Jim Carrey, Ed Harris and Laura Linney in the Peter Weir movie ‘The Truman Show’

The Truman Show (1998) movie by screenwriter Andrew Niccol became a psychological comedy after producer Scott Rudin acquired the script. Originally planned as a science fiction thriller with the potential for Brian De Palma directing, Peter Weir directed the well-performing movie about a fictional television show starring the fictional Truman Burbank.

(From left, Noah Emmerich as Louis Coltrane, playing Marlon and Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank in the Peter Weir movie The Truman Show).

Truman Burbank, portrayed by Jim Carrey, was adopted and raised by the fictional television show that introduced him to us at his birth. A fictional city named Seahaven Island was built for him and the show under an enormous dome that was, in the world of the movie, visible from space. Within the movie, Christof, the show’s creator and primary decision maker for what happens in a heavily fictionalized world, is in charge of the major day-to-day life of the world around Truman. Ed Harris portrayed Christof.

(From left, Paul Giamatti as Simeon and Ed Harris as Christof in the Peter Weir movie The Truman Show).

Part of the notion of the show informing what we see was the desire to keep the fictional show going for as long as possible. The storylines introduced to make this happen, as run in the movie by Christof, takes the further step of keeping internal continuity for Truman with his work, his friends and his family. Much of the humor for the backstory existed in this space, in addition to the portrayal of Truman himself by Carrey.

(From left, Holland Taylor as Truman Burbank’s mother, Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank and Laura Linney as Hannah Gill, acting as Meryl Burbank in the Peter Weir movie The Truman Show).

The notion of family, friendships and work were central to the day-to-day that were the point of The Truman Show. Noah Emmerich, for example, portrayed the actor Louis Coltrane playing Truman’s close friend Marlon. The actress Hannah Gill, playing Truman’s wife, Meryl Burbank, was portrayed by Laura Linney. When the sensibility of Truman Burbank as an adult kicked in, the two storylines combined in some humorous and marginally scary ways included the aid of Truman’s television show mother, portrayed by Holland Taylor.

(Natascha McElhone as actress Sylvia, playing Lauren Garland, in the Peter Weir movie The Truman Show).

Besides the fact that the curiosity of the character of Truman was tethered to a healthy dose of reality that was possibly late blooming, the fact that the movie The Truman Show inserted calls to the human character of a real person (ostensibly Truman) were crucial. To engage The Truman Show with the somewhat suspended sense believability needed, offered the familial appeal for the movie that allowed the movie both critical and audience appreciation as confirmed here. Bringing this home were the roles of actress Sylvia playing Sylvia, as portrayed by Natascha McElhone, and Walter Moore, playing Truman’s father Kirk Burbank, portrayed by Brian Delate.

(From left, actor Jim Carrey and director Peter Weir in the Peter Weir movie The Truman Show).

The Truman Show movie and television show of the same name within the movie were both aware of themselves and their tenuous hold of reality to suggest the psychological question “How does it end?” This question, in a sense, moves beyond the imagined television audience and Truman Burbank, or even us and Truman Burbank, into a question about Truman Burbank and show creator Christof. How will their relationship end, or in this case begin in a mutually aware way? That the story moves beyond into this direction with an overcoming of fear as the central metaphor / stand-in for Truman and Christof is, in the end, where I find the movie works best. My grade for The Truman Show as directed by Peter Weir is 4-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, April 16, 2022

Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey and the David Fincher film ‘Se7en’

We looked into the planning of a murder last Saturday when looking at Alfred Hitchcock‘s Dial M for Murder (1954). Today we extend the look into the madness of murder planning through the lens of a police procedural with a string of themed murders in the David Fincher movie Se7en (1995).

(From left, R. Lee Ermey as the police captain, Morgan Freeman as Detective Lieutenant William Somerset, Brad Pitt as Detective David Mills & Richard Roundtree as District Attorney Martin Talbot in the David Fincher movie Se7en).

The movie Se7en deals in the unlikely pairing of young police detective David Mills with experienced police detective and lieutenant William Somerset by their police captain. R. Lee Ermey portrayed the police captain that assigned Mills and Somerset together, combining know how and the experience of Somerset with the youth and exuberance of Mills. Brad Pitt portrayed Mills opposite Morgan Freeman‘s portrayal of Somerset.

(The seven deadly sins as referenced in the David Fincher movie Se7en).

At the time of the pairing, the case that grew into a connection of seven murders started as the final investigation for Somerset before he retired. Mills had just joined the unit in the New York City, New York neighborhood, having earned a bit of an investigational track record that wasn’t yet on par with Somerset. When there became a theme of repeating murders that grew past the original murder, a drama that would put these two men at the center of it would start to form.

(From left, Gwyneth Paltrow as Tracy Mills and Brad Pitt as Detective David Mills in the David Fincher movie Se7en).

The two detectives did not see the world similarly with regards to police methodology, life experience, or much of a notion of liking one another. Sensing this false start, we as the audience are introduced to the family of David and Tracy Mills with William Somerset at Tracy’s urging. In the Mills’ home, we get a thawing of the Somerset and David Mills relationship over dinner and some comic relief around the youthful mistake of buying a home along the line of an elevated subway train. Gwyneth Paltrow portrayed Tracy Mills.

(From left, Morgan Freeman as Detective Lieutenant William Somerset and Kevin Spacey as John Doe in the David Fincher movie Se7en).

Both Tracy Mills and the New York Public Library factor into where the larger narrative of where this movie was headed. The character of John Doe, as portrayed by Kevin Spacey, is not introduced to the audience until well into the movie. The fate of John Doe, Detective Lieutenant Somerset, and the Mills couple is as potentially dark as the mystery underpinning the religious mythology that accompanies the notion of the seven deadly sins at the core of this movie.

(Director David Fincher is shown on the set of the movie Se7en. Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, not pictured, wrote the screenplay for the David Fincher film).

The unfolding of the story that is Se7en struck me as powerfully written and well-paced. The movie holds up to multiple viewings, with the way things come together in resolving the underpinning mystery in a manner that quite possibly defies the expectation many viewers had coming into the film. It’s with regard for the cinematography as well as the storytelling that I offer David Fincher‘s Se7en 4.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, August 11, 2021