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Manglehorn is a love letter to Al
Pacino, according to director David Gordon Green, and will be a delight to
Pacino fans and to people who have soft hearts for old men and cats. Manglehorn
(Pacino) is a mess; he’s a cantankerous old coot who can’t change with the
times, has no insight into why people see him the way they do, and worst of
all, doesn’t have the foggiest notion about how to make himself lovable. He has deep-seated anger that causes
him to lose his temper and destroy things. He can only show love and concern to animals, and they’re
the only ones who can love him.
The
thrust of the story is interesting, in that most of the film is about him and
his problems, but it gets very tedious.
He nurses some hope in a relationship he develops with a younger woman
at the bank (Hunter), and even manages to go out with Dawn a couple of
times. But his conversations with
her are lessons in what not to
do. He talks about himself almost
entirely and only asks perfunctory questions about her. He goes into detail about a woman he
was in love with years ago, which didn’t work out. Needless to say, this relationship with Dawn does not go
anywhere.
Manglehorn
and his son barely know one another, but make tentative approaches to connect
from time to time. These are
inevitably unsatisfying, and the son always leaves abruptly in disgust. Manglehorn does behave differently
toward his granddaughter, more like how he does with his cat. But even when his son comes to him in a
real crisis, Manglehorn is unsympathetic and withholding.
I
usually like David Gordon Green’s productions in particular (George Washington, Prince Avalanche),
but this one didn’t capture my interest so much, perhaps because it’s written
by someone else (Paul Logan) or perhaps because Al Pacino plays a character he
has essentially played many times before.
And since this character is so obnoxious to me, that could bias me about
the film. Pacino is, of course a
premium actor, and his performance is up to that quality here. Pacino fans will no doubt applaud Manglehorn as a result.
Holly
Hunter’s performance is up to her usual standards of quality, and the film
really picked up for me when she was in a scene. Her distress at one point is truly moving, and will make
many women in her circumstances identify strongly with Dawn. Messina, as Manglehorn’s son, is
believable and shows flair in this and other performances. It is puzzling, though, why the
character Gary (Korine) was included.
It looks like a sequence that was patched in simply to give him a role.
Pacino as you very well know him.
Grade: C By
Donna R. Copeland
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