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I Love Your Work
ThinkFilm // R // March 28, 2006
List Price: $29.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie
There's a sub-genre of films which fascinates me, and it's one that many film fans may not often think about. This genre has most likely been around for decades, but it became very apparent with the dawn of the home video revolution. I'm speaking of movie which feature a cast filled with recognizable actors which seemingly come out of nowhere and are dumped on video. (I have a friend who is also intrigued by these movies and we've often discussed creating a cable network which only shows these types of films.) These are often independent movies, and when one reads the cast listing, the immediate thought is "Why haven't I heard of this movie and why didn't it get more exposure?" (To be fair, some films in this genre do have limited theatrical runs.) The most obvious answer is that the movies must not be very good, but this isn't always the case. My most recent discovery in this genre is I Love Your Work, which features some of Hollywood's best young talent.
Giovanni Ribisi stars in I Love Your Work as Gray Evans, a 20-something movie star. Gray seemingly has a great life, as he's married to another movie star, Mia (Franka Potente), and they are the toast of the town. Yet, Gray isn't very happy. He doesn't like the fact that the tabloids print outrageous things about he and Mia...and he also doesn't want to fact the fact that some of them may be true. Gray has also been receiving some recurring letters from fans and has been seeing a strange man (Jason Lee) seemingly following him. Concerned for his safety, Gray consults a security expert (Jared Harris). However, the problem which plagues Gray the most are the flashbacks?/visions? that he keeps having of a woman named, Shana (Christina Ricci). In these thoughts, he and Shana are madly in love. To make matters worse, Gray finds that he keeps running into a young couple, John (Joshua Jackson) and Jane (Marisa Coughlan), and fears that they may be stalking him.
As Gray becomes more enveloped in his paranoia and fantasies, those around him notice the change in his behavior. This change begins to effect his marriage and his work. When Gray decides what he needs to do in order to improve his life, his actions bring about a series of events which effect not only him, but many other people as well.
I Love Your Work is one of those films which is incredibly difficult to review, because the number of things that it does wrong slightly outweighs the number of things that it does right, therefore making for a decidedly mixed review. In order to be positive, let's focus on the things that go well in the film. Co-writer/director Adam Goldberg (yes, The Hebrew Hammer himself) has come up with a great idea for a movie. I won't give away the plot twist, but suffice it to say that Goldberg has taken the standard paranoid celebrity vs. stalker plot and turned it upside down. (I will say that the movie doesn't steal any ideas from the similarly themed Paparazzi.) The idea put forth in the movie is so simple as to be genius and I kicked myself for not seeing it coming.
Goldberg has also hit a home run with his casting of familiar faces. I've found Ribisi could have been playing the paranoid celebrity in ever other performance that I've seen him give, so he's perfect as Gray. His distant gaze and haggard appearance sells the idea of a man who is spending too much time inside of his own head. Potente does a great job of shifting from flirty temptress to ice-queen. The movie also features cameos from Vince Vaughn and Elvis Costello which help to boost the "anything goes" Hollywood setting.
The problem with I Love Your Work is that it's very uneven and never finds its tone. The script is essentially a psychological thriller as it deals with a celebrity who may or may not be the victim of a stalker, along with guns, flashbacks, and suspicion. However, Goldberg has chosen to shoot the movie as an art movie, and the two never gel. The pacing of I Love Your Work is far too languid as Goldberg spends close to an hour informing the audience that Gray isn't happy with his life. When the plot twist finally comes, it is indeed satisfying, but one can't help but wonder why it didn't come sooner. The finale has some scenes of violence which are not only shocking, but feel wildly out of place in this movie. At 111 minutes, I Love Your Work is simply too long and clunky. I won't complain about the way in which the flashbacks and visions continually turn upon themselves, but in the commentary even Goldberg admits that the movie is open to interpretation. Goldberg should have made the choice of making either a straight-forward thriller (which could have worked quite well), or a totally inward-looking psychological film. The result is a failed film with a great idea, or rather, another movie with a great cast which has seemingly come out of nowhere.
Video
I Love Your Work stalks DVD courtesy of ThinkFilm. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing only a slight amount of grain and no defects from the source material. The film offers a mixture of darkly-lit scenes and the bright dream sequences, and both look fine here. The colors are good in the bright scenes and the action is always visible in the dark scenes. The image is somewhat flat at times, but this is most likely due to the low-budget nature. Artifacting is kept to a minimum, but there is some mild video noise.
Audio
The I Love Your Work DVD carries a Digital 5.1 audio track. The track provides clear dialogue and music reproduction. This is a dialogue driven film, so there isn't a whole lot in the way of surround sound or bass effects, save for the party scene and some of Gray's visions. In these scenes, the surround sound action is present, but very soft. Outside of dance music, the bass response is kept to a minimum.
Extras
The DVD has only a few extras. The main special feature is an audio commentary with co-writer/director Adam Goldberg and star Giovanni Ribisi. This is an interesting commentary as the two mumble and giggle their way through the film discussing the locations and actors. Attention is paid to the fast-paced nature of the shoot and the fact that some actors weren't always available. Goldberg discloses some info on how the story came about, but not nearly enough. The "Music Gallery" contains four audio-only selections from the film featuring musical which was co-written by Goldberg. The last extra is the trailer for I Love Your Work, letterboxed at 1.78:1.
In this age where most film fans hate remakes, I feel very awkward saying this, but here goes: I would love to see I Love Your Work remade. Again, the movie features a great take on movie star paranoia and would make a great thriller. As it stands, the movie isn't awful, but only the most patient viewers will find it stimulating.
There's a sub-genre of films which fascinates me, and it's one that many film fans may not often think about. This genre has most likely been around for decades, but it became very apparent with the dawn of the home video revolution. I'm speaking of movie which feature a cast filled with recognizable actors which seemingly come out of nowhere and are dumped on video. (I have a friend who is also intrigued by these movies and we've often discussed creating a cable network which only shows these types of films.) These are often independent movies, and when one reads the cast listing, the immediate thought is "Why haven't I heard of this movie and why didn't it get more exposure?" (To be fair, some films in this genre do have limited theatrical runs.) The most obvious answer is that the movies must not be very good, but this isn't always the case. My most recent discovery in this genre is I Love Your Work, which features some of Hollywood's best young talent.
Giovanni Ribisi stars in I Love Your Work as Gray Evans, a 20-something movie star. Gray seemingly has a great life, as he's married to another movie star, Mia (Franka Potente), and they are the toast of the town. Yet, Gray isn't very happy. He doesn't like the fact that the tabloids print outrageous things about he and Mia...and he also doesn't want to fact the fact that some of them may be true. Gray has also been receiving some recurring letters from fans and has been seeing a strange man (Jason Lee) seemingly following him. Concerned for his safety, Gray consults a security expert (Jared Harris). However, the problem which plagues Gray the most are the flashbacks?/visions? that he keeps having of a woman named, Shana (Christina Ricci). In these thoughts, he and Shana are madly in love. To make matters worse, Gray finds that he keeps running into a young couple, John (Joshua Jackson) and Jane (Marisa Coughlan), and fears that they may be stalking him.
As Gray becomes more enveloped in his paranoia and fantasies, those around him notice the change in his behavior. This change begins to effect his marriage and his work. When Gray decides what he needs to do in order to improve his life, his actions bring about a series of events which effect not only him, but many other people as well.
I Love Your Work is one of those films which is incredibly difficult to review, because the number of things that it does wrong slightly outweighs the number of things that it does right, therefore making for a decidedly mixed review. In order to be positive, let's focus on the things that go well in the film. Co-writer/director Adam Goldberg (yes, The Hebrew Hammer himself) has come up with a great idea for a movie. I won't give away the plot twist, but suffice it to say that Goldberg has taken the standard paranoid celebrity vs. stalker plot and turned it upside down. (I will say that the movie doesn't steal any ideas from the similarly themed Paparazzi.) The idea put forth in the movie is so simple as to be genius and I kicked myself for not seeing it coming.
Goldberg has also hit a home run with his casting of familiar faces. I've found Ribisi could have been playing the paranoid celebrity in ever other performance that I've seen him give, so he's perfect as Gray. His distant gaze and haggard appearance sells the idea of a man who is spending too much time inside of his own head. Potente does a great job of shifting from flirty temptress to ice-queen. The movie also features cameos from Vince Vaughn and Elvis Costello which help to boost the "anything goes" Hollywood setting.
The problem with I Love Your Work is that it's very uneven and never finds its tone. The script is essentially a psychological thriller as it deals with a celebrity who may or may not be the victim of a stalker, along with guns, flashbacks, and suspicion. However, Goldberg has chosen to shoot the movie as an art movie, and the two never gel. The pacing of I Love Your Work is far too languid as Goldberg spends close to an hour informing the audience that Gray isn't happy with his life. When the plot twist finally comes, it is indeed satisfying, but one can't help but wonder why it didn't come sooner. The finale has some scenes of violence which are not only shocking, but feel wildly out of place in this movie. At 111 minutes, I Love Your Work is simply too long and clunky. I won't complain about the way in which the flashbacks and visions continually turn upon themselves, but in the commentary even Goldberg admits that the movie is open to interpretation. Goldberg should have made the choice of making either a straight-forward thriller (which could have worked quite well), or a totally inward-looking psychological film. The result is a failed film with a great idea, or rather, another movie with a great cast which has seemingly come out of nowhere.
Video
I Love Your Work stalks DVD courtesy of ThinkFilm. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing only a slight amount of grain and no defects from the source material. The film offers a mixture of darkly-lit scenes and the bright dream sequences, and both look fine here. The colors are good in the bright scenes and the action is always visible in the dark scenes. The image is somewhat flat at times, but this is most likely due to the low-budget nature. Artifacting is kept to a minimum, but there is some mild video noise.
Audio
The I Love Your Work DVD carries a Digital 5.1 audio track. The track provides clear dialogue and music reproduction. This is a dialogue driven film, so there isn't a whole lot in the way of surround sound or bass effects, save for the party scene and some of Gray's visions. In these scenes, the surround sound action is present, but very soft. Outside of dance music, the bass response is kept to a minimum.
Extras
The DVD has only a few extras. The main special feature is an audio commentary with co-writer/director Adam Goldberg and star Giovanni Ribisi. This is an interesting commentary as the two mumble and giggle their way through the film discussing the locations and actors. Attention is paid to the fast-paced nature of the shoot and the fact that some actors weren't always available. Goldberg discloses some info on how the story came about, but not nearly enough. The "Music Gallery" contains four audio-only selections from the film featuring musical which was co-written by Goldberg. The last extra is the trailer for I Love Your Work, letterboxed at 1.78:1.
In this age where most film fans hate remakes, I feel very awkward saying this, but here goes: I would love to see I Love Your Work remade. Again, the movie features a great take on movie star paranoia and would make a great thriller. As it stands, the movie isn't awful, but only the most patient viewers will find it stimulating.
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