William Vincent (2010) Reviews

• Brooding Melodrama with Art-house Trappings

  zardoz-132012-01-01

  Writer & director Jay Anania's brooding, low-budget, artsy-smartsy crime yarn "Shadows and Lies" could easily have been inspired by the late Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni's film "The Passenger." In the Antonioni epic, Jack Nicholson takes over the identity of a dead gun runner and gallivants all over Europe until the mob catches up with him and kills him. In "Shadows and Lies," James Franco plays a man who steps off a plane because he forgot his book and then decides to ride across country on a bus to his home state of Connecticut. When he reaches New York, he learns that the plane that he had booked passage on has crashed and every single passenger has been incinerated. This sounds rather like the first "Final Destination" franchise movie, too. Anyway, at this point, our protagonist obtains a fake passport in Chinatown and begins a new life as an editor of nature films. When he isn't editing some really cool footage on his Final Cut Pro system, William Vincent--as he has come to call himself--gets his kicks by picking the pockets of strangers. Actually, William is pretty good at it, until he finds himself confronted on the street one day by one of his victims. What the victim doesn't realize is that William has dumped his booty in the trash. When William's victim challenges him about his billfold and cell phone, a crime boss named 'Boss' (Josh Lucas of "Sweet Home Alabama") and his chief henchman Victor (Martin Donovan) intervene on his behalf. Boss wants William on his payroll, and Victor serves as the go-between. Eventually, William meets Anne (Julianne Nicholson) and they hit it off. William gives her a kimono, but Victor hears about their assignation and warns William to keep his hands off Ann. Indeed, Boss uses Ann as a prostitute, and a jealous William walks in on her while she is with a client. William wields a lamp and beat the man to death and then takes it on the lam. Anania confines "Shadows and Lies" to a quartet of characters: William, Ann, Victor, and Boss. The action occurs in flashback as the film opens with William following Ann unobtrusively through the streets of New York and then mailing her a letter after a four year hiatus. No sooner has William mailed the letter than he is attacked by Victor. It seems that Boss is a very jealous individual. Victor has warned William to stay away from Ann, but they ignore these warnings. William handles some unsavory business, including an episode with two women who receive a cocaine shipment. When William rejects their advances, the two girls label him gay. Evidently, from his attitude around Boss, William doesn't need the dough and he has no qualms about assaulting people himself. The dialogue is cryptic and often repetitive. The performances are tight-lipped. Martin Donovan fares the best as Boss' chief henchman, while Josh Lucas wears a Van Dyke beard that gives him a sinister look. Franco is Franco; he looks like a pretty boy. Although he can be violent, Franco's character doesn't seem to care a whit about money or emotional displays. He plays in cool throughout "Shadows and Lies." Composer John Medeski's melancholy music adds to the grim atmosphere, while lenser Danny Vecchione shoots predominantly in medium shots and close-ups. Altogether, Anania has fashioned an urban crime drama that doesn't rely on bullets blazing, careening car chases, or ritual torture. If you prefer pictures with subtlety, "Shadows and Lies" qualifies as a must-see. Unfortunately, none of the characters here are remotely sympathetic. Further, Anania keeps us at arm's length from them. They are all a lot of cold fish. If you like your films with less contrivance, you should skip this opus.

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• Franco actually acting

  skripachka2011-07-05

  Watch this for the beauty of the movie and the fact that it views like a book. You get the opportunity to think. Others find it slow but it is one of those movies that convinces you the pace of life should be a little bit slower to make you think before you speak. Faster dialog is hardly believable anyways and this film has the pace of reality--where people take a minute to think before speaking. And I've never seen Franco be convincing--turns out intellectual pondering characters is his forte. Go figure. The shots are lovely but also if you can get past the somewhat loud nature of the narrating (both in volume and the sense that sometimes its trying too hard), it has a calming sense.

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• A Little Cinematic Masterpiece

  gradyharp2011-07-18

  There will likely be a small audience for this artistic little cinematic treasure SHADOWS AND LIES, but while the audiences crowd in line for the multi-million dollar retreads of comic book heroes and potty mouth 'guy or chick flicks' it is reassuring that there are experimentalists like writer/director/editor Jay Anania and his pupil, the multi-talented James Franco who continue to push the edge of cinema and create the challenges of this jewel-like film. Anania opens his film with a dark in medias res raw episode that quickly moves to an image of Joseph (James Franco) missing his flight to Japan because he steps out of line to retrieve a book. The plane crashes, killing everyone on board, and that opens the doors for Joseph to move to Manhattan to have a new life: he becomes William Vincent, a strange loner/drifter who has a job editing nature films for schools in a sparse storefront abode and also performs petty crimes. What gradually becomes apparent is that we maybe re-visiting what happened four years ago: William Vincent, a quiet and mysterious criminal, falls for a New York gangster's (Josh Lucas) favorite call girl Ann (Julianne Nicholson), after performing some 'deliveries' arranged by one Victor (Martin Donavan). When William's feelings are discovered Vincent is forced to flee the city, threatened with death if he should ever return. But after four years in exile (? in Japan), William secretly returns to rescue Ann from the life of derision and fear she is leading. There are quirky moments in the film where William is in the park and 'sees and talks to' two young brothers - Ty and Lewis played by Ty and Lewis Anania - who may simply be a part of William's previous existence as Joseph. But it is this very disturbing interchange of time sequences that makes the film so powerful - are we watching the now or are we watching the then, and if we are seeing the past, how does the ending make sense? Another observer states it this way: 'The story of William Vincent as he recounts the eccentric and curious path that has brought him, at mortal risk, to New York City, after four years in exile, to rescue a woman he scarcely knows, Ann, from the vague crime syndicate that first brought them together.' Franco is disturbingly brilliant as this strange character Joseph/William and the scenes that simply sit in silence with Franco barely outlined by terrific lighting effects or interacting in spare dialogue with Ann or Victor or the Boss are visually and emotionally stunning. The cinematography by Daniel Vecchione is moody, dark and always appropriate in adding mystery to the story. John Medeski's musical score is primarily a few piano notes and the wheezing sounds of an odd organ (melodica) instrument played by a street person. It all simply works as a brilliant film. Some may label this 'film noir': it is more like experimental 'noir film noir' at every level. Grady Harp

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• An artsy movie that you must really want to see

  rtaron2011-06-04

  This is a movie that is beautiful with photography and that is the only positive thing I can say about it. This film could have been great with the cast it has. James Franco does a great job of the brooding, James Dean like character. Josh Lucas as the dark, controlling bad guy is very good. Freckled Julianne Nelson is beautiful as the femme fatale, but the director seems to be attempting to imitate a good french movie but just fails. If you like minutes long scenes of an actor's face, a room, an actor walking, you might enjoy this film. If it was condensed to a half hour drama, it might be great. Otherwise, it is not worth the time.

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• Nothing to offer anyone except some nice photography and some long mug shots for die-hard fans of prettyboy Franco.

  Hellmant2011-06-13

  'SHADOWS & LIES': Two Stars (Out of Five) James Franco stars in this unbelievably slow and uneventful artsy indie film about a man trying to free the woman he thinks he loves from a New York City organized crime syndicate. It's written and directed by Jay Anania who was one of Franco's teachers at New York University. The film also features Josh Lucas, Martin Donovan and Julianne Nicholson. It's the perfect example of too much style over substance. In the movie Franco plays a small time crook named William Vincent who picks people's pockets and often throws it away. He draws the attention of a local New York City drug runner (Lucas) who is impressed by his skills and apparent lack of humanity. He offers William a job and then a night with his woman, Ann (Julianne Nicholson). William falls for Ann, even though he knows nothing about her, and this of course causes complications with his new employer. The movie is extremely slow paced and very moody. There's very little dialogue and the film is instead content with just giving the viewer long camera shots of the actor's blank faces (mostly Franco). If you're a big fan of Franco and into his looks this might be enough for you but most others will be extremely bored. The directing is kind of cool, the cinematography is beautiful and the music striking but the screenplay is so poorly written. Nothing much ever happens, we learn almost nothing about any of the characters and as a result the film seems very pointless. It starts promising, it's beautiful to look at and it's nice to see Franco taking some different projects but he's not given anything really to work with here. The movie is almost a total waste of time with nothing to offer anyone except some nice photography and some long mug shots for die-hard fans of prettyboy Franco. Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nse6Wm1EtZU

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