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How entertaining? ★★☆☆☆
Thought provoking? ★☆☆☆☆ 20 March 2013
This article is a review of SMALL APARTMENTS.
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“In a convenience based society, I’m at the centre of the action,” Tommy Balls (Johnny Knoxville)
The great era of music video directors made:
Spike Jonze - BEING JOHN MALCOVICH,
Jonathan Glazer - SEXY BEAST,
Mark Romanek – ONE HOUR PHOTO,
Anton Corbijn – CONTROL, and
Michel Gondry – ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.
But what about SMALL APARTMENTS helmer Jonas Åkerlund? He is in the above peer group, crafting some of the most striking promos of recent times: The Prodigy’s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, The Cardigans’ ‘My Favourite Game’, and Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’. His debut SPUN, containing an equally starry cast to this latest, was a tedious drug pic. Now 10 years on, what lessons have been learned? Little it appears. Åkerlund is stuck in a groove of superficiality and inconsequence.
The great era of music video directors made:
Spike Jonze - BEING JOHN MALCOVICH,
Jonathan Glazer - SEXY BEAST,
Mark Romanek – ONE HOUR PHOTO,
Anton Corbijn – CONTROL, and
Michel Gondry – ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.
But what about SMALL APARTMENTS helmer Jonas Åkerlund? He is in the above peer group, crafting some of the most striking promos of recent times: The Prodigy’s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, The Cardigans’ ‘My Favourite Game’, and Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’. His debut SPUN, containing an equally starry cast to this latest, was a tedious drug pic. Now 10 years on, what lessons have been learned? Little it appears. Åkerlund is stuck in a groove of superficiality and inconsequence.
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What is such an illustrious cast, from seasoned vets (Billy Crystal, James Caan) to hot properties (Rebel Wilson, Juno Temple), doing in this mess? It looks as if a lot of favours were called in. Most of the runtime is a gasping grasp at humour, which involves over-acting and laughing at the mentally deficit. The normally scene-stealing Wilson is forced to spout garbage like, “My motto is never go into an orgy, ass up.” Cheers for that pearl of wisdom. Then sprinkled into this crass car crash is gloopy melodrama. We barely spend any time with a rotating set of extended cameos, yet are meant to care when death comes down all of a sudden. Then there’s a trite message about happiness shoehorned into the closing minutes - maybe acknowledging the audience’s gratitude as the credits roll?
SMALL APARTMENTS is set in a dilapidated complex, Marlton Building, where four one room flats are occupied by a bunch of odd-bods, the focus of which is Matt Lucas’s Franklin Franklin. Devoid of personality, it is difficult to walk in his shoes. He wanders around in his underwear trying to dispose of a body, but he can barely take care of himself. What does he want (apart from to go to Switzerland for no articulated reason)? Franklin’s older brother is in a psyche centre, and there’s nobody to look out for him either. In far more skilful hands there might have been a story of warmth and humanity like THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME. Instead, a lazily plotted pseudo-farce is dumped onto the screen, but don’t expect refined antics either, in the vein of say A FISH CALLED WANDA.
Jonas Åkerlund it’s time for an intervention. Channel that music video verve through a compelling narrative.
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