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GRAND CANYON
Review by Gordon Justesen
Stars:
Danny Glover, Kevin Kline, Steve Martin, Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard
Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Audio: English Dolby Digital 4.0, Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround
Video: Widescreen 2.35:1 Anamorphic Transfer
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Features: Featurette, Trailers
Length: 137 Minutes
Release
Date: March 13, 2001
Film
****
Once in a while,
movies take aim at contemporary life in an uncompromising manner, and it has
hardly ever been captured in the honest approach that finds itself in Lawrence
Kasdan’s brilliant film Grand Canyon.
Kasdan isn’t new to this kind of big canvas, multi-character movie, as he did
a similar piece with The Big Chill in
1983. As that film was confined to a group of friends reuniting for a friend’s
funeral, Grand Canyon is a portrait of
characters that find themselves in emotionally challenging circumstances in the
stressful life in modern day Los Angeles.
The film’s opening
moments give a perfect illustration of what the central theme is. A middle class
accountant named Mack (Kevin Kline) suffers an engine breakdown in a rough
neighborhood, and is soon enough approached by a threatening street gang. As one
of them attempts to pull out his gun, the tow truck arrives on the scene. The
driver of the truck is Simon (Danny Glover), and he not only accomplishes his
duty as a tow truck driver, but he also resolves the situation with the gang
members, saving Mack’s life in the process. A few days later, Mack locates
Simon and offers to buy him coffee and breakfast as a sign of thanks for what
Simon did for him a few nights previous.
Other characters in
the film include a close friend of Mack’s named Davis (Steve Martin), who is a
producer of violent, carnage-filled B-movies, which changes the day he is mugged
and shot in the leg. After leaving the hospital, he refuses to ever be
associated with violence in the movies ever again. Claire (Mary McDonnell),
Mack’s wife, finds an opportunity to begin her life all over again. As her
only son in the family is about to leave for college, she discovers an abandoned
baby in the bushes one day while jogging in the neighborhood. Mack at first
questions the notion, but then comes around to realizing the situation, since
Simon gave him a chance at a new life, Claire is doing the same thing for the
baby. Mack is also going under stress at his work place, as a female co-worker
named Dee (Mary-Louise Parker) is infatuated with him, and the situation is
psychologically torturing her by the minute. Another co-worker of Mack’s
(Alfre Woodard) is set up by Mack to go on a date with Simon, who is divorced.
One of the triumphs
of the film is its brave attempt to show characters that break down the social
barriers that have been erected between people. It takes a look at the middle
class life, as well as a real in depth look at living in the rough neighborhoods
of South Central L.A. The city of Los Angeles is perceived as a jungle of a
place, and it is one that is truly difficult to get out of, as illustrated when
Simon’s sister’s house is shot down in a drive by, and she and her kids
immediately move to bit safer area, with Simon’s help. And the purpose of
having Grand Canyon as the movie’s
title is very important to the film’s significance. Some of the character’s
do take a trip to the tour site at the film’s end. As Glover’s character
points out, “When you stand on the edge of it, and look out at it, you simply
realize what a joke we as people are”, and the closing moments really do
stress that point. This is a very wonderful film that makes a brave attempt to
look in between the lines at the pain of contemporary life with a rare, sharp
vision.
Video ****
You simply can’t lose with Fox. Considering that this is a
ten-year-old movie, I really wasn’t expecting much from this transfer, but
this is really as sharp and clear as a transfer can get. L.A. has never looked
better, as every scene comes through with crisp, digital perfection. Colors are
absolutely perfected for the entire viewing. This anamorphically enhanced
presentation is a grand looking transfer from one of the top DVD makers out
there.
Audio ***
A very decent audio
mix for a movie made up primarily of dialogue. Fox has offered up a rare 4.0
Digital track, in addition to the usual 2.0 surround audio tracks. Dialogue and
the film’s wonderful and unique musical score by James Newton Howard are
delivered very well in this presentation.
Features **
A somewhat surprising
departure from Fox’s usual brilliant use of extras. This time around, we are
offered a brief featurette, and a trailer for this movie, as well as five other
Fox titles; The Ice Storm, Inventing the
Abbotts, Paradise Road, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, and Titus.
Summary:
Grand
Canyon
is a wonderful look at life and people in the big city. Fans of such films as Playing By Heart and Magnolia
will definitely want to check this piece out, as it is much in the same quality.