These days Famke Janssen seems to be popping up everywhere in low-budget and indie affairs such as THE TREATMENT, TURN THE RIVER, THE WACKNESS and TAKEN. It’s almost as if she’s desperate to shed herself of her Jean Grey/Phoenix character from the X-MEN films. Given the mess the last X-MEN film was though, who can really blame her? Mainstream Hollywood’s loss is our gain.
Perhaps the shift to the smaller scale has to do with the fact that for a while there she was mainstream Hollywood’s gain, working pretty consistently in high-concept, high profile projects. Starting with her breakout role as a sadistic, torturing lust murdering Russian Bond girl/henchwoman in the successful (first) franchise reboot, GOLDENEYE, since then she’s covered horror (THE FACULTY, HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL), pseudo-horror (HIDE AND SEEK), thrillers (DON’T SAY A WORD), actioneers (DEEP RISING, I-SPY), big cast dramas (ROUNDERS, CELEBRITY) and even some daring television (she played a transsexual on the always insane “Nip/Tuck”).
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TURN THE RIVER
Aided by a stellar minimalistic performance by Famke Janssen, Chris Eigeman’s accomplished first feature film is a powerful yet quiet little character study of a pool player (Janssen) trapped in her day-by-day circumstances, trying to make good and do right by her son by removing him from her semi-abusive ex-husband, but struggling to pull herself afloat. There’s an effective tragedy in how spartanly understated the film follows those struggles. Nothing is glamorized here, it’s all gritty, grim, and lacking any cloying drama. That’s why it’s unfortunate when the film awkwardly (and curiously) decides to completely shift its tone at the very end, and go down an excessively dramatic, darker, and much more thriller like road that seems schizophrenically incongruous with everything that’s come before. It left me disappointed because it keeps the film from being a much better well-rounded work. But as it is, it’s still definitely worth recommending (if anything for Janssen’s performance), and an impressive debut from Mr. Eigeman.
Overall rating: B
CHAOS THEORY
For something fixating itself on something as inconsistent as chaos, CHAOS THEORY is a pretty paint-by-numbers affair following your typical uptight middle-class yuppie busting loose from the monotony of his life and learning lessons along the way. Despite the familiarity, the film fare well with its comfortable territory, and thanks to an interesting twist and a charming performance from the always great Ryan Reynolds, it manages to largely off-set the film’s sense of déjà vu and some of its more peculiar histrionics.
Overall rating: B-
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