Manglehorn (2015)

Single star rating due to unavailability of negative rating.

I must admit I haven't watched this movie to the end, but I saw enough of it to know that it is a pretentious attempt at an "Art Piece", with very little actual substance. My biggest complaint is with the device this director seemed to think was pretty snazzy: that of people talking incessantly in the background while the main character goes about grizzling and mumbling. I know it's supposed to mean something, but it is a conceit that only succeeds in being irritating. The mother who locks her child in the car can't shut up for a second, the guy in the casino talk/raps endlessly about how great Manglehorn is (really?), and even in a cafeteria while attempting to eat his liver and onions in peace, there is a woman yakking endlessly about food. People are talking in the bank, the radio is on in the car, there are the countless voice-overs of Manglehorn declaring his undying love for Clara in a ceaseless, meaningless monotone. Pacino was just okay. Nothing special and certainly nothing approaching his earlier talent. It is hard to believe that this character was ever charismatic, or desirable, or even young. Maybe that's the point, but it would be nice to see a glimmer of something in this man. The fact that the lovely bank teller could find this stooped, oily, unkempt old man a possible love interest is laughable. Yes, we know he's Pacino, but that just 'aint good enough; there has to be a reason to love this man (beyond the fact that he is a lonely, pathetic figure,) and it has to be more than his love for his cat - which didn't even ring true. COME ON Mr. Pacino - you're better than this. If you've lost your mojo, then just retire. There is no shame in that - most people retire at some point. We'll always have Serpico.

David Gordon Green was behind the helm for this "return to form" for Pacino (I'm not sure he ever lost his form, as much as, being stuck in unflattering films he attempted to keep alive ("88 Minutes" or "Righteous Kill" or "Jack and Jill" come to mind) by sheer will. He stars as a lock and key business owner (he does the opening cars and doors, and fixing up keys for folks himself, driving a van with his name in distinctive name in print pimping his small business) named Manglehorn, still pining for lost love (someone named Clara, who has perhaps become more of a myth than real person), and encountering potential romance (with an excellent Holly Hunter) with a bank teller. Manglehorn's relationship with his investor son, Jacob (Chris Messina) is strained to say the least. And his beloved white cat, Fannie, needs surgery after swallowing a key (talk about the irony!). What else exists is kind of an everyday mundane life that seems to go on, day in and day out, without much excitement. It could all change, perhaps, if he could just escape this obsessive fantasy about Clara, and realize just what is missing. Hunter's scene in a Golden Coral / Ryan's type restaurant, trying to make small talk and get to know Manglehorn is as good a piece of acting work as you will see all of 2015. When he drones on about Clara, how special she is, and his past experiences with her (as if Clara were some sort of mystical siren written in Greek folklore) it ruins the here-and-now of two lonelyhearts, detonating the chemistry (it doesn't help that Manglehorn demeans her by pretty much saying no one could equal Clara's qualities, and talking about how beets give him diarrhea!) that had potential for something quite magnetic. Her face going from enchantment and the idea of a promising relationship gradually deteriorating into disappointment, insult, and ultimately hurt, Hunter ably conveys the offensive nature of Manglehorn's comments about a woman who no longer exists in his life while sitting and eating at a table under this woman who could replace her.I was a bit indifferent to the film overall, because Manglehorn is often his own worst enemy. People come in and out of his life, and he fails to offer them a strong reason to embrace him. Manglehorn does have this natural charm about him that seems to ingratiate positively with others, but then he kind of retreats into his own head, removing the reality around him in favor of devotion to a woman and what his thoughts and feelings are for her. Hunter's conversations with him, for instance, never quite go anywhere and I wondered to myself why she'd even try. His interest seems distracted while hers is focused attentively on him. Only at the very end, when he finally faces the Clara illusion and shatters it by removing all reminders of her from his home, does reality around him start to gain his attention. He mumbles to himself, and Gordon Green carries us right into Manglehorn's lost face, and the noise of his thoughts are made known to us. His animosity with Jacob is particularly established…their dialogue is too often of the "father is disappointed in his successful son's affluent lifestyle, focus on the business and money" variety. It's an act that gets a bit tiring. You just don't see Manglehorn positing any affection, with this cold fish response seemingly all he can give.Highlights include Manglehorn walking around with his cat right after a massive vehicular pile-up, Manglehorn realizing that a kid he thought was making a decent living for himself (abrasive film director Harmony Korine, quite an unflappably Chatty Cathy who rarely shuts the f--- up; I'm glad the film doesn't spend too much time with this jerk) is operating a whorehouse under the disguise of a massage parlor, and this A cappella number in a bank where a man emerges singing as those inside the building wonder what is going on (he's singing to a teller he's in love with; the teller begins singing along with him!). I wish the dialogue and conversations between characters had more depth compared to the performances. Still it is nice to see Pacino in parts like this again. The Texas locations are rich in natural flavor (the key store, clubs, local establishments, and bank carry an authenticity to them that is appreciated in order for us to accept the characters as relatable to us who do live in the real world).

Unfortunately, I found this to be a real mess of a movie. Normally, anything with Al Pacino in it I would look forward to seeing, but even his great talent can't save this one, in my opinion.Here, he portrays Manglehorn, a very strange character indeed, who owns a lock and key shop in a small Texas town. He's so obsessed with a long lost love, that even after years have passed he's still sending her letters, only to have them returned each time marked "Return to Sender".Manglehorn is also prone to temper tantrums, has a strained relationship with his son (Chris Mssina), and in reality is only close to his beloved cat Fannie. Even when the local bank teller, played by the very talented Holly Hunter, tries to get closer to him, things go "south" quickly.Overall, this was quite the disappointment from the accomplished director David Gordon Green, whose recent movies "Joe" and "Prince Avalanche" I liked very much, with a first time screenwriter Paul Logan handling the script. I don't mind bizarre films, but this one never clicked for me, and the 180 at the end of the movie was just too little too late.