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This is a review of the 2012 Region B2 Blu-ray from Eagle Pictures. When I ordered it, I was unsure about the versions available, so I opted for the Italian language version which unequivocally had an un-subtitled English language option. This proved a good choice, easy to use, with a nice clear print and excellent sound. The ‘look’ is slightly grungy, I think deliberately, to accentuate the tough working class ‘down and dirty’ storyline. It all works well.
This film, from 2000, has all the appearance of an American ‘Indie’ film, one of those rugged, inexpensive, tell-it-like-it-is forays into ‘real America’. It actually came from Miramar, the Weinstein’s company, but reflects the real-life experience of director and co-screenwriter James Gray. Gray, a New Yorker of Russian Jewish descent, drew on the experiences of his father, a one-time electronics contractor. The film deals with a complex web of political and corporate corruption, bribery, intimidation, violence and sabotage that was clearly endemic amongst those companies fighting for repair and maintenance contracts for the New York subway.
Much of the footage was filmed on New York City Transit Authority rolling stock and in their rail yards and repair shops. The action ranges across New York’s boroughs and out to New Jersey. The use of genuine commuter and freight ‘yards’, in all their dingy industrial authenticity, gives the film a strong and credible backdrop. Gray provides a powerful mix of tightly scripted plotting and scheming, together with some tightly directed action. The strong family ties are also well drawn, and the self-serving, amoral, approach of local district bosses and elected officials, is palpable. These are men (exclusively men) who believe they have a right to rule in City Hall, and to feast permanently on the spoils that result.
Gray amassed a heavyweight cast, led by Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix, who went on to appear together again in Gray’s tough 2007 crime thriller, ‘We Own the Night’. 2000 was the same year that Phoenix appeared in Ridley Scott’s Roman epic, ‘Gladiator’, as the monstrous Emperor Commodus, which won him many plaudits. He was much praised for his role here too ~ interestingly, ‘Yards’ was actually filmed in early 1998, but held up by the studio. Both men give excellent performances as slightly naive youngsters, one brash, the other easily led, who get caught up in a world way beyond their ken, and far more complex and predatory, than anything they have experienced before. Faye Dunaway and Ellen Burstyn are heart-felt as the sisters who have always been there for each other, and Charlize Theron is waif-like as Dunaway’s daughter. The usually reliable James Caan is perhaps the least convincing character; is he a good man driven to the bad, or a less successful shark losing out to bigger ones? His characterisation is just a tad muddled.
This point notwithstanding, this is an atmospheric film, very clear about what it wants to say, and very successful in imparting its message. It does so in a tense and workmanlike fashion, making it a very good 4 Star, rather than a 5 Star, watch.
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