After a little bit of a way too long hiatus (Oooh! my England is Delicious): It's Popcorn time!!! Today we opt for a trip back to 1994 for the third film adaption from the brilliant mind of legal thriller author John Grisham. After the popularity and success of The Firm and The Pelican Brief, it was just good business in Hollywood to continue making Grisham legal movies (all 8 of which I intend to rewatch, Oscar Nominated or not).
Mark Sway (Brad Renfro in his debut performance) is a kid in trouble, when he and his younger brother Ricky mischieviously sneak out to the woods behind their trailer park, coming across a suicidal mob attorney forever changes their life. Suddenly Ricky is in a serious state of shock well Mark is balanced precariously on a tightrope between the world of crime and justice, with both the Mob and the DA of Louisiana (Tommy Lee Jones) wanting to know if he knows anything he shouldn't.
What's a kid to do when the stakes are so high, getting a lawyer makes the most sense...
Enter Reggie Love, attorney at law, as embodied and brought to life by the incomparable Susan Sarandon in a role she did not necessarily jump at, having been virtually begged by director Joel Schumacher to take the role - good thing she did, as the movie would go on to earn her the fourth of five Oscar nominations (and one win for Dead Man Walking, to be viewed at a later stage). At this stage I think it is safe to say that this is a career which exemplifies what it is to be Hollywood Royalty, with a body of work that includes entries from the world of cult that is The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Hunger, to the stuff of Legends like Thelma & Louise and Dead Man Walking, the world of movies is all the better for the contributions of this single star.
But the streets of Hollywood are sadly spattered with the remains of those who dared to dream a dream as large as the life Susan Sarandon has lived, and Brad Renfro sadly is one of those dreamers. Back in the day, with hit movie after hit movie coming out of the engine that was his brain, John Grisham had enough clout as to have casting power in his adaptations, and he was adamant that an unknown child be the actor in the movie. He did not want a Hollywood child actor, and thus the casting process began, a child star was discovered and the trappings of fame laid upon the path of young Renfro's career, which ultimately led to his death at the young age of 25 by overdose.
Brad Renfro in his first film is brilliant, up against not only Sarandon and Jones, but Anthony LaPaglia and Mary-Louise Parker (in the role of Mark's mother), the little career that would, did, at it's first attempt, and for quite a few performances after (Apt Pupil anyone?), the death of Renfro a true Hollywood Tragedy.
On the whole, this movie has a lot of criticism flung at it, a large amount of it steeped in claims of being to reliant on stereotypes (lawyers and mobs), and that may be true, but it works! I have given this movie a four star rating, let's say the missing one is attributed to that fact, but damn the performances as stereotypical as they may be are just perfectly pitched as to make an enjoyable movie, umpteenth watch and all! I'm a fan of the Grisham films, and this brand of lighter Thriller, which stand distinctly seperate from the sub-genres which would come to dominate after, including the world and flavour of Silence of the Lambs, Se7en and Copycat, a genre where the glorification of the sinister is squandered for our voyeuristic tendencies (and I say that in full acknowledgement that I am also a fan of having my voyeuristic tendencies squandered by the glorification of the sinister).
Thrillers don't have to assault you and mess with your mind, a good movie can be as simple as a brilliantly acted piece with characters you can invest in, and an arc that can carry you along for the ride...
The Client is the 3rd movie I have watched and posted about from the 67th Academy Awards, and the 78th Academy Award Nominated movie watched for the purposes of this blog - as promised, side mission alert (in a time when I am struggling to find the time to invest in my little project), will be watching all the Grisham Legal Thrillers - ambitious much!
nuff said...
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