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| Minimalistic, elegant poster for Sean Penn's The Crossing Guard |
QUICK REVIEW:
Freddy visits strip clubs and cursorily runs his jewel business. When the man who killed his daughter in a DUI accident gets released from jail, Freddy has to confront his inner demons.
Because of Jack Nicholson's (The Shining (1980)) feat of strength here, which many fail to recognize, and helped by solid secondary performances from Robin Wright (A Most Wanted Man (2014)), David Morse (The Hurt Locker (2008)), Angelica Huston (The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004)) and others, Crossing Guard shines strongly, in my view. It is well-written and -directed by Sean Penn (Into the Wild (2007)), who is a master director as well as a class actor.
Here he has staged the story showing great sensitivity for the realistically balanced drama. The film is heightened by fine camera work by great Hungarian cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (Deliverance (1972)) and the last score by the great Jack Nitzsche (Stand By Me (1986)). The film even has a fine, cathartic ending SPOILER by the grave-site. The Crossing Guard is a really good film, (even if many will (wrongfully) tell you that Penn and Nicholson's second collaboration, The Pledge (2001), is better.)
Penn is busy at the moment putting his last touches on his next film as a director, the Africa-themed The Last Face, starring his wife Charlize Theron.
Related review:
Sean Penn: Gangster Squad (2013) or, Good Men vs. Bad Men! (as actor)
The Tree of Life (2011) or, Mother, Father, Sharks, Dinosaurs, My Brothers, Sunflowers, the Desert, the Wind and Me (as actor)
21 Grams (2003) or, Hardcore Life (as actor)
The Pledge (2001) - Maddening, realistic, unpleasant child-killer story
Carlito's Way (1993) - De Palma's best gangster movie (as actor)
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| Jack Nicholson in Sean Penn's The Crossing Guard |
Watch the admittedly pretty lousy trailer for the film here
Cost: 9 mil. $
Box office: 0.8 mil. $ (US only)
= Mega-flop
[The film's total defeat at the American box office (I have no foreign numbers, besides that ca. 244k paid admission to see it in France) is pretty strange. Did Miramax drop it in the toilet, distribution- and marketing-wise, and if so, why? The film definitely deserved a much better commercial reception than it got.]
What do you think of The Crossing Guard?
And Penn's other films as a director?
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