There is no doubt that Joseph Gordon Levitt is one of the brightest of Hollywood's rising stars. With his performances in the Dark Knight Rises and Looper last year he really showed that he could have true star power. With his directional debut Don Jon he also shows the potential to succeed behind the camera. Don Jon is a far more marquee film than most directional debuts. It has an all star cast which includes Scarlett Johansson as well as Tony Danza. It also benefits from a large advertising budget which has allowed it to get real attention. Unfortunately, despite all of this, it is still quite obvious that this is a first film.
Don Jon tells the story of a title character who cares about "only a few things" in his life. Above all of these things is his obsession with internet pornography. While the film has been marketed as a rom com in a sense, the pornography addiction Jon faces is the center of the film. Jon lives a very repetitive lifestyle until he meets Scarlett Johansson's character Barbara. She is facing her own false images in the form of romantic films. The rest of the film shows how all of this plays out in a somewhat unexpected manner.
One way that it is clear Don Jon is a first film is that it really is quite excessive. I understand the temptation of Levitt to make sure that we really do understand Jon's character and addiction but after a while the film borders on becoming what it is actually against. That's not to say that the film is not multi layered, it certainly is, but sometimes the substance of the film is caught up in the director's attempt to be certain that we understand Jon's addiction. By the film's middle we're thinking "alright already" when another flashy quick cutting montage of his online exploits comes across the screen. I almost feel more time than is allotted should have been spent dissecting Barbara's false images. It seems as though Levitt got caught up in the idea of making a controversial movie instead of really fleshing out his ideas about today's culture.
To the movie's benefit Levitt's ideas about the cultural pressures people face in today's society are definitely relevant, and to a large extent true. The film is most effective when it really stops and takes a look at our misconceptions about the world which we get from the media. The only problem is that this never feels as fleshed out as it should have been. Scenes that have substance seemed rushed over to get to the next montage and for most of the movie the effect leaves a bad taste in the audiences mouth. There is substance here and it is more than one layer deep it just feels like it could have been given more time. The film runs 90 minutes and it wouldn't have been bad if there was just a little longer for the film's core ideas to really set in. Certain aspects of life are definitely simplified, including the Catholic sacrament of Reconciliation. These aspects of the film, if fleshed out, could have made it something even more affective.
Don Jon is technically a comedy and it is funny in places. Unfortunately I think that the subject matter is so risky and serious it isn't a real laugh out loud film in most places. This definitely isn't a date film! The performances by the cast are consistently strong and Danza in particular plays a role that is very different from his previous father figure roles. The direction by Levitt, aside from what is mentioned above, Is interesting and very modern. He has a unique touch which is great to see in a first time director. In the end the question to ask about Don Jon is whether the explicit, long, and outrageously raunchy journey is worth the worthy conclusion the film receives. For me this is a movie I won't plan on seeing again but it does show great directional promise and it ends on a note which almost makes the whole thing work entirely, almost. 3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment