US | 2011 | Directed by Oren Moverman
Logline: A corrupt and dangerous Los Angeles cop struggles to keep his job, as his dysfunctional family life crumbles around him.
Collaborating on the screenplay with famous crime novelist James Elroy the director paints a grim portrait of moral and ethical degradation; a man of honour wandering into the wilderness of irresponsibility. This is the story of a man who is going to lose it all, and we are sliding with him on his downward spiral. It's not a pretty picture, despite the desolate beauty that surrounds this man on a desperate mission.
Woody Harrelson, who apparently sought advice from Christian Bale on how best to become gaunt, is in every scene of the movie, smoking like a chimney, throwing smart-arse quips around like they're going out of fashion. It's 1999, and Officer Brown (Harrelson) is a dying breed; racist, misogynistic, violent, and egotistical. He's also sexist, chauvinistic, misanthropic, and a womanizer to boot. He lives in a bedsit on the same property as his two ex-wives and his two daughters: sisters Barbara (Cynthia Nixon) and Catherine (Anne Heche), and cousins Helen (Brie Larsen) and Margaret (Sammy Boyarsky), respectively.
Brown's name has already been blackened following the suspicious killing of a suspected date rapist. Brown aggravates his own situation by allowing him to be caught on video brutally beating a black man following a car crash. Essentially Brown is a rogue cop, a loose cannon, a wild card about to kicked out of court. But Brown continues to bury himself deeper.
The support cast is awesome, even if they don't get much time on screen. One can argue many of the characters aren't developed enough, but the focus remains on Brown. This is his Hell, his bed he's shitting in. He doesn't give anyone the time of day, doesn't suffer fools gladly, especially himself. This is easily amongst Harrelson's best performances. He's a bad cop, that's for sure, but he's no Bad Lieutenant (1992).
The director, shooting on digital to allow for that atmospheric dusk light Michael Mann used so well in Collateral, elicits great work from everyone, especially Robin Wright as a (damaged goods) lawyer Brown becomes embroiled in, Ned Beatty as Brown's silent partner-in-crime, but even more so Brie Larsen, as Brown's troubled and embittered adolescent daughter, whose character is given wonderful dialogue.
At times the camera work is distracting, verging on pretentious (a club sequence is particular striking, if perhaps unnecessary), but ultimately the fractured, urgent drama overrides the director's visual self-consciousness. Rampart is a territorial statement of one man's social disease.
Rampart screens as part of Perth's Revelation Film Festival, Saturday 7 July, 8.30pm, Friday 13 July, 9.30pm, and Sunday 15 July, 5.15pm.
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