Another Day in Paradise

Here’s a quick recommendation to flash your way.  Another Day in Paradise follows teenage couple Bobbie (Vincent Kartheiser (Alpha Dog, Mad Men)) and Rosie (Natasha Gregson Wagner (Lost Highway, Urban Legend)) who are both junkies and petty thieves.  One night Bobbie breaks into a row of vending machines to steal quarters when a security guard brutally beats the shit out of him.  Bobbie fights back by stabbing him in the gut with a screwdriver and flees.  He’s hurt real bad so his roommate calls his uncle Mel (James Woods (The Specialist)) to fix him up.  Now Mel is another low level crook (and junkie) but still several steps above Bobbie.  He decides to take the kid under his wing and use him for a job.  So the bulk of the movie is Bobbie and Rosie tagging along with Mel and his lady friend, Sid (Melanie Griffith (Something Wild)), on the road getting high and ripping folks off.

It's pretty undeniable that this is a Tarantino inspired picture despite being based on a book by Eddie Little.  The 70’s aesthetic, somewhat casual yet heightened approach to violence, memorable seedy characters and soul soundtrack all fit.  There’s some snappy dialogue too but almost all of it comes from James Woods.  Safe crackers, gun runners, addicts and other underground figures are given an ultra cool sheen while also showing how quickly shit can go sideways in their world.  For example there’s one scene where Mel and Bobbie are selling a cache of pills they stole from a doctor out of a motel room.  Guns are hidden in the couch Mel is sitting on so he can pull them if there’s trouble.  That’s the cool part.  But then the situation gets sticky and his secret guns aren’t able to save him.  These rapid circumstance shifts are handled very well that can gut punch you even if you sense things might not end well.

The entire cast works wonderfully together.  Kartheiser and Wagner give natural performances as a pair of strung out aimless kids.  They’re in love but are enablers who support each other’s terrible decisions.  They both have such an innocence to them that you wanna root for them despite their actions.  And while not the brightest bulbs they’re not total idiots either.  Bobbie is psyched to get what he believes to be an invaluable criminal education from Mel yet he’s not a total lapdog.  When Mel starts getting aggressive after a botched job he begins to rethink his choice.  Rosie is more or less along for the ride but she’s in Bobbie’s corner all the way which is touching to see that kind of devotion.  Woods is, well, Woods.  He puts on his jokey schtick during the quieter scenes and overacts during the intense ones.  While the guy is an acquired taste and doesn’t work for me in most roles I kinda like him here.  His goofiness helps to lighten the tone so it’s not depressing.  Plus he does tend to exude a certain sleaziness that suits this character perfectly.  You know, a heroin shooting relatively small time thief who thinks he’s tougher than he actually is.  Griffith is the dark horse who’s so damn nice to everyone all the time in her soft spoken way.  She takes on a maternal role with Bobbie and Rosie making sure they’re being taken care of.  Don’t let that fool you though.  She’s no airhead or pushover.  If she needs to blow away a sucker with a shotgun she’ll do it without hesitation.  No one crosses her, no one.  But as long as you’re straight with her she’s your best friend.  Admittedly it’s a bit hard to see someone like Sid (intelligent, measured) hooking up with someone like Mel (hotheaded, irrational at times), but if you don’t think about it too much I think they’re convincing enough as a wild couple.

This was Larry Clark’s second feature and it has to be his best film, better than Kids and Bully anyway (and I like those movies).  I wanna say it shows a maturity that the others don’t but apparently he was a nightmare to work with and turned in a much longer and skeezier picture that had to be re-cut without his involvement.  The positive is the end result has really nice steady cam cinematography that’s never nauseating (Eric Alan Edwards (Cop Land, To Die For)), great editing that accentuates the emotions of the characters (Luis Colina (Overnight Delivery)) and a killer retro song selection that fits the mood of the scenes and film in general.

Everything about this one comes together which is something of a miracle.  Credit to James Woods who’s one of the producers and helped whip the thing into shape.  I’ve been a big fan of it ever since it came out.  Unfortunately it seems nobody saw it or cares about it.  The movie definitely has that 90’s indie film vibe if you dig that kinda thing.  Regardless, it’s an excellently made little crime piece.  Part hang out movie, part thriller, part glorification of thug life, part warning against venturing down that path.  It’s a slice of junkie life with endearing characters, a tight plot, heartfelt moments, spurts of bloody violence and a layer of swagger that sorta knows just how rad it is.  I highly recommend it.