As Good As It Gets

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This movie version of 'Under the Volcano' is for me a godsend. The reason for this somewhat indulgent gratitude is because this is a book I have been struggling with for a number of years, the exact number I refuse to divulge because it would make me sound like an idiot. When I choose to read it, it sends me to sleep; when I am awake it drives me crazy. I ignore it, and feel guilty. I start to read it again and go through the entire process over; it isn't a lot of fun. To make a leap of off-topic logic, I have no intention of comparing the book to the film. I feel embarrassed to say that this a reasonably successful attempt at adapting a notoriously difficult work of fiction. The movie version of 'Under the Volcano' is something that can stand on its own, as well as encourage more interested members of the audience to return to the source material, or at least give it a try, which is what I've been trying to do for years. Albert Finney gives a tour de force performance as Geoffrey Firmin, a diplomat living in Mexico who appears to have finally succumbed to the ravages of alcoholism. His wastrel half-brother is trying to assist, but it seems no use. His ex-wife who has left him returns perhaps for not the most altruistic of reasons, but seems unaware of how dangerously close he is to complete oblivion and an unmourned death. This does not sound like terribly exciting stuff. Director John Huston and writer Guy Gallo make a valiant attempt to insert some of Lowry's symbolism into the narrative, without making it too obscure for the audience to follow, at least for those who have been previously acquainted with the book. There are many performances in the filmic canon of men coping with a substance abuse problem and I think that Albert Finney is phenomenal playing a drunk; he is in fact drunk throughout the entire film, and I don't know if that's ever been done before. The audience is expected to forget that he is actually, constantly drunk, and the performance works beautifully. Jacqueline Bisset is impressive as Yvonne, a mature role for an actress who knows her business and acquits herself admirably. Anthony Andrews as Hugh seems to have had some of his part cut out of the movie, but he is frank and fresh faced and gives an intelligent performance. I give 'Under the Volcano' high marks. As an adaptation of a novel which was thought to be unfilmable, it makes a good account of itself. I should also mention the location shooting which lends a nice authenticity, the casting of many locals as extras (such as the old lady playing dominoes with a chicken) and lovely photography and set design. 'Under the Volcano' is a profound version of its complex and brilliant source material, which to me is a good reason to recommend it.

This is a fairly forgotten gem from the mid-80s, based on the classic and tragic novel of the same name. The film is also the legendary John Huston's third last movie as a director. Taking place in Mexico during the festival known as the Day of the Dead, the film also works against a backdrop of the early days of WWII, and explores the fragmented love triangle between a former British diplomat (Albert Finney), his estranged wife (Jacqueline Bisset), and his adventurous journalist brother (Anthony Andrews).Under the Volcano starts out slowly, following the corpse-like wandering of retired diplomat Geoffrey Firmin as he explores the Day of the Dead and seeks out booze to feed his alcoholism. We're given various clues as to what has left him in such a sodden and rambling state, and we learn that his wife divorced him from abroad. Geoffrey proceeds to drink himself into oblivion, and into the fray enters his erstwhile wife Yvonne... testing the waters as it were for a possible reconciliation. Geoffrey's brother Hugh, recently returned from the Spanish civil war, is at a loss as to where he fits in with regards to their relationship, and also in regards to the world itself. The three decide to take a day trip out of town, with Yvonne and Hugh unsure of where Geoffrey's health and state of mind will literally lead them.This film is a rambling, elegaic swansong to suntouched dreams fortified by alcohol. These three people try to outrun their demons and replace their mistakes with hollow new plans - Yvonne hopes to start her life anew, but Geoffrey's disgracefully drunken state makes him an unpredictable quantity to bank on, especially in regards to whether he can forgive her for the adultery that left him in such a state. Geoffrey tells a story at one point about a colonial named Blackstone, a man who turned native and disliked the puritans who tried to save him so much that he simply just disappeared into the wilderness. There's obviously something about this story that appeals to Geoffrey as he seems to identify with Blackstone so much that he later tells strangers that it's his name, and you can't help but feel that this is the only solution to the problems at hand that he can truly grasp at. Bubbling underneath the surface of the film all this time is a slowly building sense of doom highlighted by the coming of WWII, the ominous woodwind score, and the film's title itself. Geoffrey alludes to a horrific war story at several points, drawing comparisons with the 30s horror film Mad Love (referred to here as The Hands of Orlac) with his belief that "Some things you can't apologise for", and this quote echoes throughout the film whenever the main characters are forced to come face to face with each other's mistakes.This won't be a film to everyone's taste, it starts out as something approaching a travel-drama but kind of mutates into outright tragedy in it's second half. At the core of Under the Volcano is a staggering performance from Albert Finney as the drunken diplomat. Finney was more than rightfully nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his realistic depiction of the life of a hopeless drunk... full of whimsy and cheer and rambling anecdotes, treading a fine line between absolute tankdom and lucidness, and tapping into all kinds of ambivalent emotions that would be far too challenging to a less complex and accomplished actor. Too often the drunk in film is shown as either a figure for comedy, fear or tragedy, but never are they shown as realistically as Finney's characterisation here. I could see shades of every pathetic and hilarious drunk I've ever met at a pub or a party in Under the Volcano's Geoffrey Firmin, and the film makes no compromises whatsoever in showing this for what it is. One of the best performances in film.HIGHLIGHTS: There's nothing quite like a sinister Mexican dwarf grinning while he makes obscene gestures with his hands. I found this bit to be quite offputting and creepy.

This film is to Leaving Las Vegas as The Howling is to Little Red Riding Hood. Under The Volcano is the most grindingly real portrayal of the true devastation of alcoholism ever put on film (I've seen them all from Lost Weekend forward). This is no romantic movie where a guy decides he will go to Vegas and drink himself to death in 6 weeks then meets a devastatingly gorgeous chick who takes care of him the rest of the way. In this film the real horrors of alcohol are convincingly portrayed as the main character loses all track of reality and cannot tell whether his wife is really her or a hallucination. And because of that intermittent fading out and in, he loses the one chance he might have had at redemption. There is no romance here. There is no fabulous girl to have sex with while he's dying. This guy lives in a world so much more terrifying than Nic Cage's world in LLV as to be about two entirely different human experiences.Not everyone will be able to stand this. It's almost unremittingly awful. But for anyone who is an alcoholic, recovering or otherwise, or who has lived under its shadow as someone related to or in love with an alcoholic, this is textbook stuff. Malcolm Lowery was an alcoholic and died of the disease. He put all he had into this book. No punches are pulled. The benchmark of the genre.

Imagine Albert Finney, one of the great ham bones of the acting world. Imagine one of the great ham bones of the acting world playing a character who's drunk for the entire length of the movie. If you can imagine this, you can imagine why the audience applauded when Albert Finney's character finally died because it meant that the movie was apt to be over soon as well. Predictable and self-consciously "arty," the movie never seemed to be about anything, but rather seemed to be a vehicle for Albert Finney to overact (as usual). The plot was non-existent and the characters were stereotypical "strangers in a strange land."