‘The Counselor’ embraces complexity
Published 7:33 am Thursday, October 31, 2013
Cormac McCarthy is a very serious writer; one who believes his prose should rumble like large boulders rolling down a mountain in slow motion. What works on paper so effectively, however, has a harder time shimmering on the screen. McCarthy, so fiercely and fearlessly American, writes like an intellectual Spanish poet. As screenwriter of his own novel, he does not allow any dumbing down of his work. His appreciation of life’s ambiguity and cruelty takes the trip from novel to screen in “The Counselor”; whether it is DOA or not might depend upon your appreciation of Mr. McCarthy.
There is very little exposition in “The Counselor” and at the end there are even more unanswered questions; we may be just as unsettled and confused leaving the theater as when we entered it. But the beauty and glory of McCarthy’s use of words may remain in our heads and that is a consolation for the darkness, emptiness, depravity and violence that McCarthy describes without modesty or hesitation.
This is a story of a lawyer (Michael Fassbender) who represents “facilitators” and drug dealers of drug cartels. He is in love with Laura, a Hispanic woman played by Penélope Cruz. For unknown reasons, he is desperate for money and agrees to invest in a shipment of drugs from Juarez, Mexico.
Two of his clients, Reiner (Javier Bardem) and Westray (Brad Pitt) are involved in the drug business but advise him to stay away; he ignores them to the peril and tragedy of all. Reiner’s mistress is Malkina (played by Cameron Diaz) and she is not all she seems to be. Perhaps more like her two pet leopards. probably way too fascinated in the primal instinct of beast and human. She is a femme fatale so you know it isn’t going to go well.
I thought the same thing when I watched the first scene. It was with Laura and the Counselor. They just woke up and Laura wanted oral sex and was eager to instruct the Counselor in technique. (Pause) I have seen many, many sexual scenes but this one made me wince. I could not help think (as did my seat neighbor) that the words were written by a man of a certain brittle vintage, with words more “Norman Mailer” than normal. I am going to spare you a description of another scene that I think Carmen Diaz may regret. I am not sure why I had to see it. Let me be clear: I am not a prude; I enjoy a good sex scene but proper casting and making that scene sexual or sensual (and not creepy) is mandatory to “keep” my interests…I am not going to stoop to writing “peaked.” Oh, too late.
“The Counselor” will not please the average movie fan. I very much appreciate the articulate dialogue and the refusal to write a script that has the traditional beginning, middle and clear and unequivocal end preferred on screen in a movie theater. What works on paper can flail and fail when turned into film.
What I liked on the screen in “The Counselor” is what I appreciate in a book: the acceptance of philosophical maturity and the admission that life is both complex and enigmatic; the moral dilemma unfurled without surrendering to sophomoric.
What I did not like in “The Counselor” is that the director, Ridley Scott, didn’t hold up his side of the partnership with Mr. McCarthy. The plot’s ambiguity is just acceptable even admirable, but please make us “feel” the motivation of the characters. And be cautious of the overuse of coy; a film is not a teaser for the next episode. All questions and no answers show undisciplined filmmaking or maybe a dropped scene or two that might have helped us care. Ridley Scott should take the blame.
“The Counselor” gets three bow ties out of five.