Word: mamet
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...David Mamet's new play, "the cryptogram," lives up to its name; it is a complex and, at times, inscrutable work. "the cryptogram" chronicles the breakdown of the relationships between a strangely prophetic ten-year-old, John (Sheldon Dane), his exhausted mother Donny (Felicity Huffman), and their ineffectual neighbor, Del. (Ed Begly...
...Actually, the next film I'm doing is a movie of the play, American Buffalo. I've been meeting with David Mamet, and we'll be turning that into a film...
...issue of sexual harassment is black and white. There is little to no room for misinterpretation. Not only are John's intentions not inappropriate, but neither were his actions. These charges are quite obviously misdirected. Throughout the film, the audience knows who is right and who is wrong. Mamet's message seems to be that sexual harassment charges are pursued unfairly by repressed feminists. No one, not even Mr. Mamet, can believe this. So why base a movie on this premise...
...John, William Macy is outstanding. Struggling along with the audience to understand his woman, it is easy to feel his anguish. Having collaborated with Mamet for twenty five years, he seems to identify with every nuance of the character. The script is less kind to Deborah Eisenstadt. She is forced to play two completely different women while somehow relating them. I'm not sure that even Mery Streep could have succeeded in this task. Eisenstadt can hardly be at fault for failing to make this character believable...
Technically, the film is fine. It was Mamet's intention that the direction underscore the writing and acting. This is certainly not the film for grand camera moves or stylish lighting. Mamet and his director of photography, Andrzej Sekula, leave that up to Oliver Stone and Robert Richardson. John's hard-wood paneled office with its musty flavor and dark lighting is treated much like the stage of a play. The actors move and the camera follows. All would have been fine were it not for David Mamet's simplified version of sexual harassment...