Darren Aronofsky finally has some fun

We have not been conditioned to have fun during a Darren Aronofsky movie or at least not the traditional kind of fun No one would describe watching the handful of addicts in Requiem for a Dream descend to a new circle of unimaginable dopesick Hell as a romp Even a film like Black Swan which lives at the center of the Venn diagram between madness and camp doesn t go down easily Let s just say it was a quiet car ride home after I dragged my mom dad and sister to the theater with me on opening night when I was convincing them it would be a holiday movie event for the whole family No no an Aronofsky film promises to be gripping but not optimistic memorable not mirthful And certainly an Aronofsky film never ever promises to be good Check the expectation of quality at the theater door Imagine the shock then when I uncovered myself grinning ear to ear during the final act of Aronofsky s latest Caught Stealing a rollicking lark through New York City s semi-gentrified Lower East Side circa based on Charlie Huston s novel of the same name For a director who has revolted against conventional fun for his entire career Caught Stealing finds Aronofsky practically living it up as if he were a retirement public resident who broke free from the group during a field trip to the oatmeal museum While the last half-hour is wall-to-wall madcap action the entire film is such a refreshing change of pace and tone from Aronofsky s typically dour material that it feels like the director is intentionally turning a page And overt as he is Aronofsky makes a big show of it too clearing his throat licking the tip of his finger and flipping that page with enough force for the audience to hear the paper crinkle Niko Tavernise Sony Pictures Russ Matt Smith and Hank Austin Butler in Caught Stealing Unlike the fear or false certainty Aronofsky usually produces in his actors faces emotions he loves to revel in until they become almost unbearable Butler maintains visible conviction In shifting away from his regular sentiments Aronofsky abandons the familiar Hank is a mirror reflecting the filmmaker s evolution toward something new and hopeful But don t be mistaken Caught Stealing is merely a new chapter for Aronofsky not a new story altogether and as such the themes are the same There is plenty of cold-hearted merciless darkness compulsive behavior and of class ill-fated love of all kinds It wouldn t be an Aronofsky film if his characters weren t damned from the start forced to spend the movie s runtime seeking absolution wherever they can get it Aronofsky has long had an obsession with doomed characters people who endure great unimaginable strife in the episode of s Noah and s Mother to biblical proportions If his tormented characters don t die by the film s end any freedom or peace they re allowed comes at a price just as steep But with Caught Stealing Aronofsky confronts his most of notorious trope and does something radical giving his charming lead a well-deserved happy ending even if it s not entirely cost-free A customarily bleak Aronofsky movie would be all too appropriate for this era when doom has never felt more pervasive But with Caught Stealing swinging in the opposite tonal direction at such a pivotal time Aronofsky reminds us that hope is wherever we find it and it can even be a hell of a lot of fun looking Related Valar morghulis The best films of the st century apparently are those full of death and despair Unfortunately for Hank Austin Butler a bartender who finds himself embroiled in a puzzling mix-up with the Russian mafia after his drug-dealing neighbor Russ Matt Smith skips town for a bit amusement is not on the menu Once an up-and-coming baseball wunderkind Hank is now content watching his beloved San Francisco Giants play from across the country while he makes a modest name for himself among the bar patrons But though Hank has put thousands of miles between himself and his broken dream he remains haunted by the car crash that killed his best friend and ended his baseball career The nightmares are rare but intense best dulled with booze and sex with his girlfriend Yvonne Zo Kravitz But when Russian mobsters Aleksi Yuri Kolokonikov and Pavel Nikita Kukushkin and their Puerto Rican associate Colorado Bad Bunny credited by his full name Benito Mart nez Ocasio show up in search of particular unnamed object Hank doesn t have his simple life picks up speed and fast Upon their violent first meeting Hank loses a kidney and soon after is faced with a series of decisions that will define who he is forevermore Niko Tavernise Sony Pictures Yvonne Zo Kravitz and Hank Austin Butler in Caught Stealing As with so several of his lead characters Brendan Fraser s Charlie in The Whale Mickey Rourke s Randy in The Wrestler Ellen Burstyn s Sara in Requiem for a Dream Hank is eventually backed into a choice between his compulsions and the people he cares about Down one kidney he s forced to give up drinking cold turkey but it s not as easy as he persons of interest it ll be Two more unsavory characters lethal Hasidic brothers Schmully Vincent D Onofrio and Lipa Liev Schreiber and a narcotics detective Regina King snooping around Hank s building don t make wrestling with substance dependence any easier But as Yvonne tells Hank after bringing him home from the hospital I want to know that you re someone who can handle his sh t Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Subject Presented against the archetypal Aronofsky character Hank exists in stark contrast When faced with a challenge even his stumbles point him in the right direction He rises to the challenge and Aronofsky is far more interested in the means that Hank finds to succeed and outwit his opponents than he is in watching the character spiral trying to come up with a way out of his predicament There is at all times a prominent undercurrent of confidence that keeps Caught Stealing humming in neutral ready to rev its engines and blast off again Granted Huston adapted the film s screenplay himself but there s no denying how snugly the movie fits into its director s oeuvre even though Aronofsky didn t pen the script He follows Hank closely framing him tight reliably looking for the realism that the director is so known for demanding from his actors But unlike the fear or false certainty Aronofsky usually produces in his actors faces emotions he loves to revel in until they become almost unbearable Butler maintains visible conviction In shifting away from his regular sentiments Aronofsky abandons the familiar Hank is a mirror reflecting the filmmaker s evolution toward something new and hopeful Niko Tavernise Sony Pictures Pavel Nikita Kukushkin Colorado Bad Bunny and Aleksei Yuri Kolokolnikov rough up Hank Austin Butler in Caught Stealing When you force someone who is easy to root for through impossible situations and let them come out on the other side unscathed the viewer starts to believe they can root for themselves too For Butler s part Aronofsky could not have selected a better mirror As someone young enough to have witnessed Butler s emergent days as a Nickelodeon and Disney Channel teen heartthrob firsthand I ll admit that I never quite understood the appeal Maybe time had to work its magic to find a place where the baby face ended and the smolder began they could not exist as one though he certainly gave it the college try In Caught Stealing however there is no denying Butler s sheer magnetism Yes the heart-shaped lips and resting pout do various heavy lifting to pull off the baseball-loving mama s boy but Butler s authenticity is irrefutable He exudes charm with every gaze and there isn t one single line of dialogue that feels out of place or implausible He feels so natural in front of the camera that Caught Stealing almost seems like a star reborn despite Butler s star being relatively fresh from the obstetrics unit as it is But Butler works best here because you can t doom someone this endearing Aronofsky s tragic characters are often likable but rarely will a riot break out when they meet their inevitable demise In Butler Aronofsky finds the ideal match for his newly tapped hopefulness someone who doesn t just exude a classic simplicity that fits the film s timeline but represents the kind of ease so a great number of people long to return to in a time when nothing feels like it will ever be easy again He is exclusively put extremely easy to root for And when you force someone who is easy to root for through impossible situations and let them come out on the other side unscathed well minus a kidney and with a lot of bruising and trauma the viewer starts to believe they can root for themselves too Unlike all those other Aronofsky characters who must annihilate themselves in search of absolution or perfection Hank will supposedly be okay Aronofsky s directorial vision is uncompromising and brutal Even when his films miss their mark his willingness to depict the hilt of the human experience results in films packed to the brim with bold artistic decisions in a time when safety is the flavor du jour But as it turns out hope can be a bold artistic decision too and in Caught Stealing Aronofsky tests his ability to remain optimistic without losing his distinct individual touch Just after she tells Hank that she wants to be with a man who can handle his sh t Yvonne adds If you run away from what you re afraid of then it owns you One could say the same about Aronofsky whose filmography has been so dominated by despair and dread Until now he s avoided the side of humanity that s lighter more sanguine and less condemned Sometimes it just takes living long enough and wading through all of humankind s muck to remember that there s a place for hope among all of the wreckage even if it s hard to find The search takes a lot of potency It would be easier to give up to admit defeat and give everyone the Russians the Puerto Rican the Hasids your moviegoing audience what they want and stay centered in misery Or you can pick up a bat smash those expectations to pieces and handle your sh t Read more about latest theatrical releases To be a fan is to be a parasite Margaret Qualley is in total control Weapons succumbs to its worst instinct The post Darren Aronofsky certainly has several fun appeared first on Salon com