As seen at the 2007 San Diego Film
Festival:
Paul
Schrader's The Walker offers exactly what one would
expect from a "minor" Schrader picture: pleasantly written
dialogue, but little of the depth that has made the filmmaker’s
best work (i.e.: the writing for Taxi Driver, the writing
and direction for Auto Focus) so great. Schrader
definitely isn’t at the top of his game here, but The Walker
is so much better than most of the other "political dramas" that
have been released this year that I savored every bit of it as I
watched. It is the kind of film that may not resonate with the
viewer in terms of its literal content, but rather engages by
building a progressively affecting aura as it moves.
Woody
Harrelson gives perhaps the best performance of his career as
Carter Page III, the son and grandson of wealthy and influential
politicians. Carter isn’t as agenda-minded as the former men in
his family, but his cocky swagger carries just as much gravitas
as theirs once did. He finds power in Washington as a “walker,”
an unpaid escort who locks arms with the wives of important
politicians at social functions. Flamingly homosexual and
undoubtedly self-infatuated, Carter is always sure to make
himself seem more involved than he really is in the lives of
those around him .
Carter's
self-important attitude hits him especially hard
when he decides to conspire in a good 'ol Washington cover-up
with one of his clients. Said client is Lynn Lockner (Kristin
Scott Thomas), who, at the beginning of the film, is driven by
Carter to see her lobbyist lover, Robbie Kononsberg (Steven
Hartley), only to find him murdered in the middle of his home.
Fearing how the press might react to the revelation that she had
been cheating on her husband (Willem Dafoe)—let alone cheating
on her husband with a lobbyist—Lynn flees the scene and allows
Carter to claim to have been the one to have found Robbie dead.
What
unravels following The Walker’s inciting incident isn’t
what one would expect from the typical political-thriller,
mainly because Schrader doesn’t allow it to be. The accomplished
writer/director is much less concerned with external plot than
he is with capturing a distinctive atmosphere. He lavishly
indulges in the vernacular and mannerisms exhibited by the
Washington-elite that Carter and Lynn entertain. The
plot-related consequences of Carter and Lynn’s cover-up enter
the picture sparingly, although Schrader constantly finds
himself fascinated by the more-interesting emotional outcomes of
the act. Aiding this style immensely is Harrelson, who downright
disappears into the lead role. Alongside him in the cast are the
equally-valuable Thomas, Lauren Bacall, Ned Beaty, Lily Tomlin,
and Moritz Bliebtreu.
Despite
the command that Schrader exhibits over The Walker, I
would be lying if I claimed that I didn’t think that the movie
got a little boring in the second act. I made a point of
mentioning my admiration for the film’s sense of atmosphere, but
it should also be noted that Schrader’s concentration on this
sometimes causes the picture to feel slightly monotone on the
whole. I don’t mean to question Schrader’s patient advancement
of the plot at hand—he accomplishes this in stunning form—but I
do think he could’ve cut certain bulky scenes in the film’s
middle-section. While it is true that The Walker is
largely about expressing the inconsequence of political
high-society through inconsequential dialogue, Schrader still
could’ve cut a few unnecessary conversations and ended up with a
product of identical meaning. Even so, it’s rather hard to fault
the film, which achieves what it sets out to achieve in a
usually-stunning fashion. I can’t say that The Walker is
one of my absolute favorite pictures of the year, but I admire
the heck out of the vast majority of its contents.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 10.9.2007
Screened on: 9.28.2007 at the
Pacific Gaslamp 15 in San Diego, CA.
The Walker is rated R and runs 107
minutes.
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