Running Time 120 Min
Format: DVD MOVIE
Amazon.com
It's always slightly shocking to see a movie in which the actors look and behave like real people rather than glamorous movie stars--and that's part of the power of Lantana. But its real strength lies in its carefully observed script and the rich, committed performances of its cast. Anthony LaPaglia stars as a cop with an unsteady marriage; when he begins to investigate the disappearance of a noted therapist (Barbara Hershey), he suspects that her marriage to an academic (Geoffrey Rush) was similarly troubled, and he pursues the case as if his own marriage could be redeemed through it. Every character in Lantana is fully developed, sometimes with astonishing conciseness; the coincidences that drive the plot seem as faultlessly organic as the ones that might happen in your own experiences. (Lantana, incidentally, is a kind of plant; no doubt its interlocking foliage mirrors the movie's story.) --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
Very Over-rated.......2007-02-08
Mediocre movie. Doesn't deserve the 4.5 stars. Not bad, but don't expect good.
Most men hold something back........2006-06-22
Nearly a full sweep at the Australian version of the Oscars, Lantana does boast a beautiful cast and an emotional subject, but it is the delivery of the core roots of this film that quickly take Lantana's kneecaps out. This is a film about trust. Lantana builds its premise and focus around characters that are untrustworthy, that have no reason to be trusted, and finally asks us to forget what we "think we know" or have heard to discover a killer among them. We are given strangers. Strangers, like in Anderson's Magnolia, are twisted together haphazardly in hopes that their random stories will bring the film closure as well as evoke a conversation about trust around the office watercooler. What transforms Lantana from classic noir film to another chatty film with a disappointing conclusion is the misdirection of the characters. Lantana boasts amazing acting, and it did just that. Lantana boasted a mystery that needed to be solved, and it did just that. Lantana boasted flawed characters which would evoke emotion, and it did just that. The issues begin as the film nears the center that these elements, while good on their own, do not allow for a strong enough overall film. The confusing circumstances that reach sporadically at the weak threads of this film are painful to watch, and will eventually transform an avid viewer into a dulled participant.
Where did Anthony LaPaglia come from? Sure, I had seen him in other films like Empire Records and The Salton Sea and the television series Without A Trace, but it wasn't until this film was I able to witness his true acting ability. After watching Lantana, I must admit, LaPaglia needs to get more work. While I didn't see him as the center of this film (that goes to Hershey's character), I did think that he outshined even the great Geoffrey Rush. He was intense and intimidating while powerfully giving us a very conflicted human character. Rush was my second favorite of the film, his toned performance gave me goosebumps as I questioned his motives and logic. Hershey was adequate. Her character provided very little (outside of the central plot) and required even less. Her chemistry was disjoined, while her delivery seemed unmotivated. The same could be said for most the other characters outside of Rush and LaPaglia. These two tremendous actors stapled the film, while the rest seemed to simply move the plot closer to the ending credits.
With such powerful acting, why didn't this movie succeed in my mind? For me, it was the flawed story. Director Ray Lawrence needed to define this film better. What was the overall message? Was it sympathy for our characters or was it an entire film about the power of trust? I could see both, but they were blurry. It was obvious that trust was the underlying moment in Lantana, but it was so blazingly pushed in your face that it became tedious quickly. I see the value of building distrust around your central characters only to demonstrate the power of trust overall, but in this film it just didn't work. Lawrence's pacing destroyed any chances of this being a strong theme. From the beginning we are pushed with this idea of trust in so many main directions such as Leon's adultery, the flirtatious neighbor, the openly gay affair, and the death of a child, that when it is provided to us in short verse, aka the son smoking weed and the wife's confused moment in the car, it just seemed overwhelming. I needed, alas wanted, a stronger story. I did not want to have to wait for nearly an hour for the plot-point to happen. Lawrence painfully made us wait, under developing characters that we fully understood early in the film, and focusing lengthily on minute details, forgetting the overall picture that this film could have accomplished.
Lantana had every element for success. The emotional characters, the Magnolia connection, a disturbing murder, a plant (actually a weed) that only waxed the surface of symbolism; these were all synonymous with success, but Lawrence could not put the puzzle pieces together with ease. It nearly drives you to the brink of madness when you realize that everything was in place, it was the mind behind the camera that could not control it. I wanted the story to work, the characters were engrossing enough, I just felt that overall the haphazard themes and overplayed obstacle of "trust" was just chaotic. There wasn't enough rhythm, there wasn't enough balance, and there wasn't enough honest connections to make Lantana worth a second viewing. One scene the immediately comes to mind was that when LaPaglia was running down his street and accidentally hits a random stranger. Later, we learn that person is not as random as we thought, but by that point our apathy towards the film is already in full swing. Director Ray Lawrence tried to mimic what Paul Thomas cornered in Magnolia, but the end result was like tasting boxed wine instead of vintage.
Grade: ** out of *****
Not bad, but not great.......2006-03-27
I'm relieved that I viewed this movie BEFORE reading the glowing reviews. Had I read the hype, I would have been disappointed. As it was, I found it mildly enjoyable though somewhat unsatisfying.
What works - the performances, particularly La Paglia, Rush, and Blake. Some incredible work by the actors and actresses in creating life-like (though profoundly depressing) characters. Likewise the cinematography. It's creepy, yet realistic and engaging.
What doesn't - I'm not quite sure. Could be the script. Could be the editing. Either way, there's just not quite enough there.
You spend the first part of the film becoming invested in these characters - most of whom are unlikeable on one level or another. But, as a viewer, you suspend these feelings and engage.
Then comes the web - they are all connected by bizarre coincidences. OK, neat. Now as viewers, we are waiting for some resolution - tie in. It is a mystery, after all. We want to know WHO and WHY.
And we wait. And wait. And what's this, an epilogue set to beautiful music. Beautifully ended, but the answers that a viewer needs most just aren't there. The only real satisfaction is the revelation that Rush's character's true whereabouts when she was leaving her messages.
Perhaps I'm not intellectual enough to connect the dots - always a possibility - but in the end, I felt a little like a little kid working a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle, only to find the last three pieces had been left out of the box. Had fun on the journey, but no sense of accomplishment.
Weeds and the Volcano.......2006-02-05
Okay. It has been confirmed. There are weeds there: lantanae. But are there volcanoes in Australia?
Yes, Anthony la Paglia plays one in this film. As Leon Zat he's also a cop cum philosopher with this fulmination for the erring, weak-willed multitudes: "Pull yourself together! You know the rest of us have to." At one point he bursts into his son's room and finds him smoking dope. He explodes, "What the #%!$ is going on?... I'm a cop!" His unrepentant son calmly responds, "Alright! So you can get the good stuff!" When Leon's not kicking some sense into a fetally positioned suspect, he can be seen, and heard, yelling at his wife, yelling at his son, yelling at his dancing instructor/piece on the side, and even yelling at a cowering pedestrian he's bumped into while jogging.
So naturally, it's his wife who's in therapy. And oh, what a therapist! Dr. Valerie Somers (Barbara Hersey) is more needy than Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois in STREETCAR... It's hard not to enjoy a movie in which it's the psychiatrist who goes a bit batty, e.g., DRESSED TO KIL, HOUSE OF GAMES. Pity the poor thing who must sit demurely in her office while trying to fathom a gay client who, gloating over his affair with a married man, says, "He told me that making love to [his wife] was like trying to fill an empty well." The double whammy waits at home where her husband looms morosely.
SHE (needfully): "I just want to know what you're thinking."
HE (exhaustedly): "Why do women always want to know that?"
End of conversation.
We understand when she begins to hear voices and proceeds to take the next exit ramp to a place called PIE IN THE SKY. Mystery here is coaxed out of misdirection and coincidence as 4 marriages in varying stages of crisis are examined.
Sadly, the film's 6 minutes too long because its "Where are they now?" coda just reeks of bathos. A major character not listed in the cast but that should have been is the murmuring guitar of Paul Kelly that enhances images and moods.
Lantana is mesmerising......LaPaglia gives a powerful performance.......2005-11-14
Anthony LaPaglia (Tv's Without A Trace, The Salton Sea) investigates the vanishing of actress Barbara Hershey (Riding the Bullet, Beaches) who is a therapist, LaPaglia goes directly to her husband Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean, Finding Nemo) and finds out that their marraige was a little shaky. Meanwhile, LaPaglia is having an affair with a woman, he has heart problems and his marraige is on the rocks and he thinks he can work things out with his wife investigating this case. Lantana is mesmersing, intriquing and just great. LaPaglia gives a powerful performance as a man who is crumbling underneath the case he is investigating, Geoffrey Rush is always awesome and Kerry Armstrong is superb as LaPaglia's wife. Also starring Rachael Blake (Derailed) as the woman LaPaglia is having the affair with...she's also great in this as well.
Average customer rating:
|
Lantana
Starring: Lantana
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
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ASIN: B000A2XD8Y
Release Date: 2004-08-17 |
Average customer rating:
- Very Over-rated
- Most men hold something back.
- Not bad, but not great
- Weeds and the Volcano
- Lantana is mesmerising......LaPaglia gives a powerful performance
|
Lantana [Region 2]
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia , Rachael Blake , Kerry Armstrong , Manu Bennett , and Melissa Martinez
Director: Ray Lawrence (II)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
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Armstrong, Kerry
| ( A )
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Hershey, Barbara
| ( H )
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Phelps, Peter
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Rush, Geoffrey
| ( R )
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Used DVDs
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| Anime & Manga
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| Documentary
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| Educational
| Fitness & Yoga
| Gay & Lesbian
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Similar Items:
- The Bank
- The Guys
- The Dish
- Paperback Romance
- Winter Solstice
ASIN: B000087I2H |
Amazon.com
It's always slightly shocking to see a movie in which the actors look and behave like real people rather than glamorous movie stars--and that's part of the power of Lantana. But its real strength lies in its carefully observed script and the rich, committed performances of its cast. Anthony LaPaglia stars as a cop with an unsteady marriage; when he begins to investigate the disappearance of a noted therapist (Barbara Hershey), he suspects that her marriage to an academic (Geoffrey Rush) was similarly troubled, and he pursues the case as if his own marriage could be redeemed through it. Every character in Lantana is fully developed, sometimes with astonishing conciseness; the coincidences that drive the plot seem as faultlessly organic as the ones that might happen in your own experiences. (Lantana, incidentally, is a kind of plant; no doubt its interlocking foliage mirrors the movie's story.) --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
Very Over-rated.......2007-02-08
Mediocre movie. Doesn't deserve the 4.5 stars. Not bad, but don't expect good.
Most men hold something back........2006-06-22
Nearly a full sweep at the Australian version of the Oscars, Lantana does boast a beautiful cast and an emotional subject, but it is the delivery of the core roots of this film that quickly take Lantana's kneecaps out. This is a film about trust. Lantana builds its premise and focus around characters that are untrustworthy, that have no reason to be trusted, and finally asks us to forget what we "think we know" or have heard to discover a killer among them. We are given strangers. Strangers, like in Anderson's Magnolia, are twisted together haphazardly in hopes that their random stories will bring the film closure as well as evoke a conversation about trust around the office watercooler. What transforms Lantana from classic noir film to another chatty film with a disappointing conclusion is the misdirection of the characters. Lantana boasts amazing acting, and it did just that. Lantana boasted a mystery that needed to be solved, and it did just that. Lantana boasted flawed characters which would evoke emotion, and it did just that. The issues begin as the film nears the center that these elements, while good on their own, do not allow for a strong enough overall film. The confusing circumstances that reach sporadically at the weak threads of this film are painful to watch, and will eventually transform an avid viewer into a dulled participant.
Where did Anthony LaPaglia come from? Sure, I had seen him in other films like Empire Records and The Salton Sea and the television series Without A Trace, but it wasn't until this film was I able to witness his true acting ability. After watching Lantana, I must admit, LaPaglia needs to get more work. While I didn't see him as the center of this film (that goes to Hershey's character), I did think that he outshined even the great Geoffrey Rush. He was intense and intimidating while powerfully giving us a very conflicted human character. Rush was my second favorite of the film, his toned performance gave me goosebumps as I questioned his motives and logic. Hershey was adequate. Her character provided very little (outside of the central plot) and required even less. Her chemistry was disjoined, while her delivery seemed unmotivated. The same could be said for most the other characters outside of Rush and LaPaglia. These two tremendous actors stapled the film, while the rest seemed to simply move the plot closer to the ending credits.
With such powerful acting, why didn't this movie succeed in my mind? For me, it was the flawed story. Director Ray Lawrence needed to define this film better. What was the overall message? Was it sympathy for our characters or was it an entire film about the power of trust? I could see both, but they were blurry. It was obvious that trust was the underlying moment in Lantana, but it was so blazingly pushed in your face that it became tedious quickly. I see the value of building distrust around your central characters only to demonstrate the power of trust overall, but in this film it just didn't work. Lawrence's pacing destroyed any chances of this being a strong theme. From the beginning we are pushed with this idea of trust in so many main directions such as Leon's adultery, the flirtatious neighbor, the openly gay affair, and the death of a child, that when it is provided to us in short verse, aka the son smoking weed and the wife's confused moment in the car, it just seemed overwhelming. I needed, alas wanted, a stronger story. I did not want to have to wait for nearly an hour for the plot-point to happen. Lawrence painfully made us wait, under developing characters that we fully understood early in the film, and focusing lengthily on minute details, forgetting the overall picture that this film could have accomplished.
Lantana had every element for success. The emotional characters, the Magnolia connection, a disturbing murder, a plant (actually a weed) that only waxed the surface of symbolism; these were all synonymous with success, but Lawrence could not put the puzzle pieces together with ease. It nearly drives you to the brink of madness when you realize that everything was in place, it was the mind behind the camera that could not control it. I wanted the story to work, the characters were engrossing enough, I just felt that overall the haphazard themes and overplayed obstacle of "trust" was just chaotic. There wasn't enough rhythm, there wasn't enough balance, and there wasn't enough honest connections to make Lantana worth a second viewing. One scene the immediately comes to mind was that when LaPaglia was running down his street and accidentally hits a random stranger. Later, we learn that person is not as random as we thought, but by that point our apathy towards the film is already in full swing. Director Ray Lawrence tried to mimic what Paul Thomas cornered in Magnolia, but the end result was like tasting boxed wine instead of vintage.
Grade: ** out of *****
Not bad, but not great.......2006-03-27
I'm relieved that I viewed this movie BEFORE reading the glowing reviews. Had I read the hype, I would have been disappointed. As it was, I found it mildly enjoyable though somewhat unsatisfying.
What works - the performances, particularly La Paglia, Rush, and Blake. Some incredible work by the actors and actresses in creating life-like (though profoundly depressing) characters. Likewise the cinematography. It's creepy, yet realistic and engaging.
What doesn't - I'm not quite sure. Could be the script. Could be the editing. Either way, there's just not quite enough there.
You spend the first part of the film becoming invested in these characters - most of whom are unlikeable on one level or another. But, as a viewer, you suspend these feelings and engage.
Then comes the web - they are all connected by bizarre coincidences. OK, neat. Now as viewers, we are waiting for some resolution - tie in. It is a mystery, after all. We want to know WHO and WHY.
And we wait. And wait. And what's this, an epilogue set to beautiful music. Beautifully ended, but the answers that a viewer needs most just aren't there. The only real satisfaction is the revelation that Rush's character's true whereabouts when she was leaving her messages.
Perhaps I'm not intellectual enough to connect the dots - always a possibility - but in the end, I felt a little like a little kid working a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle, only to find the last three pieces had been left out of the box. Had fun on the journey, but no sense of accomplishment.
Weeds and the Volcano.......2006-02-05
Okay. It has been confirmed. There are weeds there: lantanae. But are there volcanoes in Australia?
Yes, Anthony la Paglia plays one in this film. As Leon Zat he's also a cop cum philosopher with this fulmination for the erring, weak-willed multitudes: "Pull yourself together! You know the rest of us have to." At one point he bursts into his son's room and finds him smoking dope. He explodes, "What the #%!$ is going on?... I'm a cop!" His unrepentant son calmly responds, "Alright! So you can get the good stuff!" When Leon's not kicking some sense into a fetally positioned suspect, he can be seen, and heard, yelling at his wife, yelling at his son, yelling at his dancing instructor/piece on the side, and even yelling at a cowering pedestrian he's bumped into while jogging.
So naturally, it's his wife who's in therapy. And oh, what a therapist! Dr. Valerie Somers (Barbara Hersey) is more needy than Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois in STREETCAR... It's hard not to enjoy a movie in which it's the psychiatrist who goes a bit batty, e.g., DRESSED TO KIL, HOUSE OF GAMES. Pity the poor thing who must sit demurely in her office while trying to fathom a gay client who, gloating over his affair with a married man, says, "He told me that making love to [his wife] was like trying to fill an empty well." The double whammy waits at home where her husband looms morosely.
SHE (needfully): "I just want to know what you're thinking."
HE (exhaustedly): "Why do women always want to know that?"
End of conversation.
We understand when she begins to hear voices and proceeds to take the next exit ramp to a place called PIE IN THE SKY. Mystery here is coaxed out of misdirection and coincidence as 4 marriages in varying stages of crisis are examined.
Sadly, the film's 6 minutes too long because its "Where are they now?" coda just reeks of bathos. A major character not listed in the cast but that should have been is the murmuring guitar of Paul Kelly that enhances images and moods.
Lantana is mesmerising......LaPaglia gives a powerful performance.......2005-11-14
Anthony LaPaglia (Tv's Without A Trace, The Salton Sea) investigates the vanishing of actress Barbara Hershey (Riding the Bullet, Beaches) who is a therapist, LaPaglia goes directly to her husband Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean, Finding Nemo) and finds out that their marraige was a little shaky. Meanwhile, LaPaglia is having an affair with a woman, he has heart problems and his marraige is on the rocks and he thinks he can work things out with his wife investigating this case. Lantana is mesmersing, intriquing and just great. LaPaglia gives a powerful performance as a man who is crumbling underneath the case he is investigating, Geoffrey Rush is always awesome and Kerry Armstrong is superb as LaPaglia's wife. Also starring Rachael Blake (Derailed) as the woman LaPaglia is having the affair with...she's also great in this as well.
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