The difference between a good movie and a great movie is often the same as the difference between a good and bad relationship. Attention to detail.
From the opening frames of the wonderful new film "Martha Marcy May Marlene," it's the attention to detail that lets us know that we're in for something special.
Case in point. There's a scene midway through the film where Martha (alternatively known as Marcy May or Marlene), overhears a conversation between her stiff but patient older sister Lucy, played by Sarah Paulson, and her new, increasingly less patient husband Ted, played by Hugh Dancy. The mysterious Martha has just reappeared after a two year absense. What the couple doesn't know, and the audience only learns piecemail through a series of flashbacks is that she's spent this lost two years living on a commune in upstate New York as the willing captor or a menacing patriarch Patrick, played by the brilliant John Hawkes (more on him later). The happenings of the commune more than explan her behavior (well, most of it) but, at the moment, all the charming but frustrated Ted can think about is how do I get her out of my house. As the couple bickers in the other room, the eavesdropping Martha turns away as if to block out the sound. Sounds fairly straight forward, right? But here's where the detail kicks in.
Rather than simply giving us a standard shot of the tear streaming down her face as she wails audibly over the sounds of soarin harps, instead director Sean Durkin, making his feature film debut, allows us only a narrow angle of her face. Enough to read the emotion. Not enough to make it the same cookie cutter shot we've seen a thousand times. When the tear gently emerges from the corner of her eye, it's perfectly placed. As is the back of the couch where Martha lies. Just in frame enough to obscure our view and add interest to the frame.
It is with this level of attenton with which Durkin and his cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes infuse every frame of this film. It's also a level of detail demands from the film's performers.
Most of the attention for this film's success will undoubtedly be focused on the elfin titular character, played with aplomb by Elizabeth Olsen. Yes, that last name does sound familiar for a reason. In fact, we should probably just go ahead and get it out of the way up front. Yes, she IS related to the Olsen twins. No, she is not actually an Olsen twin. Instead she's the 22 year old younger sister of the "Full House" twins turned media magnets, which I imagine is both a blessing and a curse. Surely, being related to billionaires doesn't hurt your chances of meeting the right people on your path to Hollywood. However, it surely takes a little doing before people start to recognize you on your own and not just as Mary Kate and Ashley's little sister.
After this film, I don't suspect she'll have that problem for very long.
Seeing Miss Olsen's performance in the movie is nothing short of a revelation. She may share her sisters' high cheek bones and large beautiful Joan Blondell-style saucer eyes. But Olsen Part Three puts her gawkers to work as a canvas for emotion. She's able to convey feelings without the use of words. Love. Jealousy. Anger. Fear. All role out of her without having to roll her tongue. When she does speak, it's with a natural cadence which lends her character and situation added authenticity. Combined with excellent direction, photography, and production design by Chad Keith (who helped give 2008's excellent "Goodbye Solo" such a lived in feel), she makes you feel as if you're in a real place. That's what makes the events of the film feel so harrowing. They are so absolutely plausible.
If this is your first time seeing Miss Olsen, I can guarentee you it won't be the last. This is the kind of star is born movie that Hollywood was made for. I liken it to when Scarlett Johansen burst onto the scene after "Lost In Translation." You knew you were watching something special and that the next few years of your life would be filled with trips to the movies to see an endless string of movies featuring this new discovery. The last time I felt that was with Jennifer Lawrence in last year's "Winter's Bone." A young actress, built for stardom, standing opposite... that's right, John Hawkes. I don't know if he has some kind of gift for launching careers or not, but, if I were a young actress in Hollywood, I'd be begging my agent to get me any role he can opposite this man.
He is simply brilliant. In this film, sure. But apparently in everything. His portrayal of Teardrop in the previously mentioned "Winter's Bone" was one of the best I've seen in years. I won't have a Kanye West moment and declare that he should've won the Oscar when I don't even remember who did win, but I will say... No, really, he should've won the Oscar.
But I will make this bold prediction. He will win one of those pesky little golden men in the next five years.
Whether it's brilliant comedy like 2005's "Me and You and Everyone We Know," a brilliant western like HBO's "Deadwood," or a dark brooding drama like "Martha Marcy May Marlene," Hawkes slips into his roles with ease. And that's no small feat. I have actually had the pleasure of meeting John Hawkes and he's far from being a mountain of a man. Yet as Teardrop, and again here a Patrick, he has a way of portraying intimidating characters who, let's face it, scare the living bejesus out of you. And what makes his character so affecting here is that he does so much of his violence without a shred of force. Patrick operates much the same as pimp might. He seduces his young followers by making them feel special. He slips in an off hand comment to a still naive Martha early in the film about her father's neglect. Now, we never see her father and have no way of knowing if he was in fact neglectful, but he's so smooth in his delivery that the audience has to wonder. Worse yet, Martha begins to wonder. It's not a far jump for her to then begin wondering if everyone in her life has been neglectful. So when this delicate predator starts showing interest in her, she's putty in his hands. And because the character has been placed in the loving care of an actor like John Hawkes, we in the audience are as well.
When strolling through IMDB in preparation to write this review, I was struck by the sheer novelty of most of those involved. This is director Sean Durkin's first feature film. Cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes' bio reads as mostly a series of short films. And the diminutive lead, though an add-on in several of her more famous twin sisters' movies for the tween sect, has nothing on her resume suggesting she could carry such a deep and intricate film as this. Like their stellar lead, I expect everyone involved to get a major career boost from this. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if their agent haven't already booked them for the next three years on the buzz for this movie alone. All I know is when they do, I'll be the first one in the ticket line.
Wonderful film. A must see. And, for heaven's sake, someone please give John Hawkes an Oscar already.
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