Reviews

Harry and Max is an odd little film. It's a film that, quite frankly, I'm surprised any American director/producer/film company/actor would tackle. It's a film that has brotherly incest as an active thread running through it. The trouble is, the incest angle really isn't reason enough for the film - there needs to be another, stronger plot around which to build the film.

Bryce Johnson as Harry and Cole Williams (singer/songwriter/actor Paul Williams' son) as Max are not only engaging and believable as brothers, but downright talented actors. You can see the wheels turning in Max's head as he mulls things over and over. Harry, a burgeoning alcoholic, seems sufficiently numbed to reality.

There is no deficiency when it comes to the acting ability of this cast of quite surprisingly fine actors. Rain Phoenix (River and Joachin's little sister) is believable as the boys' friend/lover and Michelle Phillips does a believable job as the pushy/b*t*hy stage mom.

What is on the screen is thoughtful and thought provoking. My problem with the film stems from what ISN'T on the screen.

The film is about 23 year old Harry (a boy band pop idol with a waning popularity) and 16 year old Max (an up and coming boy band pop idol). Harry lives in New York and Max lives at home with their mother - a woman with whom Harry does not get along. Where Dad is, is anyone's guess.

Max freely acknowledges that he is gay. Further, to Harry, he freely acknowledges that he loves his brother Harry, but in a romantic sense as well as a brotherly sense. We can tell that Harry feels the same, but on some level knows that it is wrong. (He allows Max to have oral sex with him, but doesn't encourage it) Max is so young that he doesn't really care. Max wants Harry and he's fairly blatant about that. Harry wants Max (he masturbates looking at publicity pictures of Max in a teen magazine), but can't bring himself to commit - instead he seduces the 40 year old former yoga instructor who slept with Max several years earlier. It would seem Harry wants to learn how this older man managed to create a "connection" with Max that he, himself, seems unable to develop...or is it simply that he doesn't want to be one upped by his little brother and he wants to know just what it was that Max experienced with this man? Max tries the straight side and sleeps with Nikki (Rain Phoenix), Harry's former girlfriend. After this happens, for some reason, Harry feels the need to divulge to Nikki that he and Max have previously been lovers.

Why? To what end? Max is able to move on with his life, but Harry seems destined to pine after his little brother and drift further and further into alcoholism.

What's the message of the movie? Is there supposed to be a message? Frankly, it doesn't need a message, but since the script is somewhat fragmented, it seems to be trying to provide us with a message.

Now, don't get me wrong, I liked the movie just fine. However, it irritated the devil out of me, because the very realistic conversations between Harry and Max never fully delivered the complete message to me, the viewer. While realistic, in that the two of them reference incidents in their past, we, the audience are never privy to those incidents. They are only vaguely referred to - as two people who share the same past would quite believably do. However, WE don't know what happened. There should have been a flashback sequence (however brief) of the often alluded to incident in Bermuda where the boys initially consummated their incestuous relationship.

What's the background situation with Harry and Roxanne, his New York girlfriend? A couple more lines of dialogue could have cleared this up.

Why did Harry dump Nikki? A couple more lines of dialogue could have cleared this up too. We just know it ended.

In the beginning, we have no reason or reference to understand that Harry and Max are in the music industry. They do not feel compelled to sing or play music. If Harry is as driven as Max says, and Harry is writing his own music, then wouldn't he have at least dragged along a guitar on their weekend camping trip? In the last scene of the film, we are to believe that Max has not only moved on with his life in the music industry, but he has found a male lover with whom he is completely satisfied. From a psychological standpoint, this out of character. He initiated the relationship with his brother and pushed for it to go further, time and again. Harry also wanted the relationship, but just didn't know how to allow himself to "be there". Harry is now the one pining for Max and now Max is completely rebuffing him and confidently so. Moreso, Max seems somewhat disgusted by his older brother. I don't think this is fitting with the character.

This is a short film by feature length standards. I would love to have had about fifteen more minutes of expositional material that could have more fully developed the situations and characters. Learning about the character's background only via the DVD jewel box is not the best way to introduce the audience to them.

1974 was notable for two films that were major bombs at the time, but which have gone on to become cult classics: The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Phantom of the Paradise.

The former film garnered its cult following because of many factors, but not least of which is its message of inclusion for all who are different.

The latter - the Phantom... - garnered its following because the film is downright fun and full of great performers delivering great performances, plus it has a really excellent soundtrack.

Since the Phantom of the Opera is known to just about all, its plot is also well known. With various remakes already having been made, a somewhat unknown director, Brian DePalma took the helm of a film that is a melange of several classic Gothic horror stories with The Phantom of the Opera being the leading one.

The Phantom of the Paradise actually more closely follows the 1950's Hammer version of The Phantom of the Opera and adds in The Portrait of Dorian Grey and Faust for good measure.

Paul Williams, the diminutive actor/songwriter plays Swan, an evil record company owner who also is the living embodiment of a modern day Dorian Grey. Williams also wrote the lyrics for the entire film.

William Finley, a college buddy of director Brian DePalma, plays Winslow, a gifted rock opera writer (as Tommy had just come out and rock operas were seen as a wave of the future), from whom Swan steals his masterpiece - a rock version of the great horror story of Faust - about a man who sells his soul to the devil. Winslow becomes our phantom.

Jessica Harper gives us a very delicate version of the old Mary Philbin role in a character named Phoenix.

There are some really dynamite songs that permeate the film and I think that you'll find that although this is technically a "musical" it is not a musical of the "Oklahoma" variety.

The way in which Winslow is disfigured to become the Phantom is truly gruesome and ripe for the era.

Humor is rampant in this film and it never takes itself too seriously.

Paul Williams is very very creepy as Swan and he really delivers the goods on the music. (in fact it is Williams not Finley who actually sings as the Phantom).

Let's compare apples to apples.

No, this isn't Citizen Kane or Sunset Boulevard - but it deserves a 10 in its own right as a cult classic.

Rocky Horror is great, but take a break from it and check out this awesome addition to the same genre!

I did theatre with Wes Bentley, so I know that the performance he delivered in this film was a good one. That's why I went to see the film. Would I see it again? Have I rented it, since it's been on tape? No.

Hollywood doesn't know how to present a "day-in-the-life-of-the-average-joe" film, because Hollywood is so far removed from the typical day-to-day workings of real people. And I hate to say it, but much of California suffers from the same malady.

When you've got paparzzi, fans, autograph hounds, biographers, managers, agents, publicists, etc. hounding you day after day, you start thinking that living like that is the norm. Hey, I'm not knocking it.... It's just not the way most of us on this planet live. Yeah, we've got people stalking us: bill collectors, telephone solicitors, children, door to door salepeople, etc., but frankly, most of us in the real world, don't relate to the poor, poor Hollywood lifestyle. (Most people would kill to have film actor's problems).

Instead of producing "average joe" films written by Hollywood screenwriters, maybe Hollywood could look to where the real stories are: America. UPDATE: Hollywood! Hey! Most of the population of the USA doesn't live in L.A. - get a clue. Most white people aren't bigots. Most men don't beat their wives. Most people are decent, law-abiding citizens, who live their whole lives without a single person ever documenting their lives. We live thankless, ordinary lives, and hope that when we die we can leave a legacy to our children or our families. Most of us don't spew four letter words with every breath. Write about that. Life has become tough enough in this country. Stop making it worse. Instead of building resentments and fueling anger, maybe Hollywood could practice a bit of what it did in its real heyday (the 30's and 40's) and promote the American way of life. 'Cause you know what? That's what most of us are living.........