David O'ConnellEdmond
February 4th 2009 02:55
It seems an unlikely collaboration on paper: acclaimed playwright and master filmmaker in his own right, David Mamet, joining forces with cult horror director Stuart Gordon, the man responsible for so colourfully bringing to life the works of H.P. Lovecraft with unforgettable 80’s B-classics like Re-Animator and From Beyond.
Here, Mamet has adapted for the screen his little-known 1982 one-act play and handed the reins to Gordon (who in fact directed Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago for the stage in 1974). It tells the tale of Edmond Burke (William H. Macy), a 47 year-old who’s transformed from office drone to wanted man in a single dark night of the soul trawling through the seedy neon jungle of a city and its lurid underbelly.
This is a very different Mamet work, conjuring as he does an allegorical nightmare for poor Edmond, a man with an array of prejudices so deeply planted that nothing until this point has been able to provoke them out of their dark hiding places in his subconscious. The story begins simply enough, Edmond ending another day at his firm before impulsively entering a fortune-teller’s lair where he’s told he’s “not where you belong” in his life. He winds his way home to inform his wife (Rebecca Pidgeon) that he’s leaving for good and hasn’t loved her for years.
Back out on the street again he begins his nightmarish odyssey; one initiated by an encounter with a racist stranger in a bar (Joe Mantegna) which unlocks a need in Edmond to unleash his own withheld racist and sexist views. He ventures into a strip-club hoping for sexual release but becomes outraged by their prices. He drifts away, with little money, hoping for satisfaction elsewhere and though frustrated and held-up at every turn, he soon becomes a participant in a series of random encounters with strangers which make life dangerous for both Edmond and those around him. His rage becomes fueled and spiteful, leading to extreme, deranged but enervating behaviour which feels rapturous for a man whose restraint has been like a constricting knot around his throat until now.
Playing out like a much darker version of Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, Mamet’s screenplay showcases all his trademarks including dialogue with its own unique beat which, whilst not exactly naturalistic, is still filled with salient social commentary. It helps that Macy, so familiar with the director’s style through years of collaboration, is able to invest Edmond with conviction, even as his rage transforms into hideous proportions. The few bursts of violence may be stylized but are still confronting.
He plays Edmond as if he were a ticking time bomb, whose inevitable detonation is a metaphorical proclamation of all the world’s ills, and the philosophical ponderings that end the film bring Edmond’s transformation full circle from the meek, invisible office worker of the opening scenes. The support players fill the gaps perfectly but this is Macy’s show, Mamet his persuasive ventriloquist.
Bobby Johnston’s downbeat jazzy score is a notable contribution too like the thumping of a heavy heart accompanying Edmond’s radical decline into spiritual turmoil and quest for salvation.
Gordon’s direction is fairly conventional but there’s a lot of fun to be had in spotting a whole range of cameos, including many from both Mamet and Gordon’s past work; as well as Mantegna and Pidgeon, there’s George Wendt, Jeffrey Combs, Bai Ling, Mena Suvari, Julia Stiles and others.
Edmond, released in 2006, may be the darkest work Mamet has ever transferred to the screen, and whilst it retains his signature style, it reveals glimpses at a few fresh, though slightly disturbing insights, into his brilliant creative mind.
Here, Mamet has adapted for the screen his little-known 1982 one-act play and handed the reins to Gordon (who in fact directed Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago for the stage in 1974). It tells the tale of Edmond Burke (William H. Macy), a 47 year-old who’s transformed from office drone to wanted man in a single dark night of the soul trawling through the seedy neon jungle of a city and its lurid underbelly.
This is a very different Mamet work, conjuring as he does an allegorical nightmare for poor Edmond, a man with an array of prejudices so deeply planted that nothing until this point has been able to provoke them out of their dark hiding places in his subconscious. The story begins simply enough, Edmond ending another day at his firm before impulsively entering a fortune-teller’s lair where he’s told he’s “not where you belong” in his life. He winds his way home to inform his wife (Rebecca Pidgeon) that he’s leaving for good and hasn’t loved her for years.
Back out on the street again he begins his nightmarish odyssey; one initiated by an encounter with a racist stranger in a bar (Joe Mantegna) which unlocks a need in Edmond to unleash his own withheld racist and sexist views. He ventures into a strip-club hoping for sexual release but becomes outraged by their prices. He drifts away, with little money, hoping for satisfaction elsewhere and though frustrated and held-up at every turn, he soon becomes a participant in a series of random encounters with strangers which make life dangerous for both Edmond and those around him. His rage becomes fueled and spiteful, leading to extreme, deranged but enervating behaviour which feels rapturous for a man whose restraint has been like a constricting knot around his throat until now.
Playing out like a much darker version of Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, Mamet’s screenplay showcases all his trademarks including dialogue with its own unique beat which, whilst not exactly naturalistic, is still filled with salient social commentary. It helps that Macy, so familiar with the director’s style through years of collaboration, is able to invest Edmond with conviction, even as his rage transforms into hideous proportions. The few bursts of violence may be stylized but are still confronting.
He plays Edmond as if he were a ticking time bomb, whose inevitable detonation is a metaphorical proclamation of all the world’s ills, and the philosophical ponderings that end the film bring Edmond’s transformation full circle from the meek, invisible office worker of the opening scenes. The support players fill the gaps perfectly but this is Macy’s show, Mamet his persuasive ventriloquist.
Bobby Johnston’s downbeat jazzy score is a notable contribution too like the thumping of a heavy heart accompanying Edmond’s radical decline into spiritual turmoil and quest for salvation.
Gordon’s direction is fairly conventional but there’s a lot of fun to be had in spotting a whole range of cameos, including many from both Mamet and Gordon’s past work; as well as Mantegna and Pidgeon, there’s George Wendt, Jeffrey Combs, Bai Ling, Mena Suvari, Julia Stiles and others.
Edmond, released in 2006, may be the darkest work Mamet has ever transferred to the screen, and whilst it retains his signature style, it reveals glimpses at a few fresh, though slightly disturbing insights, into his brilliant creative mind.
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Mamet based his Edmond on acclaimed academic and communist-leaning scholar Edmund Wilson. He was going to call the movie Wilson but he saved that name for another character in a movie about racist idealogue Daniel Defoe.
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Hope you get to see it soon Dawn. If it sounds up your alley and you like either Macy or Mamet you'll be mesmerised by it.
Would love to see your own review of it Cib!
Nice one Norm! Thanks for stopping by mate, you're always good value!
Comment by Bryn
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Comment by David O'Connell
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I love Jeffrey Combs. Having been a big fan of H.P.Lovecraft's work as a late teenager (after having been pointed in that direction by Stephen King's many references to him in Danse Macabre) I'll always associate him as Herbert West! He was magnificent, so perfect inhabiting that very intense, mad scientific genius persona!
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READ THIS
SISTERS IN CRIME
Comment by David O'Connell
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Comment by JohnDoe
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I find it hard to be objective about Mamet's work because I love his style so much..this one delivered a worthy punch and brilliantly controlled insight into muted confidence and social stigmata.
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic