The Lookout

USA, 2007

Director:

Scott Frank

Starring:

Matt: B+

Adam: A-

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ADAM:

The Lookout is by first time director Scott Frank, whose distinguished writing career has seen him write for Spielberg and Soderbergh, amongst others. Now he turns his attentions behind the camera (although he's directing his own original screenplay) and has had the good sense (or maybe it was his casting director) to employ Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Levitt is, by any measure, one of the most consistently interesting actors of his generation. Lead roles in the very highly regarded indie films Brick and Mysterious Skin reveal his good taste in projects (everyone's allowed one mistake: his is a supporting effort in the straight-to-video Shadowboxer with Cuba Gooding Jr and Helen Mirren).

Here Levitt has taken on the role of Chris Pratt, a young, carefree, high school student with the world at his feet. However that lasts just 2 minutes as a tragic accident costs him a huge chunk of his brain, reducing his life to labeling appliances with what they're used for and jotting down even the simplest of tasks in case he forgets to do them. Chris earns a living cleaning at the local bank and understandably yearns for his old life back. When a stranger befriends him and offers him just that, Chris becomes embroiled in a scheme to rob the very bank he works at.

Once again though I find myself not wanting to focus on the plot because this is very much a character-driven movie, one that features a captivating performance from the lead. Chris Pratt is a guy tortured by the knowledge, if not the memory, of that fateful night of the accident. Levitt's restrained and powerful acting conveys this wonderfully well; you sense the enormity of Chris' guilt and frustration not through histrionics or outbursts but in his silences and pauses. Levitt's maturity as an actor betrays his years and I for one felt a wealth of empathy for his character. This surprisingly emotional film has it's flaws. It's a little predictable: you know exactly where it's going fairly quickly, but it's how it gets there that's important. The Lookout gets there with grace, with rich characters, stunning cinematography, the best score I've heard in a couple of years and that amazing lead performance. Very highly recommended.

MATT:

One of the few good things about being ill is the opportunity you get to catch up on your film watching. My colleague recommended this a few months back and I have to confess that I'd never heard of it until then.

This surprising and engrossing film focuses on Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who acquires a serious brain injury following a moment of beautiful madness in a sportscar. Haunted by the crash and its tragic results, Chris struggles to find his place until he meets the charismatic Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode) and his gang, including the lovely Luvlee Lemons (Isla Fisher). But things are not all that they seem.

Everything about this film is pleasing and oozes class. I loved it from the word go - Gordon-Levitt's snappy dialogue pulls you straight in and stays with you throughout the film until it's brought to a satisfying emotional full circle. The story is gripping, well put together and well-paced. The film looks good, the characters are well developed and avoid falling into easy cliches as is so often the case with film noir (cf. The Black Dahlia, for example) and the themes, emotional and practical, interest throughout.

However, my colleague has already pointed to the film's main selling point - its performances. It is very unfortunate, and a great testament to 2007's general quality, that none of them make either of our top fives. They don't miss out by much. Particularly, for me, Jeff Daniels, who is an actor it is easy to forget exists until you see a film he's in. That sounds like a criticism but it isn't. Daniels has great - if underrated - ability (much like another Hollywood Jeff - Bridges). He can play the ordinary and everyday but also has superb comic timing (his Harry in Dumb and Dumber is hilarious) and great range (as testified by his dramatic imagining of the temperamental Lewis here). Daniels is a Hollywood underdog and that doubtless helped him out with this performance but he is an actor who should be cherished a lot more than he is. Maybe Daniels' day is gone, but there is enough here to suggest he could land a major award winning role yet. My colleague has already lauded Gordon-Levitt and his performance and I can do no more than echo those sentiments here. Adam called Gordon-Levitt (from memory) the most promising young actor of his generation and anyone who has seen this calm, mature and measured performance would find it hard to disagree with that weighty tag. Greater roles and accolades will surely follow.

It's not a perfect film but it is, equally, one it is difficult to put criticisms into words. It doesn't belong in the very highest echelons of film history, but it's not far away. And, what's more, it has an honour bestowed on very very few films - a joint recommendation from MyFilmVault. Go rent this. You won't regret it.