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THE STRAIGHT DOPE:
Kyle Cooper's New Port South may be his
directorial debut but he's had years to hone his
visual style as the designer of some of the most
incredible opening credit sequences around, from
Seven's astonishing mini-film to other
effective openings for films like The American
President, Donnie Brasco, and The Island of Dr. Moreau (the best thing about that bomb), as well as
the groundbreaking videogame Metal Gear Solid
2.
With all of these smart, concise, and supremely
cinematic sequences to his credit, New Port
South should have the punch of a slick,
stylish thriller. Instead, New Port
South plays closer to a standard episode of
Boston Public. (It probably doesn't help that the film is executive produced by the creepy youth-obsessed John Hughes and is written by his son James.) A group of suburban
Chicago high school students become
interested in a former student who escaped
from a mental institution and ran rampant,
freeing patients at other institutions. As
the students get deeper into the mysterious
story they find themselves drawn into his anti-establishment mindset, plastering the school with anti-authority propaganda and performing rebellious acts. Something of a revolution springs out of this activism, but the film is never really convincing in showing that these students are being oppressed. Maddox (Blake Shields) is the most fed up with the status quo, but he mostly comes off as spoiled and touchy. Todd Field (director of In the Bedroom) plays the scowling teacher Mr. Walsh, whose rules help drive Maddox and pals to insurrection. But, in my book, telling a student that a photo essay is not an appropriate substitute for a written assignment doesn't make a teacher a dictator. New Port South is a shallow exercise in teenage rebellion without real cause or passion.
Granted, the film tries to make right in the end but even then the moral is confused by some ambiguous actions and flashbacks. Ultimately New Port South is one of those films that approaches an important and current issue (youth anger) but doesn't have anything coherent to say about it. One can imagine the filmmakers comparing Maddox's self-induced struggle to something like the Columbine massacre and any number of other acts of school violence, but the film doesn't give any insight into that darkness.
VIDEO:
The anamorphic widescreen image looks crisp and clean. The cinematography is surprisingly bland and seems more similar to TV shows than the hyper-lyrical look of Cooper's credit sequences.
AUDIO:
The audio is available both as DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1. The location recording is sometimes a bit muddy, but the mix is dynamic and rich. Much of the film is quiet and brooding and the audio atmosphere helps add a bit of tension.
EXTRAS:
Just some trailers.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
New Port South is disappointing. It doesn't add anything new to the disaffected youth canon and it squanders the directorial debut of a filmmaker with a strong command of the visual language. Hopefully his next outing will be more interesting.
Email Gil Jawetz at buskerdog@yahoo.com |
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