U Turn hit limited edition Twilight Time Blu-ray on March 10th, 2015 and is available until it’s gone.
“Style” is a hell of a thing. Its presence or absence is almost always very clear, but its subjectivity knows no bounds. Rarely have I seen a presentation of high style fashion, for instance, which I would ever be caught dead putting on my body. As a matter of fact, I often find myself repelling from things which are deemed “in style”. Oliver Stone’s U Turn is inarguably a highly stylized film, loaded with aerial shots, split lenses, time lapse, and all sorts of visual trickery, but it sure does result in a movie that I borderline hate.
Sean Penn (as the loathsome, cowardly, wholly irredeemable Bobby Cooper) cruises into Superior, Arizona on a busted radiator hose. His 1964 and a half cherry red Mustang has failed him and within moments we realize this is a sort of existential hell type of movie which it will then spend the next two hours rubbing our faces in until we scream for mercy. Billy Bob Thornton’s ridiculously greased and sleazed up Darrell The Mechanic is revealed to us through a smoky mist and as Bobby and Darrell haggle over getting the car fixed; it appears that the exchange is intended to be comical. As the longest, sweatiest, most debased and off-the-mark day in cinema history progresses, Bobby will encounter Jon Voight as an offensively cast Native American “seer” who is actually blind, Jennifer Lopez as Grace, U Turn’s femme fatale who ultimately shares the film with Penn as a co-lead, Nick Nolte as Jake McKenna, a despicable real estate agent and abusive husband to Grace, Powers Boothe as an omnipresent Sheriff, and even Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes as an explosive young couple who appear to have no purpose in the narrative whatsoever. The cast, as is obvious, is at the same time packed to the gills with talent, and infuriating in its waste of that talent.
Intentionally hard to pin down, U Turn touches on a variety of genres, from western to black comedy, to noir, to drug cinema, while never wholly succeeding at any of them. I hate to sound so negative on the film, but I truly found myself repelled by it, and am perfectly willing to accept that another viewer could have a totally different experience with it. With that cast, the frenzied and occasionally breathtaking cinematography, an Ennio Morricone score, and such a legend as Oliver Stone behind the camera, there are elements which almost force a viewer to wrestle with and engage with what they are watching. As for myself, I was most interested in visiting the film after having worked under writer and associate producer John Ridley in his most recent endeavor, American Crime. I found Mr. Ridley to be humorous, humble, and hugely experienced in the industry. He adapted this film from one of his own novels, Stray Dogs. While all of Ridley’s other works which I have encountered struck the right chord for me (such as Three Kings, Undercover Brother, 12 Years A Slave, and the aforementioned American Crime), U Turn simply proved to be something I disliked to such a degree as to find it to be an endurance test.
While this likely never would have been a favorite Ridley screenplay of mine, I think perhaps the execution of the screenplay by Stone is where my biggest issues lie. Never known for his comedic abilities, what I regularly intellectually identified as dialog, characters, and situations which were intended by Stone to be funny or at least humorous landed with a thud time and again. Voight’s Blind Man was particularly insufferable, spouting pearls of wisdom and telling us what we’re supposed to think while being “wacky” at the same time. He’s intended to be some kind of prophetic court jester prototype but takes the form of an offensively mystical Native American played by yet another white man.
Look, the town is called Superior ironically because it is really hell in the Southwest. Penn’s character is despicable intentionally, and over the course of the film we realize everyone is just like him. We’re all liars, cheats, and taboo breakers. I get it.
And despite the fact that all of the film’s quirks, twists, turns, and unpleasantries all seem to be intentional, that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I just wish that, along with the unpleasantness of it all, Stone had been able to communicate something interesting, true, real, or at the very least entertaining. Instead I felt contempt for all the characters involved, exasperated by their stupidity, inoculated to the absurdity of all of these events happening in one hellish day, and feeling as battered, bruised and broken as Bobby by the end of things. It is certainly a stylistic work, pulling out every camera trick and A-list actor in the book, and as a stylistic work it makes a strong impression… one that I disliked intensely.
The Package
Interestingly, while I’ve never quite had such an adverse reaction to any of the Twilight Time films I’ve taken a chance on before, the package here is easily more engaging than the film it accompanies. The bonus features are fascinating; so compelling, in fact, that I ended up listening to 2 full commentary tracks for a film I found to be wretched. And on top of that there’s an introduction to the film from Oliver Stone, the standard Twilight Time isolated score track and thoughtful (though it couldn’t convince me to change my mind) essay/liner notes from Julie Kirgo. On top of that, U Turn really does look stunning and the high definition transfer allows the film to retain its grainy and unique look while also being sharp and vibrant and honoring the genuinely fantastic camera work of Robert Richardson.
Oliver Stone Commentary Track: Listening to the frank and honest Stone talk about this film was an interesting experience. He certainly doesn’t view it as a failure but readily acknowledges that it never found an audience and was nigh upon impossible to market. Stone comes across as a real advocate for his film and has no shortage of anecdotes and insights as to what he was trying to achieve. The filmmaking elements of this commentary, as well as the personal details Stone divulges, make this track endearing if not successful in convincing me of the film’s ultimate value.
Producer Mike Medavoy/Historian Nick Redman Commentary Track: Wisely, this track spends the vast bulk of its duration (curiously cut shorter than the actual run time of the movie… something I’ve never encountered before but which speaks to the high level talent that Medavoy really is) probing and discussing Medavoy’s career as a whole, and not U Turn. Honestly U Turn is only tangentially referenced as Redman gleans fascinating insight after anecdote from Medavoy, a major executive at Orion Pictures, Tristar, and Phoenix Pictures as well as an Oscar winning producer. The disc is almost worth checking out for this commentary alone… almost.
And I’m Out.