by Frank Calvillo
If the screenwriter of The Departed were to think up a film with strong allusions to Strangers on a Train (one of Hitchcock’s best films) and inject into it feelings of isolation and a great amount of disenchantment with society, the results would certainly be more than enough to pique the interest of many a cinephile. Thankfully, such a wild notion is now a reality with this year’s Mojave, a thriller which provides an inside look into the dark mental state of being as it does effective moments of suspense.
Written and directed by William Monahan, Mojave opens on L.A. film director Tom (Garrett Hedlund), who has hit the wall with both his work and his life. After driving to the Mojave desert with the half-baked intent to kill himself, he encounters Jack (Oscar Isaac), a mysterious drifter who proselytizes about the meaninglessness of existence before murdering those he encounters. After a heated exchange between the two, Ted manages to escape back to L.A., but it isn’t long before Jack is hot on his trail.
So many aspects of Mojave signal it as one of the more taut thrillers of recent times. The most obvious of these is the placing of many of the key events in the desert setting, which is so wondrous and visually stimulating, yet also masks an ominous feeling that’s impossible to ignore. Plenty of moments throughout Mojave exist without dialogue, such as the film’s opening which is almost devoid of any real backstory. This proves a great device, making the audience piece together the story themselves. The film is slow and methodically paced for sure, but when something does happen, it’s executed with the right amount of skill to make the audience sit up and take notice. Case in point is the second encounter between the two, which is certainly chilling in its own quiet way, once again almost shouting: This is the way to make a thriller. There isn’t too much violence on the screen, nor are there a huge number of twists, and only a small amount of supporting characters turn up. The film is tight, taut, and self-contained in the only way a story such as this should be.
There is never any doubt who is the good guy and who is the bad one throughout Mojave. Yet it’s the sometimes overlapping common traits the two men share which make them such a compelling duo to watch. Both Tom and Jack exist in a mental state which sets them apart from society and has given them skewed views on all whom they encounter. This is mainly due to one character’s warped ideology and the other’s choosing to live only through his art. Their respective relationships with death also link both men as they each somewhat embrace it in different ways and levels. Because of all of this, it seems as if they are the only ones existing in this world they have found themselves in. Even though they are chasing each other in Los Angeles, they might as well still be alone together in the desert.
The two leads are great in their handful of scenes together, wonderfully playing off each other’s differing styles. It’s good that they only share limited screen time together as it makes their scenes all the more special. Hedlund looks and fits the part of the disenchanted, tormented artist perfectly, and his performance here echoes it. He’s able to perfectly embody depression without having to say he’s depressed. Meanwhile, Isaac once again proves himself as one of today’s most exciting actors, giving another flawless and magnetic performance. Walton Goggins does fine work as Tom’s agent/lawyer, but this just isn’t the kind of role which takes advantage of what he can do as an actor. Finally, in a distracting supporting role, Mark Wahlberg is fun but ultimately unnecessary as an erratic Hollywood producer.
Really it’s only the scenes with Walhberg which fail to add anything to the proceedings simply because they are too tonally apart from where Mojave is. It’s obvious Monahan’s intention is to use those scenes as a comment on Hollywood. But the film simply doesn’t need them. Mojave should have stayed with the cat-and-mouse setup which it does so well and never strayed from it.
The Package
A making-of featurette entitled A Doppelganger in the Desert: The Making of Mojave sees Monahan talking about his real-life disenchantment with his work, leading to his writing of the screenplay, followed by the film’s stars speaking thoughtfully of the film’s ideology while also singing their director’s praises.
The release also comes with over 15 minutes of deleted scenes, most of which are alternate versions of ones which made it into the finished version.
The Lowdown
Mojave is a great showcase for two of today’s top young actors as well as a diverting, slightly philosophical thriller.
Mojave is now available on Blu-Ray from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.
