Directed by Tim Blake Nelson, 2010, 105 minutes, Starring Edward Norton, Keri Russell, Susan Sarandon, Melanie Lynskey, Tim Blake Nelson and Richard Dreyfuss.
I knew little of Tim Blake Nelson’s latest film until I read about it on Roger Ebert’s blog, immediately gaining an interest. I was reminded of the film once more when Ebert posted his review, going out of his way to praise the film as one of the best of 2010, and its only April. Now, Ebert has a tendency to raise up films that might have little standing in the regular film going public, take 1981’s
My Dinner With Andre for example; Ebert has done the same thing here for Tim Blake Nelson’s exceedingly well-wrought
Leaves of Grass, as good a film I’ve seen released so far this year, and a possible contender for the end of the years top ten, so far its at the top.
Leaves of Grass is a film best appreciated with little to no prior knowledge of the plot, so I’ll try to keep the synopsis as bare-bones as possible. Edward Norton plays twin brothers Bill and Brady Kincaid, Bill having moved from their native Tulsa uprising and become a successful professor, shedding his “hick” accent as well as his past, with Brady fully embracing his southern roots in his journey to grow the best hydroponic pot around; well, its not really a journey so much as a destination he has more then already reached, but more liked settled and developed into an entire province. Due to numerous circumstances, Bill must head back to Tulsa and the family he hasn’t talked to in years.
One of the films numerous pleasures is how it in no way demeans its characters, an attribute that if you ask me is all too rare in modern filmmaking. Brady and his friend Bolger (Tim Blake Nelson) both talk with the drawl and dress like a New York socialites nightmare, yet Brady as it turns out has a higher IQ then his intellectual brother, a fact his mother (Susan Sarandon) points out at one point in the film. Brady has designed and for the most part, along with Bolger, built a large completely natural hydroponic setup for his marijuana, a setup a high school drug counselor would be hard pressed not to find the least bit impressive. Brady is also set to be married to his pregnant girlfriend Colleen (Melanie Lynskey).
Nelson’s script is a wonder, deftly balancing material that a lesser writer would have failed to bring to fruition. He takes chances here, threatening at times to derail the films tone, but never so; he constantly keeps the humor, pathos and philosophy blended into a complete whole without clashing against each other and without betraying his overall vision for the film, it more than shows in the end.
Edward Norton’s work here is extraordinary, playing two characters without betraying either one and without the slightest hint of any trickery. Both characters are fully developed, likable, and couldn’t be any different without being any more real. Norton is known by most for his role as the “narrator” in the 1999 cult classic
Fight Club and 1998’s
American History X, his work here is every bit as good in those films, if not better. Richard Dreyfuss lends himself to the film, playing as a Jewish drug dealer who is slightly nicer then Dreyfuss’ portrayal of Dick Cheney in Oliver Stone’s unfortunately mundane
W. (in fact Dreyfuss was the only real reason to sit through Stone’s 2008 film). Tim Blake Nelson and Kerry Russell both stand out in their roles as Bolger and Janet respectively, Janet filling the role of interest to Bill, but Nelson the writer never lets the two go too far, keeping their said interest legitimate and real as opposed to a cheap ploy.
It is hard to give enough praise to what Tim Blake Nelson has accomplished with
Leaves of Grass, a sweet and at times rather zany film, but also incredibly intelligent and wonderfully realized. The film is constantly engaging and thoroughly entertaining, going deeper than might be thought but always successfully. This is a film to enjoyed and savored; it is a delightful and minor treasure, and a real masterstroke for writer/director Tim Blake Nelson.
*** ½ out of ****
