25 EZ
NIGHTCATCHESUS
Stifling calm after the storm
BY STEPHANIEMERRY It’s a fitting season to consider what it
means to go home. For some, it’s less an idyllic scene of crackling fireplaces and Mom’s chocolate chip cookies than a trip down the rabbit hole. So it goes in “Night Catches Us,” where memory lane looks more like a dead-end street. It’s Philadelphia 1976, and former Black
Panther Marcus Washington (Anthony Mackie) returns to the old neighborhood for his father’s funeral, only to get an extended tour of the reasons he left, includ- ing corrupt cops, a fractured family, gun- toting gangsters and the ghost of a friend whowasgunneddownafter a tip to the FBI — a tip Marcus may or may not have supplied. But trouble is accompanied by nostalgia, which offers itsowntemptations to remain. A big one is Patricia Wilson (Kerry Washington), the wife of that de- ceased radical, who is now a single mother scraping by as a lawyer and trying to keep her dimwitted, rage-prone cousin Jimmy out of trouble. There are aspects of writer-director Tan-
ya Hamilton’s tale that evoke memories of the 1998 film “AmericanHistoryX,” in that we find a man attempting to shed a violent past, all while a younger generation — in this case Jimmy, who calls cops pigs, wears a distinctive beret and is predisposed to thrusting his fist in the air—takes up arms in support of that bygone cause. But while
ANNEKE SCHONEVELD PHOTOGRAPHY VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS In “Night CatchesUs,” AnthonyMackie plays a former Black Panther, andKerryWashington portrays the widow of a radical.
the older movie throbbed with intensity from beginning to end, “Night” comes off as leisurely, almost antiseptic at
times.This is clearly intentional; wordless scenes take place along babbling streams, within dimly lit interiors or beneath rich green foliage. The serenity offers a thoughtful contrast
to the stories of past bloodshed, but the persistent quietude also blunts the emo- tional impact when big events do happen.
Relationships bloom and dissolve, brawls break out, people are murdered, yet none of it feels particularly consequential. The restraint is especially overwhelming with Washington, who gives a somewhat wood- en performance even when she recounts what are ostensibly the most difficult mo- ments of her life to her endlessly curious 9-year-old daughter, played with relieving vitality by Jamara Griffin.
Except for a stellar soundtrack by the
Roots, there isn’t much here to make anyone overly excited. But for a movie so rooted in fury and violence, that almost feels like an impressive feat.
stephanie.merry@
wpost.com
rr½
R. AtWest End Cinema. Contains language, sexuality and violence. 88 minutes.
THEAGONYANDTHE ECSTASYOFPHIL SPECTOR
Composed yet confounding
BY MICHAEL O’SULLIVAN What a strange thing is “The Agony and
the Ecstasy of Phil Spector.” But then again, what a strange man is at the heart of this flawed but compelling documentary. In 2007, on the eve of Spector’s first of
twotrials for themurderofB-movie actress Lana Clarkson, the legendary music pro- ducer sat down with filmmaker Vikram Jayanti for what appears to be a lengthy, face-to-face interview in his Los Angeles mansion. Voluble and seemingly relaxed— at least if you ignore the 66-year-old’s shaky hands and creepy, unblinking stare —Spector walks Jayanti through the high- lights of his career as a composer and producer, including “To Know Him Is to LoveHim,” “BeMy Baby,” “You’veLostThat Lovin’ Feelin’,” “River Deep, Mountain High,” “My Sweet Lord” and “Imagine.”
2005 PHOTO BY DAMIAN DOVARGANES/ASSOCIATED PRESS Phil Spector: music legend and murderer.
Professionally speaking, there’s lots to
talk about. And talk Spector does, pepper- ing the conversation with both fond per- sonal reminiscences and bitter recrimina- tion about perceived slights, all the while largely avoiding the legal elephant in the room. At the start of the film, Spector does take note of the fact that, when prospective jurors in his upcoming court case were polled, 45 percent said they thought he was guilty, and 20 percent said they thought he was insane. By the end of the movie, you may find
yourself agreeing with both groups. Like its subject, Jayanti’s film is far from conventional.Half of it feels like a Barbara
Walters “Most Fascinating People” special, except that the one topic that everyone wants the interviewer to ask about is off limits. Still, it’s a rare opportunity to hear the notoriously aloof Spector talk about his work as a writer, performer and producer of some of the undeniably greatest tunes of the past 50
years.That remains true, even if his frequent comparisons of his talent to that of Galileo,Leonardo da Vinci, Einstein andothersgrowtiresome—not tomention delusional—after a while. Interspersed with this footage, however,
are clips from court testimony on the charge that Spector, in 2003, placed a gun in Clarkson’s mouth and shot her as she tried to leave his home.We hear conflicting evidence.Oneexpert says the bulletwound had to be self-inflicted, buttressed by a friend of Clarkson’s who testifies that she was depressive.Onthe other side, a parade of ex-girlfriends of Spector’s takes the stand to tell of times the producer threat- ened them with guns. Every now and then Jayanti simply
shows the actors in the courtroom drama in wordless slo-mo, accompanied by the ominousandbizarre telling of a bell. Atone point, he zooms in on Spector’s face, as the man sits on the interview couch in his pin-striped suit and red silk shirt, slowing the filmdownuntil Spector looks like a fish gasping for air. At thosemoments,Jayanti’s
subject comes across as even more of a freak than he already does, with his now infamous assortment of obvious wigs, and facial expressions that swing back and forth between affectless inscrutability and inappropriate laughter. Is all that really necessary? There’s plenty of agony to go around,
even if Spector didn’t kill Clarkson. (After the first trial ended in a hung jury, a 2009 jury found him guilty, sentencing him to 19 years to life). Spector is, by his own admis- sion, motivated chiefly by anger at the world’s failure to give him his due. But when has the world ever short-
changed Phil Spector?Murderer or not, the man is a musical genius, and Jayanti’s film makes that abundantly, even tragically clear, through copious and lovingly linger- ing clips of his best songs, which take on unexpected newmeaning and poignancy. That’s the ecstasy part.
osullivanm@washpost.com
rr½
Unrated. AtWest End Cinema. Contains obscenity, crime scene photos and discussion of violent death. 102 minutes.
On Friday, director Vikram Jayanti will appear at the theater at the 5 and 7 p.m. shows for post- screening Q&As.
the washington post friday, december 17, 2010 l
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