Two Remakes and an Adaptation

We’re in that weird, transitional part of the year where the summer blockbusters have died out, but the prestige Oscar-bait is still being held for another month or two. August and September are a crapshoot when it comes to the quality of the films, as it’s typically when studios release movies that they’re unsure about handling or marketing. Wrapping up August, we have a few interesting choices, including a remake of a classic from a modern master, an auteur’s newest provocation and a darkly funny romcom (also a remake!). Let’s take a look.

First off, we have “Caught Stealing,” the new film from Darren Aronofsky, a brilliant filmmaker who has spent most of his career trafficking in heady miserablism with a dash of healthy misanthropy. We’ve got the hopelessness of drug addiction in “Requiem for a Dream,” the existential horror of other people in “Mother!,” the fear of mental illness and obsession in “Black Swan” and don’t even get me started on the unintentional misery porn of “The Whale.” I love several of his movies, but holy hell, they’re hard to revisit.

“Caught Stealing” initially seems like a departure as it’s based on an intensely fun page-turner by the great Charlie Huston and trailers make it look like a fast and loose riff on Scorsese’s “After Hours.” The film follows Hank Thompson (played by Austin Butler, fully embracing his seemingly effortless movie star persona), a former high school baseball prodigy who, after a horrific injury, is now an alcoholic bartender in 1998 Manhattan. When his liberty spike sporting neighbor, Russ, pulls him into some shady dealings with Hasidic hitmen, Russian mobsters and an adorably bitey cat, Hank’s life goes from disappointing to dangerous overnight.

Just the story of a man and his cat. Credit: Sony

While “Caught Stealing” is most assuredly a departure from Aronofsky’s earlier work, there still runs beneath the surface a deadly serious undercurrent that gives even the wackiest moments a violent weight. Don’t get me wrong, the film moves like a rocket across period NYC (look for the quick shot of Kim’s Video), and there are a few madcap and exciting sequences more propulsive than anything I’ve seen in his earlier work, but Aronofsky struggles tonally to keep the film either as breezy or brutal as he wants it to be. What initially feels like a good-natured crime caper ends up as a savagely violent and nasty thriller. I’m struggling to decide if that’s a feature or a bug and to really understand Aronofsy’s intentions.

“Caught Stealing” Trailer

However, “The Roses” pulls off that tonal dance effortlessly, front-loaded with wonderfully nuanced work from Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch as Ivy and Theo Rose, who, after one of the most sexy and charming meet-cutes I’ve seen in cinema, get immediately married and fall deeply in love. She’s a chef, he’s an architect and they eventually have two precocious and strange children. If you’ve seen Danny DeVito’s “The War of the Roses” from 1989, you’ll know exactly where this is going and it’s nowhere good. Ivy and Theo grow to despise each other and things get dark, funny and dangerous.

I hate to say it, but “The Roses” actually works better than the original with Cumberbatch and Colman having such a gorgeous and homey chemistry that you genuinely want them to fix their problems and not destroy each other’s lives. As funny as the film gets, The Roses are so grounded as characters that it reminded me of my own failed loves and I found it emotionally authentic as well as hilarious. It subverts the cartoonish violence of the original and becomes easily one of the finest comedies of the year.

“The Roses” trailer

Finally, we have “Highest 2 Lowest,” Spike Lee’s loose remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 masterwork, “High and Low.” I don’t want to share too much about the story other than to say it follows Denzel Washington (working with Lee for the first time since 2006’s underrated “Inside Man”) as a rich music executive who gets caught up in a kidnapping scheme.

One of the best to ever do it. Credit: Apple

Is “Highest 2 Lowest” as good as “High and Low?” Not even close, but nothing ever could be because Kurosawa was always working on a different level than any other filmmaker. Still, it shows Lee more energized behind the camera than I’ve seen him in years, using all of his tricks with editing, score and performance to craft a genuinely compelling film. I have nothing but respect for Lee even attempting a remake of such a stone classic. The movie doesn’t have quite the same thematic depth as “High and Low,” but is one hell of an entertaining ride, nonetheless.

That’s the perfect description of all three movies this week, actually. They are rides of differing quality and destinations that emphasize enjoying the journey more than getting caught up in where the train stops. All three are worth the trip, regardless.

“Highest 2 Lowest” Trailer

“Caught Stealing”

Dir. Darren Aronofsky

Grade: B

Now Playing at Regal Old Mill, Sisters Movie House, Redmond Cinema, Madras Cinema 5

“The Roses”

Dir. Jay Roach

Grade: B+

Now Playing at Regal Old Mill, Sisters Movie House

“Highest 2 Lowest”

Dir. Spike Lee

Grade: B