LAUREL CANYON
# stars based on 4 stars: 3.5 Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Sony Pictures Classics Directed by: Lisa Cholodenko Written by: Lisa Cholodenko Cast: Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Alessandro Nivola, Natascha McElhone Screened at: Sony, NYC, 2/5/03
What sort of life would you prefer to live: that of a devil-may-care hedonist, laid-back, prosperous, enjoying (as one character in this films states) 99% of her life? Or would you rather be serious, conservative, studious, determined? People I'd consider sensible would choose "none of the above," but would opt for the middle ground: cut loose on weekends, be fairly relaxed during the week but still concerned about the effect your activities have on others. A film that takes the golden mean throughout just might not be absorbing. But in demonstrating the many benefits of living on the wild side and contrasting the fruitfulness of hedonism with a man's mixed feeling about sublimating his attraction to "the other woman,", "Laurel Canyon" emerges as a thoroughly absorbing, madcap, offbeat movie. "Laurel Canyon" imprints the signature of writer-director Lisa Cholodenko, a story you'd expect based on the director's 1998 movie "High Art" which studied a naive young woman who moves up the career ladder because of her relationship with a once brilliant photographer and that photographer's deciding whether to immerse herself into a heroin-infused, lesbian lifestyle.
While the story throws us into a web of ethical questions, the entire project stands out for its wit, its satiric take on a sixties-type on a West Coast way of life that Neil Simon spoofed decades ago in his play "California Sweet," and, by contrast, that playwright's equal dismissal of the neurotic way of life of upscale people in the East Coast.
Its principal character is Jane Bentley (Frances McDormand), a successful record producer in her late forties who lives in spacious Hollywood with a musician about 17 years her junior (Alessandro Nivola in the role of Ian McKnight). A woman with a zest for life, she opens her home to Ian and his fellow recording artists and is surprised one day to find her uptight son, Sam (Christian Bale) with his fianc‚ Alex (Kate Beckinsale) in tow, having been invited to spend a few weeks at what should have been a temporarily vacated place. Both had recently graduated from medical school. While Alex works on a doctoral dissertation on drosophila genomics, Sam interns in psychiatry at a nearby hospital where he attracts the romantic attentions of a second-year resident, Sara (Natascha McElhone).
Cholodenko is particularly skillful at giving her audience insight into her characters' past. Without a single flashback, the film has us understand that Sam, turning the usual adolescent experience on its head, is rebelling against his mother's hedonism by his exceptionally straight-laced bearing, even choosing as his fianc‚ a bright, scholarly and socially naive and introverted fianc‚ who is as much like the Radha Mitchell character in "High Art" as her mother-in-law-to-be is like that film's Ally Sheedy.
While Sam considers whether to respond to Sara's come-ons, the real changes are taking place in Jane's environs, as the introspective Alex, her writing disturbed by the constant noise of music below, is slowly enticed into a more physical mode. While Beckinsale, who possesses arguably the most adorable face in the movies today, is fine in her role and Frances McDormand uses her "Fargo" expertise to turn in a solid performance, Boston-born Alessandro Nivola delivers the movie's most stunning display as a seductive live-for-life guy that no woman could resist. A winner all around.
Rated R. 103 minutes. Copyright 2003 by Harvey Karten at Harveycritic@cs.com
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