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| Urbania |
| Review Posted 3/12/03 |
 Based
on Daniel Reitz’s play, Urban Folk Tales, Urbania
tells the story of Charlie (Dan Futterman, The Birdcage),
a man introduced as having suffered a tragic loss and
intent on regaining normalcy in his life. Charlie is obsessed
with “urban legends” These tales become a
metaphor for Charlie’s own experience and provide
a backdrop for his hallucinatory self-revelation and neurotic
obsession with an ex-lover. |
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Movie Overview:
Running time: 105 minutes
Director: John Sheer
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Cast
Charlie: Dan Futterman
Chris: Matt Keeslar
Brett: Alan Cumming
Dean: Sam Bell
Bill: Lothaire Bluteau
Clara: Barbara Sukoura
Matt: Josh Hamilton
Chuck: Bill Sage
Purchase
Urbania at Amazon.com
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Cady's Take: |
 Mixing
flashbacks with intentionally comic and quick scenes from urban legends
(such as the woman who microwaves her poodle to prevent its catching
a cold and the man who wakes up in an ice-cold bath minus a kidney),
"Urbania" is the story of a traumatic incident in a young
man's life and the redemption he ultimately gains. These urban-legend
interludes are usually entertaining— and they broaden the perspective
while adding to the overall uneasiness pervading the film, but the
segments also sometimes distract from the film's main narrative. The
urban legend theme, potentially an interesting subject, loses a little
of its luster through no fault of the movie’s other than bad
timing.
Futterman, who is known primarily as a "light" actor gives
a precise, credible performance as a man on the brink of an abyss.Though
Urbania gets off to that slow and rather inauspicious start, it more
than redeems itself by its end. Dan Futterman carries the film single-handedly,
keeping Charlie's confusion and heartache utterly real, with a simmering
intensity behind his apparently numb calm. What makes Urbania interesting
is a cleverly designed plot structure, and a film style well suited
for a world that is both very real and unreal at the same time.
It is not until twenty minutes into the film that the audience discovers
Charlie’s sexuality. One of the film's ambitious goals is to
explore the manifestations of gay rage as it plays out in a fraught
urban environment. Urbania succeeds by treating a gay relationship
with as much weight and seriousness as a straight one. Charlie could
just as easily have been in a heterosexual relationship as in a homosexual
one, which is why Urbania is more than a “gay” movie.
Despite its sometimes-convoluted structure, Urbania tells a story
of redemption and how we must sometimes descend into darkness to emerge
in the light. It's not an easy film to watch, due to both themes and
structure, but the pay-off is worthwhile. Although, I must say that
this movie is not for the easily offended or the squeamish. In the
same way that Charlie explores his own capacity for rage, Shear's
film courageously forces its audience to reckon with issues revolving
around sexuality, urban life and violence, and eye-for-an-eye justice
that some will find discomfiting.
As the film unfolds, we gradually learn more about Charlie's history,
but it isn't until the closing moments that everything snaps into
focus. Urbania explores the dark and alternate life that exists in
the deepest cavities of urban settings. His nocturnal wanderings take
on an unreality that leaves you wondering just how much of what Charlie
does and says and witnesses actually occurs. This is a dreamlike;
pretentious as hell, but ultimately rewarding meditation on how the
human mind copes with trauma, loss and memory. Charlie's legend is
a self-realizing crucifixion. His split-second decision is whether
it will be a tale of salvation or damnation. Urbania may occasionally
be a little clumsy in its attempts to mislead viewers, but that's
not its primary aim. Urbania will leave you uncomfortable in the best
way that films can. |
Cady's Rating:
 
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| Kyle's Take: |
 Basically
– something very, very bad has happened to Charlie and we spend
the entire movie not knowing what it is. The movie uses the “urban
legend” metaphor…which I find tiresome to be perfectly
honest. Charlie spends the entire movie searching for someone and
we don’t really know why until the end – so the movie
keeps us guessing and for the most part interested. Who is this person
he is looking for and why is he looking for them? In the meantime
Charlie’s search leads him around the city, talking to people
– some that he knows and some that he does not know. Charlie
– and the majority of the characters in this movie – is
gay and I only mention this because there is so much explicit sex
that one might question how much sex one can handle before renting
this movie. Regardless of the gender or sexual orientation of the
characters there is an inordinate amount of sex going on here. All
the while we are listening to stories of urban legends, watching flashbacks
of urban legends, and in the end I think we are supposed to feel like
we witnessed an urban legend in the making.
H mmmm…well, I have always liked Dan Futterman (Charlie) –
he was in “The Bird Cage” with Robin Williams…and
Alan Cumming (Brett) is really talented…I think those are my
only pros for this movie. It does keep the viewer involved, but only
because whatever Charlie spends the movie looking for remains so deeply
hidden in distracting side stories that one cannot help but sit and
wait for the answer to his pain. The movie is about love, and loss,
homophobia, and the desire of gay people to just be people. Granted,
gay people are never just people in our society because the stigma
lingers, but this movie hits home (hard) the idea that human beings
love to torture people who are different from themselves.
Overall I felt the “urban legends” metaphor distracted
the actors from the real storyline – Charlie and his pain, and
his journey towards hopefully ending the pain. Unfortunately the cathartic
resolution for Charlie was as unfulfilling for us as it was probably
intended to be for him – the movie copped out. The homophobia
that caused Charlie’s anguish was not shown as pure ignorance
(as it so often is) but as the manifestation of deep homosexual feelings
by the homophobe. Simply put – I do not believe that every person
who hates gay people is a closet homosexual, and the conclusion of
this movie points to that as an explanation. Overall, people who hate
other people do it because they are afraid, ignorant, or just plain
mean. “Urbania” disagrees, and if it doesn’t, it
should consider rewriting the ending.
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| Kyle's Rating:
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| OVERALL RATING: 3.5
/ 10 |
 
Purchase
Urbania at Amazon.com |
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KEY:
1 Star - All
copies of this DVD should be immediately destroyed.
2 Stars - Wouldn't
even watch this movie if you were getting paid.
3
Stars - Don't waste your time, there are
much better movies.
4 Stars - Wait
until this one comes out on cable.
5
Stars - Worth a rent if nothing better
is in. Recommended only for fans of the genre.
6
Stars - Entertaining, worth your rental
dollar.
7 Stars - A
solid rental, recommended viewing.
8
Stars - A must-see, everyone should enjoy
this movie.
9 Stars - One
of the best movies of the year. Guaranteed winner.
10
Stars - Don't rent, buy! Add this classic
to your personal collection.
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