Motherless Brooklyn(2020)

Movie reveiw by Shiki Ichinose

S hakespeare said, "it is excellent to have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant."

T　heir actions sometimes go far beyond our ordinary guess, which reminds us of a giant exercising. Shiki Ichinose's review of this movie may be a response to Kanade Hayami's love letter, she once sent to her in a movie called "Gifted."

　(Fumika Sagisawa)

　　　When I write, it's nothing but when I can do it.

　　　The movie I would like to introduce today is “Motherless Brooklyn.” It's an American Noir that's currently in theatres. It's not a mere crime film, it's an excellent work that uses retrospectives to show calm skepticism about today's politics, especially in the US.

　　　When I hear Edward Norton plays a patient with a particular illness, I recall that acting is his specialty. There was a film that firmly established his place, in which he and “he” lived with mental disability. You know, it is “Primal Fear.” In this film, Norton acted Aaron Stampler, a difficult and intricate role as a murder suspect with split personality. I also heard, in this “Motherless Brooklyn” shoot, he actually worked in close contact with Tourette syndrome patient groups to sharpen his acting. His enthusiasm did not make Lionel Esrrog stick out like a sore thumb as a funny character in this scenario, but made tics one of his attractions. At the same time, it must’ve been the greatest driving force for his seizures that appeared in tense situations to function effectively as a help to suspense in this script. There are many actors who act too much on their passions. Norton's genius is his sense of balance without dissociating his passion from his role on the screen.

　　　“Motherless Brooklyn” is a movie set against the backdrop of 1950s New York. This is the turbulent first step after WWII, when the world was afraid of the Cold War, but began to pursue convenience and accessibility with awareness of wealth. It was when the shape of the family and the form of passenger transport changed, and more and more people began to buy their homes in the suburbs for more capacity. The 'people' meant the intersection of the two sets, white and middle class. The original novel was set in 1999, but one reason Edward Norton rewrote his setting in his own film to be in the 1950s might be to portray this background.

　　　And we cannot pretermit the existence of "Film Noir" by way of a famous feature at that time. Film Noir vividly expressed the anxiety of citizens in the social situation at the time. Frank Minna's versatility is reminiscent of “The Maltese Falcon”, “The Lady from Shanghai” and “The Postman Always Ring Twice”, isn’t it?

　　　Here's the outline.
　　　Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton), who lived in an orphanage, was taken over by Frank Mina (Bruce Willis). After a while, Lionel began working as a gumshoe as Frank's subordinate. Lionel had Tourette's syndrome and was often struggling at work, but he took full advantage of his extraordinary memory to accomplish his job. Tourette syndrome refers to a group of neuropsychiatric disorders called tics that follow a chronic course of speech and behavioral symptoms. One day, his benefactor, Frank, was caught in trouble and shot dead. Lionel immediately sought to identify the perpetrator, but the search was difficult due to the lack of clues. Nevertheless, Lionel did not give up. While desperately pursuing the truth, Lionel discovers the existence of a deeply whirling darkness in NY.

　　　The sound of “the Gotham Construction Association” is easy to remind us of Gotham City, the setting for the movie "Joker," which has taken the world by storm. That town was portrayed as a slum-like city with poor welfare for the mentally handicapped. Gotham is a word that was originally known as the nickname of New York, and one of the reasons is that “Batman” contributes greatly. However, earlier, the satire magazine, Sarmagandi, had already given the name to The Modern Gomorrah in the 1800s. It goes without saying that Salmagandi is the name of the salad, and from its recipe, it means "jumble." The word "jumble" is a keyword in the movie and has two major meanings. Of course, one is the character of the city of New York, as I just mentioned. This similarity cannot be overlooked as a mere commonality of sound. The relationship between Gotham City and New York is similar to that between Arthur Fleck and Lionel Essrog. Together, they’re depicted as having trouble or instability in their mental functions.

　　　Another meaning of "Jumble" is, of course, an answer to the question of what a family is. Lionel and Rose tell us that kinship alone does not define a family. The modern times we live in are, like in the 1950s, subject to changes in the notion of family. implicitly and explicitly, there is the need to break away from the old-fashioned notion of simply calling a kin-related group a "family". This is evidenced by the global reputation of "Shoplifters," a masterpiece created by Japan suffering from a nuclear family and declining birthrate and aging population.

　　　The stage setting at Pennsylvania Station is also attractive. Lionel finds the documents Minna entrusts him to a locker at Pennsylvania Station. The old Beaux-Arts station building is very attractive and effective. Anyone who lives in New York or knows its history can easily share this sensation, but for those who don't, there may be an open gap. In conclusion, there is no longer this old building at Penn Station depicted in the movie. The setting is silently and so efficaciously used as a symbol of the tragic cultural heritage that was demolished during the modernization and gentrification of New York.

　　　If I was told to select one of the many actors who appeared in front of me while staring at the screen for two and a half hours as the best supporting role, I would choose Lionel's cat, not Bruce Willis or Michael Kenneth Williams. Cats are the best friend of human loneliness. Being talented means being lonely because of isolation from others. A legendary chess player Alexander Alekhine is famous for his love for cats, I'm talking about a movie, so I look for topics in that context. Mary Adler, played by Mckenna Grace in “Gifted”, was also holding a cat, and there was a clever cat beside Dan Torrance in “Doctor Sleep.”

　　　Dichotomy and analogy are also important keywords in the movie. Analogy is one of the most useful ways of thinking in the fields of physics and mathematics, but what's wrong with using it to understand movies? Throughout the episode, this film has repetition like a zentangle pattern.

　　　While a white woman does not mourn her deceased husband, there are colored women who mourn her father's death.

　　　A jazz trumpet player snaps his fingers to change the mood of his live, and the mastermind does the same to excite the atmosphere of fanatics' meetings.

　　　The marijuana that Lionel smoked to suppress the seizure of tics, and the hallucinations he brought to him, became a torrent of light, which underscores the light visual effects that appear throughout the movie.

　　　When the exploding emotional tic was juxtaposed with the jazz talent of the trumpet player and the cursing spree, we know Lionel's bouts were more than just symptoms, they had escaped from a negative temperament.

　　　The word motherless is also profound. After watching the movie, it is the patriarchal image behind discrimination that eyestrain brings to us. Absence of the mother not only evokes the orphan Lionel and the heroine who grew up without knowing the mother, but in terms of biological context, it can be read as a metaphor for the fact that urban development in New York does not follow natural occurrence. Just as there is no Mother God among the trinity gods that Christianity worships, there is a firm separation from warm motherhood.

　　　Strong light casts dark shadows. The fact that the vulnerable and minorities lived together on one shoulder is a cultural heritage. The reason why the famous actor changed the setting from the original when wielding the megaphone seems to be a regret for the loss of culture and a self-criticism of the dark and umbrageous history. It symbolizes Shakespeare's quote at the beginning: "O, it is excellent to have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.” Suspicion of urban development, exposed from Lionel's glance, can be extended to the interest in current American politics that we should turn to. With the jazz melody of the great master Wynton Learson Marsalis, we may have something to shout our head off, like Lionel.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　To be continued...