Near the beginning of The Revenant—set in 1823 in the unchartered winter wilds of Montana and South Dakota—guide Hugh Glass ( Leonardo DiCaprio ) is briefly separated from his party of trappers and hunters. During the separation, Glass is the victim of a vicious bear attack and inexplicably survives. Straggling back into camp, group leader John Fitzgerald ( Tom Hardy, marble-mouthed as usual ) leaves Glass for dead rather than be burdened with him, burying Glass in a shallow grave for good measure. But Glass survives that, too, and slowly—at times, literally crawling—treks his way through the frozen woods and icy waters surrounding him in a quest for revenge: Fitzgerald has also murdered Glass' son in cold blood.
The film, which is based in fact, captures nature in all its exquisite, frosty beauty. ( It was shot by legendary cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki mostly in Canada. ) Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarraitu ( Birdman; Amores Perros ) insisted no green screen be used and the gorgeous landscapes are, indeed, breathtaking to behold.
But this visual feast, unfortunately, is in service to a story that pummels not only its leading character into submission but the audience, too. Worse, as Glass goes from one physical challenge to the next, we don't get anything resembling the emotional complexity these man against nature stories cry out for. Glass dreams about his murdered wife and son but mostly he hangs in there—even taking up residence inside the carcass of a dead horse at one point for shelter against the deep freeze ( taking a page from The Empire Strikes Back ). And we hang in there—barely, too.
DiCaprio is said to have gone to frigid hell and back, physically challenging himself at the behest of his eager director and for his strenuous efforts; he is reaping some of the best notices of his career. But his work here, in what amounts to little more than a field day for testosterone junkies, is light years from his fully fleshed-out performances in myriad other films stretching all the way back to What's Eating Gilbert Grape? Should DiCaprio go on to win the Oscar for The Revenant, it will be an award for endurance rather than acting.
Of related interest: The Hateful Eight, the latest from writer-director Quentin Tarantino, is a three-hour western opus focused on a group of disparate characters snowbound during a blizzard in the Old West. The film is described as a Sergio Leone, blood-spattered variation on the classic Agatha Christie murder mystery And Then There Were None.
Shot on 70mm, the film is being presented in widescreen format in the classic road-show style, complete with intermission. Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tim Roth, Bruce Dern and Demian Bichir co-star. The Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., is screening the movie in 70mm in a specially installed 40 foot screen specially installed for the engagement. http://www.musicboxtheatre.com/features/hateful-eight
'Joy' to the world
"I love when the ordinary meets the extraordinary," Bradley Cooper ( as QVC exec Neil Warren ) enthuses to Jennifer Lawrence as Joy, a frazzled single mother-turned-inventor, when they meet for the first time. It has taken a lot for Joy—and the audience—to get to this hallowed moment in writer-director David O. Russell's comic biopic of Miracle Mop creator Joy Mangano. Up to that point, we have witnessed an intermittently delightful Cinderella meets Queen for a Day story.
Joy's eccentric family—a modern-day version of the crazy Kirby's in You Can't Take It With You—have helped power the first half of Russell's rather uneven movie. But once Joy's invention—and the machinations surrounding it—come into play, the movie veers away from those delightful goofballs and loses its focus. And when you have Robert DeNiro, Isabella Rossellini, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen and Edgar Ramirez playing those wackos, you want to stay with them. Although it meanders away from those lovely eccentrics for the most part, Lawrence, collaborating with Russell for the third time, turns in her usual exemplary work. While Joy never quite lives up to its title, it has enough of Lawrence to make it seem so.
Upcoming movie calendar
Highlights from films opening in Chicago on Jan. 8 and 15.
Anomalisa ( 1/8 )—It's a stop-motion animated dramedy for adults about a man who works in customer service but finds himself unable to connect with others in his personal life. It's from writer Charlie Kaufman ( Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ) and based on his play, co-directed with Duke Johnson. David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason-Leigh and Tom Noonan provide the voices.
The Forest ( 1/8 )—It's a supernatural horror thriller about a young U.S. woman ( Natalie Dormer ) who travels to Japan to investigate the unexpected death of her twin sister. Her search leads her to an infamous forest at the base of Mount Fuji filled with the angry and tormented souls of the dead who prey on the living.
Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict ( 1/8 )—Lisa Immordino Vreeland follows her documentary Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel—about her style maven grandmother-in-law—with this portrait of the renowned heiress and modern-art champion ( Jackson Pollack, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, etc. ) whose collection was housed in her renowned Venetian palazzo. http://www.musicboxtheatre.com/features/peggy-guggenheim-art-addict
The Revenant ( 1/8 )—See details above.
Sympathy, Said the Shark ( 1/11 only )—This psychological thriller is told, Rashomon-style, from the perspective of the three principals: a young couple and their estranged friend, who bursts in on them late one night during a rainstorm, bloodied and insisting someone is out to kill him. Director Devin Lawrence and filmmakers will be in attendance at this Chicago premiere at Facets Cinematheque, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. http://www.facets.org/cinematheque/films/jan2016/sympathy.php
The Benefactor ( 1/15 )—Richard Gere stars ( and apparently chews the scenery ) in this melodrama about a disgraced Philadelphia philanthropist who emerges from a self-imposed exile, after friends are killed in an accident, and attaches himself to the pregnant daughter ( Dakota Fanning ) of the friend and her new husband ( Theo James ). The Chicago premiere will take place exclusively at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St.. http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/thebenefactor
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Bengazhi ( 1/15 )—An action thriller from blockbuster specialist Michael Bay, it's the story of a half-dozen special security officers defending the Libyan consulate from an attack by Islamic militants. John Krasinski heads a cast of up-and-coming heartthrobs, and the movie's based on a true story.
