The Usual Suspects (1995)

Dir: Bryan Singer
Writer: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwait, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio del Toro, Kevin Pollack

There is probably no other movie that I've seen more than The Usual Suspects. I know the script by heart, the beats of the music as it coincides with a beat in the editing (coincidentally, I just found out the editor was also the composer on this movie - no wonder it works so beautifully!), and nearly every intricacy in the plot. I use the word 'nearly' because this movie is more rewatchable than any other movie: there's always something new to ascertain.

In fact, when I sat down to write this the line running through my head was when Verbal Kint looks up at Dave Kujan with his bad hand and says, "How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?" How am I supposed to write a review of one of my favorite movies of all time? How do I get it right?

For starters, my thirteen-year-old self watched the rented movie in the basement of our family's house in Leavenworth, Kansas. I remember following along raptly, sometimes confused, but always curious. When it ended, I was dumbfounded. I rewound it and watched it again. I probably said something to myself like "That was the best movie ever!" I saw this movie in the midst of my introduction to Hitchcock, and it makes sense since this movie has a very updated 'noir' feel to it. There's no icy blond, but there is something dark to unravel at hand.

Kevin Spacey gives one of the best performances of his career as Verbal Kint, and along with his other 1995-starring roles in Swimming with Sharks and Seven, I became a bonefied fan. For a time, there was nobody more chameleon-like than him. This movie also marks major debuts for director Bryan Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie; unfortunately I don't think either of them have topped this masterpiece since.

This maze of a movie is taut, sometimes funny, and always mysterious. It also has one hell of a twist ending. It was great rewatching it with a friend who had never seen it (but the ending was spoiled for him). It still hasn't lost it's power nearly 17 years later (woah!), and because they keep on releasing different version with new extras, I currently own three copies of The Usual Suspects on DVD. Rewatchability is always a major factor for owning a DVD--I know I have some movies that have little rewatchability factor.

The Best: the final scene. It's perfect. And also? The eerie ghostlike presence when the name 'Keyser Soze' is uttered in the film. The lines are great! The art direction, too! The music! The editing! Fenster's unintelligible accent! Seriously, everything is great.

Fact: Al Pacino read for the part of Dave Kujan (Palminteri), but had to pass due to scheduling conflicts. Pacino has since noted that this is the film he regrets turning down the most.

Rating: ********** (10 out of 10)

Before Sunrise (1995)

Dir: Richard Linklater

Writers: Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

This movie is a conversation. If you're interested in fast-paced or action-packed movies--this movie is not for you. Young, American 20-something Jesse (Hawke) is on a European rail when he meets Céline, a beautiful French girl. They talk. Everybody at some point has felt that energy when your conversation with a person just goes on and on and there's no pause or stalling. Those conversations are quite honestly some of life's best moments, aren't they?

And so we get to witness Jesse and Céline's. He asks her to spend the day with him in Vienna before he flies back to America, and she accepts even though she's on her way back home to Paris via the train. What ensues is a beautiful, spontaneous series of activities with Jesse and Céline as we listen in on their conversation--oh, and Vienna, Austria is the background.

Their characters seem so genuine and they are funny and flawed but I want to be their friends. I want them to be together. By the end of the movie, they decide not to share their phone numbers and addresses but because their connection is so strong they make a pact to meet back at the Vienna train station in exactly six months. The ambiguous ending leaves it all up to the viewer: do Jesse and Céline rejoin and continue their burgeoning romance? Does one make it and the other doesn't? Do neither make it out to Vienna? It's almost a Rorschach test for how idealist or realist you are as a person. I always thought they'd meet back up.

The Best: The chemistry between these two characters just oozes off the screen! I love them both and they are both played wonderfully by Hawke and Delpy.

Fact: Linklater based the film on an evening he spent with a woman in Philadelphia. That just makes me think he probably took the Amtrak, on a line I'm very familiar with, and it amazes me when I think about how un-magical Philadelphia and the Northeast Corridor rail-line is in comparison to Vienna, Austria. The backdrop really adds to the movie's magic.

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)