by Frank Calvillo
Box Office Alternative Column
Box Office Alternative is a weekly look into additional/optional choices to the big-budget spectacle opening up at your local movie theater every Friday. Oftentimes, titles will consist of little-known or underappreciated work from the same actor/writer/director/producer of said new release, while at other times, the selection for the week just happens to touch upon the same subject in a unique way. Above all, this is a place to revisit and/or discover forgotten cinematic gems of all kinds.
Was there ever ANY need to try and a put a new old spin on The Transporter franchise? Anyone going to the movies this day would say no and they’d be right. Its with mind-boggling wonder then, why writer/producer Luc Besson (unquestionably one of the few helmers working who knows how to make an action movie) chose to write and produce The Transporter Refueled, a reworking of his own story.
And yet, any cinephile familiar with Besson’s work knows that there is almost no rhyme or reason to his projects, most of which are seeped in breathtaking action. This is especially true in the wildly eclectic films he directs. From the raw La Femme Nikita, to the game-changing The Fifth Element, Besson has carved out one of the most uncategorizable careers in the film world.
It therefore came as little surprise to anyone when Besson chose to write and direct the dark mob comedy The Family.
The Family, based on a novel by author Tonino Benaquista, tells the story of an American family with mob connections who are forced into the witness protection program after dad Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro) turned state’s evidence on his mobster friends. With wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and kids Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D’Leo), the newly-christened “Blake” family, find themselves transplanted to Normandy, France. Despite being under the watchful eye of their handler Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones), laying low soon becomes impossible as their old family ways begin to show themselves, culminating in a showdown with the very individuals they’re hiding from.
In spite of some upfront brutality that accompanies the action sequences, there is some potent comedy at work in The Family, and it’s more than a credit to Besson how he is able to make both work. The sequence in which De Niro beats a shady plumber within an inch of his life then takes him to the hospital, where he tries to causally explain the man’s condition to the doctor while he whimpers in the background, is priceless. Likewise, Pfeiffer being insulted by the staff and clientele of a local grocery store simply for being American, leading to her actually blowing up the store, is the definition of black comedy.
The Family is a movie in which its characters exhibit the most outrageous behavior. Some say this would make them unsympathetic to most audiences, but for those who have been lied to by plumbers or mistreated by store staff, they’re definitely anti-heroes. I remember living in London and having gotten the same sort of treatment Pfeiffer’s character did numerous times at my local market. Part of me would love to have gotten some kind of revenge for that sort of treatment, but of course I didn’t. Watching Pfeiffer exact hers was all the vengeance I needed.
Besson’s specialty being action, its no shock that the scenes of violence and gun play in The Family are top notch. The director may introduce them at some questionable times in the script, yet those moments are so well done, they never slow down the proceedings.When the family is found out in the film’s third act, Besson amps up the action with simultaneous gunfighting happening against a heart pounding score. There’s a definite European thriller feel to The Family at this point in both its editing and cinematography, which more than reaffirms the fact that this is a true Besson film.
So many smaller qualities about The Family stand out as being praiseworthy. There’s the decidedly random soundtrack which runs the gamut from Pop Muzik to Clint Eastwood, the enjoyably ridiculous way the family is discovered and the film’s darkly humorous “life goes on” type of ending.
However, its the film’s casting which deserves the most praise. As the two leads, De Niro and Pfeiffer are incredible to watch. Having clocked in time in similarly themed films such as The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Married to the Mob, and Scarface, the two stars know the world of The Family well enough to churn out two credible characters from it, while their chemistry as husband and wife produces nothing but fireworks. Its been recently announced that the two will reunite once again as Bernie and Ruth Madoff for an upcoming HBO film. Watch out.
Jones is hilarious in his role as the family’s frustrated watchdog, and D’Leo is simply a natural to play De Niro and Pfeiffer’s son. Only Agron, with slight timing problems and glaring lack of an accent, fails to bring her character to life.
Wildly mixed reviews greeted The Family upon release, with many complaints targeting the mix of comedy and violence and some people’s unwillingness to accept both. However the film did become a moderate success at the box office, managing to turn enough of a profit to make it a hit.
Its understandable that The Family is far from everyone’s cup of tea. Yet its hard not to be taken on some level by the heightened reality it exists in, the dark comedy it wears so proudly, the therapeutic effects of its character’s actions and its view on the unshakable bond of family.
