This launching pad leads to the Con Air/Armageddon combo being the king of Adam Sandler cameos somehow, but this is where it stops for our purposes.

Recognition used to come after prolonged work and crafting, some small time recognition and then a pop, an escalation as a result of that bubbling talent being mixed by the right hands.

Is it the chicken or the egg here? Does the great director use the tool properly or is the actor the one who takes the vision to the next level? Oftentimes it is the directors that get the focus, but today we will focus on those who breathe life into the work. 

So now may I present to you a cadre of current performers who seem to have the right nose for the right projects. You see them in a piece, and know it’s worth checking out. There is a reason “that guy (or gal) is in everything.” 

Jeremy Bobb

First noticed: The Knick

Best extended look: Russian Doll

The Casecracker: Under the Silver Lake

It seems almost impossible that any actor has been as busy yet quiet at filling holes and roles like Mr. Bobb has been these past 5+ years on various streaming shows and miniseries. 

To me there are two major assets he has. His look just emits creep or cop with the immediate vibe/pallor of Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

His slimeball credentials are on display with his skeevy 1900s NYC hospital manager in Steven Soderburgh’s The Knick and a sleazy partygoer in Groundhog Day via a hipster Brooklyn’s Russian Doll. He also features heavily in Netflix’s female-centric limited series western Godless as obsessed reporter A.T. Grigg.

Toss in a few cop/detective/guard roles in Manhunt: Unabomber, Escape in Dannemora (corrections officer) and this year’s Stephen King HBO adaptation The Outsider where he appears alongside a murderer’s row “that guy” ensemble that contains the likes of:  (Yul Vazquez, Paddy Considine, Marc Menchaca, Derek Cecil) and former “that guys” (Ben Mendehlson/Bill Camp.)

Even I can’t keep up as there are three more that I missed that I indeed intend to catch up on. I never returned after the first season but guess who plays the villian on the third season of Netflix’s Jessica Jones. There is another western genre show about oilmen starring Pierce Brosnan in The Son and then back with Soderburgh on HBO mystery Mosaic co-starring Sharon Stone, Pee Wee Herman (Paul Ruebens) and Garrett Hedlund among others.

But the pièce de résistance has to be his sudden, unrecognizable appearance as The Songwriter in Under the Silver Lake [which TLS reviewed here.] Performing a standout scene in a mixed bag of a film that features him decked out in old man makeup halfway between a Dick Tracy villain and Johnny Knoxville in Bad Grandpa, as he simultaneously serenades and horrifies the protagonist in Andrew Garfield.

I can’t say I recommend the whole film but if you want to get a sliver of the range that Bobb can offer I suggest you give this a watch. I’d preface this with a spoiler alert but I also can’t say this movie makes enough sense that it can be spoiled.

See Also: The extensive Outsider list above, Toby Huss (Halt and Catch Fire, GLOW)

Lakeith Stanfield 

First Noticed: Short Term 12

Best extended look: Atlanta

The Casecracker: Sorry To Bother You 

Lakeith is a star. He is going to shine. For a long time. This dude is 28 and has basically been on fire for five years. A chameleon whose expressive face could make his star in a silent film superb. 

Scene stealing since his debut in the underrated teen halfway home drama Short Term 12, his resume speaks for itself. On TV’s Atlanta, his stoned wallflower Darius is more of an integral second, third or even fourth fiddle to the powerhouse performances from Donald Glover, Bryan Tyree Henry, and Zazie Beetz. But when it comes to film, he pretty much can’t miss.

In 2018, he paired up a supporting role with another shooting star Daniel Kaluuya in Oscar nominee Get Out, with the overlooked should-have-been-a-contender of Boot Riley’s supreme mindfuck Sorry to Bother You. 

2019 features his pivotal role in the Safdies’s frenetic Uncut Gems alongside his straight man detective part in Oscar nominated Knives Out (which he did similarly in the successful attempted Girl Who reboot The Girl in the Spider’s Web also in 2018). 

Add in a well-received heartthrob turn in 2020 Valentine’s release The Photograph and all that’s left is the proverbial Taken/Bourne vehicle or maybe a prime MCU villain slot.

Lakeith won’t be on this list for long.

See Also: Bryan Tyree Henry (If Beale Street Could Talk, Atlanta), Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk, Homecoming), Bokeem Woodbine (Queen & Slim, The Big Hit, Fargo (TV) )

Margaret Qualley

First Noticed: Fosse/Verndon 

Best extended look & Casecracker: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

If you can be remembered while sharing most of your screen time with Brad Pitt, you’ve done something right. Qualley’s devilish hippie temptress is a rocketship caliber performance. 

The daughter of 90s romcom royalty Andie Macdowell, Qualley is part of a group of young actresses one performance away from being mentioned along with the likes of Saorise Ronan, Cynthia Erivo and Florence Pugh. In fact, Orivo then Pugh was going to be my choice here but I disqualified anyone who has been nominated for an Oscar or as a lead performer in the past 5 years. That more complete list is near the bottom.

One oversight that I will have to rectify is The Leftovers but if her performance in it is anything like the two above I can’t wait.

See Also: Anna Tyler Joy (Thoroughbreds, The Witch, Peaky Blinders), Jessie Buckley (Beast, Wild Rose), Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace, Jojo Rabbit), Ruth Negga (Loving, Preacher, Ad Astra)

Kang-ho Song

First Noticed: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

Best extended look: The Host

The Casecracker: Parasite

Let’s rep the international world here with someone who has been the stand-in muse for Director Bong and his illustrious rise to the tip of tongues with his cross-cultural phenomenon Parasite. This feels like a cheat since he starred in the most recent best picture winner but since you don’t know his name I am going to allow it.

International choices in this category are tough since I can’t see many being widely seen enough to have any “that guys” in them within the US, but Kang-ho Song just feels like a classic actor with sadness and soul. That is something that permeates this list. They may dabble in comedy but even then it has a spot of somberness and maintains an edge.

See Also: Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Mesrine: Public Enemy Number One, Quantum of Solace), Ken Wantanabe (Inception, Godzilla)

Patrick Fischler

First Noticed: Mad Men

Best extended look & The Casecracker: Happy!

This is the real Buscemi pick. You’ve seen him in something. He is either creepy or annoying or both in it. It seems like he will never get a starring role. Recently, he got a deliciously unnerving role on the zany, gory SyFy adaptation of Grant Morrison’s Happy! Here’s the synopsis so I don’t butcher it:

“Nick Sax is a corrupt, intoxicated, ex-cop turned hit man who is adrift in a twilight world of casual murder, soulless sex, and betrayal. After a hit goes wrong, Nick finds a bullet in his side, the cops and the mob on his tail, and a monstrous killer on the loose. But his world is about to be changed forever by a tiny, imaginary, blue-winged horse with a relentlessly positive attitude named Happy. On their journey, they must contend with a laundry list of enemies including angry mobsters, ex-mistresses, ex-wives, and one very bad Santa.”

But this list is about career quantity, variety and anonymity right? Check. 

Looking over his IMDB credits, his coverage in cop television is unmatchable starting with a recurring role on Nash Bridges. Then he has single appearances in: NYPD Blue, Law and Order SVU and Law & Order: LA, CSI, followed by CSI: NY and CSI: Miami as different characters in the same year. He fills in the CBS bingo card– NCIS, Cold Case, Hawaii Five-Order, The Mentalist, Lie to Me, Dark Blue, Criminal Minds. Castle, Burn Notice, Bones, and something called 18 Wheels of Justice. Now mind you I think I cut out other cop shows where he recurred like the NBC/TNT gritty show Southland. This doesn’t even cross over into the legal and medical shows profession but those are plentiful as well!

A few blindspots that I have heard good things about him include the Twin Peaks revival and Lost (yes I know I’m missing out, no need to tell me).

But he really ties the room together on this one. Start where you began. In a separate, equally weird small role, Fischler made his perfect presence felt as a comic book creator and conspiracy theory spreader in Under the Silver Lake.

See Also: Pablo Schreiber (The Wire, American Gods, upcoming Halo TV series), Ben Foster (Hell or High Water, Leave No Trace, Six Feet Under), Jimmi Simpson (It’s Always Sunny, Westword), Chris Messina (Damages, Sinner S3, Birds of Prey)