In what could be described as a redirection after the critically praised yet controversial ‘The Whale’, Darren Aronofsky takes an unusual comic twist in the crime adventure, ‘Caught Stealing’. The movie serves its purpose as a palate cleanser—it’s vibrant, rapid, and carries a modest amount of gritty edge, devoid of the heavy gloominess that seemed to infest his recent works such as ‘Requiem For a Dream’ and ‘Black Swan’. Although unlikely to stand out as a fan-favourite when Aronofsky’s career culminates, it presents a refreshing and uncommon variation. The movie best showcases another set of the filmmaker’s skills which have hitherto remained unexplored; it’s indeed nice when unexpected novelties emerge from familiar grounds.
The movie is set in the city of New York, 1998, an era and location recognizable to the dedicated moviegoer as Aronofsky’s original filming setting for ‘Pi’, the black-and-white drama riddled with high mathematics and stark paranoia. The implication reverberates throughout ‘Caught Stealing’, insinuating perhaps, the advent of a new phase for the director. Contrasting the grit and experimentalism of ‘Pi’ to the Soderbergh-like polish and surface sophistication in ‘Caught Stealing’, offers a paradoxically intriguing narrative. Although, piecing together the cosmic links from past to present may require a mathematician protagonist like Max from ‘Pi’, this is an analysis of a motion picture, not a number theory.
The movie presents Austin Butler as Hank Thompson, a former baseball star who missed his chance at grand success and now mingles margaritas in a gritty gin bar in Alphabet City. The bar, constructed more from graffiti and band stickers than stable cement, gives off a remnant whiff of the former golden epoch. The atmosphere of the 1998 New York City is amplified by the dreamy soundtrack from the era—an affectionate nod to Garbage’s opener, ‘Think I’m Paranoid’, sets the tone.
‘Caught Stealing’ is saturated with meticulous attention to the ambiance intended to create an ornate reimagining of the time, that it feels like a replica of New York from the 1998. The rigorous details evoke a feeling that Aronofsky and his crew studied age-old snapshots of East Village and Brighton Beach with exceptional dedication, much like Robert Eggers learns extinct languages. The obsessive commitment to precisely replicate the past, offers insight into the director’s enthusiasm for the less complex, linear storyline of ‘Caught Stealing’, a notable diversion from his usual idiosyncratic works.
Hank, characterised by his nightly drinking habits and his relationship with the quintessentially nineties Pixie Dream Girl, Yvonne (played by Zoe Kravitz), is introduced as a someone content with life despite recurring nightmares, which gradually become more relevant as the story unfolds. However, his idyllic world takes a sharp turn into an Alfred Hitchcock-style mistaken-identity plot when he agrees to a simple favour for his punk rock neighbour, Russ (played by Matt Smith). A seemingly benign task evolves into a dramatically complex situation involving gangs and a fight for survival.
Caught unprepared, Hank finds himself drawn into an intense whirlpool of violence and danger, involving Russian gangsters and an array of unanswered questions. He is continually uncertain about what he knows and what he doesn’t, further muddled by the constant physical altercations he finds himself in. Thinking back to 1998, the year ‘Pi’ was released, it’s easy to remember a landscape filled with Tarantino-like duplicates. With its storyline, ‘Caught Stealing’ would have blended seamlessly with the others, creating a rather amusing alternate reality of Aronofsky’s career.
Displaying a direction starkly different from his signature style, ‘Caught Stealing’ feels familiar to the array of movies audiences were accustomed to during that era, yet with its own flares of individuality. However, in retrospect, the alternate timeline feels less appealing in comparison to the unique works that have come to define Aronofsky’s body of work over time. While it might not be the most appreciated amongst Aronofsky’s ouvre, ‘Caught Stealing’ does resonate with the vivacious spirit of Doug Liman’s 1999 hit, ‘Go’, probably owed to both movies’ ability to imbue each chaotic scene with an interesting array of actors playing charismatic Characters.
In ‘Caught Stealing’, the presence of renowned actors like Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio, who play machine-gun-wielding Hasidic Jews, and Carol Kane as their adorable mother, just adds to the enriching character palette. A personal favourite, however, would be Griffin Dunne in his distinguished role as bar owner Paul, as an homage to my preferred Scorsese film, ‘After Hours’.
‘Caught Stealing’, however, still manages to embody certain iconic Aronofsky traits; the harshness hasn’t been completely repainted with mainstream shades. Elements of grit and discomfort are still present, where unsanitary lavatories overflow and shocking scenes of violence are unapologetically presented—the cinematic impact lands heavily each time. Surprisingly startling moments of homicide ensnare the viewer halfway through the film and the feeling of having missed the foreshadowing leaves a lasting effect.
Yet, there’s an abundant sprinkling of lightheartedness with the inclusion of many alluring cat reaction shots, which to many might seem like a blessed delight. However, like the protagonist Hank, I favour canines more—thus seeing gut-wrenching close-ups of surgical staples being extracted signifies a preferred direction of narrative discomfort for me than an overload of feline antics.
The post Aronofsky Shakes Things Up With ‘Caught Stealing’ appeared first on Real News Now.
About Author
