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Flesh and Bone
Paramount // R // April 16, 2002
List Price: $24.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
There was something of a cult among the cognoscenti for Flesh and Bone at the time of its release in 1993. Auteurists were interested in Steven Kloves, who had done The Fabulous Baker Boys and would later write Wonder Boys and the Harry Potter films; it was an interesting opportunity for prestige actresses such as Meg Ryan to act "down." And it introduced new talent while celebrating old standbys, such as James Caan and character actor Scott Wilson. At the time of its release the film made but $6 million of its $9 million budget despite critical regard. Does it hold up? Not really. It' s still a fine film that suffers only from the irresolution built into the screenplay.
After a prologue that consists of a bloody family murder in Texas, we are introduced to Arlis Sweeney (real Texan Dennis Quaid). We follow him as he goes about his job as a vending machine merchant. If Flesh and Bone were a book, it would have been written by Raymond Carver or Larry McMurtry. The film takes its time, building up our familiarity with the setting —long dusty roads and lonely gas stations and rabble filled bars whose bathrooms Arlis keeps filled with condoms—and the people he meets. Among them are Kay Davies (Meg Ryan), whose marriage is falling apart. Then there is Ginnie (Gwyneth Paltrow, in one of those early, attention getting performances that includes nudity), She's the companion of Roy (indie and small film supporter James Caan), Arlis's Hud-like father. In the course of the next few days, Arlis learns why his estranged father is doing in the neighborhood and how Kay fits into both their pasts.
Flesh and Bone is indeed well written, but some of its fine writing probably gets lost in the harsh splendor of the Texas landscape and the film's stately pace (for example Meg Ryan's speech after she wakes up in Arlis's strange room after passing out the night before: "I figure the bed's one of those vibratin' numbers, so that explains all the quarters. Nobody could possibly fancy pretzel twists that much so I reckon you won some kinda weird contest. As for the condoms, well, either you got a yen for cheerleadin' squads or we had the night of all nights, whatever, there's an explanation. As for the blue chicken, I need a little help with that one"). The film offers one of Quaid's more calm and reserved performances, which is when he can be good, and Ryan, looking grittily sexy in cowboy boots and filmy dresses, is game, if unable to squelch certain head-shaking and body-wriggling habits. And Paltrow is fine in her sixth film, a revelation in long legs, willing to play compromised and unpleasant characters here and in Hard Eight before Miramax turned her into from an actress to a romantic icon.
Kloves obviously likes familial competition with the context of differing levels of dissipation, if Baker BoysWonder Boys are anything to go by. He clearly wants to tell a tale of fate coming back to reclaim people, but the languorous feel of the film, born of the land the characters live in, works against the tone.
The DVD
VIDEO: Flesh and Bone looks great. There were no perceivable flaws in this near-decade old film. The image (1.85:1), enhanced for widescreen televisions, has rich colors, deep blacks, and good sunlit exteriors. Cinematographer Philippe Rousselot's work is excellent, and he obviously loves to photograph women. The color scheme of the film is based on the yellow and golds of the dry fields and bleak roads of the landscape, interrupted only by the blues of Ryan's dresses and the tint with which Arlis paints his quarters (to segregate them from the coin of his employees), the blue hue of his truck, and fatefully, the blue garb of his father.
SOUND: The all-English sound options comprise Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, with optional English subtitles.
MENUS: A static, silent menu offers 12 chapter scene selection for this 126 minute film (Maltin has it at 127).
PACKAGING: Flesh and Bone comes in a keep case with a bits of the original poster on the cover supplemented with studio poses. A chapter list inside repeats the imagery. The label on the disc bears two color studio shots of the once-married stars.
EXTRAS: Paramount has issued the disc sans extras, but for scene selection and sound and subtitle options.
Final Thoughts: Flesh and Bone doesn't hold up in all ways to the enthusiasm that greeted the film in some quarters upon its release, but it remains a fine film and an alternative to the bloated commercial Hollywood efforts of both its time and the present. A lack of extras makes this a must only for fans of the film or the players.
There was something of a cult among the cognoscenti for Flesh and Bone at the time of its release in 1993. Auteurists were interested in Steven Kloves, who had done The Fabulous Baker Boys and would later write Wonder Boys and the Harry Potter films; it was an interesting opportunity for prestige actresses such as Meg Ryan to act "down." And it introduced new talent while celebrating old standbys, such as James Caan and character actor Scott Wilson. At the time of its release the film made but $6 million of its $9 million budget despite critical regard. Does it hold up? Not really. It' s still a fine film that suffers only from the irresolution built into the screenplay.
After a prologue that consists of a bloody family murder in Texas, we are introduced to Arlis Sweeney (real Texan Dennis Quaid). We follow him as he goes about his job as a vending machine merchant. If Flesh and Bone were a book, it would have been written by Raymond Carver or Larry McMurtry. The film takes its time, building up our familiarity with the setting —long dusty roads and lonely gas stations and rabble filled bars whose bathrooms Arlis keeps filled with condoms—and the people he meets. Among them are Kay Davies (Meg Ryan), whose marriage is falling apart. Then there is Ginnie (Gwyneth Paltrow, in one of those early, attention getting performances that includes nudity), She's the companion of Roy (indie and small film supporter James Caan), Arlis's Hud-like father. In the course of the next few days, Arlis learns why his estranged father is doing in the neighborhood and how Kay fits into both their pasts.
Flesh and Bone is indeed well written, but some of its fine writing probably gets lost in the harsh splendor of the Texas landscape and the film's stately pace (for example Meg Ryan's speech after she wakes up in Arlis's strange room after passing out the night before: "I figure the bed's one of those vibratin' numbers, so that explains all the quarters. Nobody could possibly fancy pretzel twists that much so I reckon you won some kinda weird contest. As for the condoms, well, either you got a yen for cheerleadin' squads or we had the night of all nights, whatever, there's an explanation. As for the blue chicken, I need a little help with that one"). The film offers one of Quaid's more calm and reserved performances, which is when he can be good, and Ryan, looking grittily sexy in cowboy boots and filmy dresses, is game, if unable to squelch certain head-shaking and body-wriggling habits. And Paltrow is fine in her sixth film, a revelation in long legs, willing to play compromised and unpleasant characters here and in Hard Eight before Miramax turned her into from an actress to a romantic icon.
Kloves obviously likes familial competition with the context of differing levels of dissipation, if Baker BoysWonder Boys are anything to go by. He clearly wants to tell a tale of fate coming back to reclaim people, but the languorous feel of the film, born of the land the characters live in, works against the tone.
The DVD
VIDEO: Flesh and Bone looks great. There were no perceivable flaws in this near-decade old film. The image (1.85:1), enhanced for widescreen televisions, has rich colors, deep blacks, and good sunlit exteriors. Cinematographer Philippe Rousselot's work is excellent, and he obviously loves to photograph women. The color scheme of the film is based on the yellow and golds of the dry fields and bleak roads of the landscape, interrupted only by the blues of Ryan's dresses and the tint with which Arlis paints his quarters (to segregate them from the coin of his employees), the blue hue of his truck, and fatefully, the blue garb of his father.
SOUND: The all-English sound options comprise Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, with optional English subtitles.
MENUS: A static, silent menu offers 12 chapter scene selection for this 126 minute film (Maltin has it at 127).
PACKAGING: Flesh and Bone comes in a keep case with a bits of the original poster on the cover supplemented with studio poses. A chapter list inside repeats the imagery. The label on the disc bears two color studio shots of the once-married stars.
EXTRAS: Paramount has issued the disc sans extras, but for scene selection and sound and subtitle options.
Final Thoughts: Flesh and Bone doesn't hold up in all ways to the enthusiasm that greeted the film in some quarters upon its release, but it remains a fine film and an alternative to the bloated commercial Hollywood efforts of both its time and the present. A lack of extras makes this a must only for fans of the film or the players.
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