B-Movies and Couch Classics: In The Company of Men • Hard Boiled

B-Movies and Couch Classics
In The Company of Men & Hard Boiled

by Dan Dumbald, Movie Merchants

IN THE COMPANY OF MEN
1997 Sony Pictures Classics
When Hollywood films tackle the issue of mental illness, their scope is usually limited to individuals who are obviously disturbed in some way. These films usually end with the person ranting and raving or brandishing a firearm. In the Company of Men is one of the few films to deal with a mentally disturbed individual who is capable of functioning in the workplace and society in general.

In the Company of Men stars Aaron Eckhart and Matt Malloy as young corporate soldiers on a six week business project to a small unnamed city. Both men have recently had messy break-ups with the women in their lives, so Eckhart proposes a plan to get back at all women who have dumped men. His idea is for he and Malloy to both romance the same poor girl while on this project and then both dump her just for the fun of it.

Malloy, who is Eckhart’s mousy superior, reluctantly agrees to participate. The outgoing Eckhart finds their prey in the form of the company’s new, pretty, deaf secretary.

Both very different men begin dating the secretary (played by Chicago Hope’s Stacy Edwards). They start to develop feelings for Edwards and as their project winds to a close they must decide how they are going to end “the game”. The film finishes with a surprising twist that makes you realize what Eckhart’s true intentions were behind the game with Malloy in the first place.

With In the Company of Men writer/director Neil LaBute quickly places his name among the most interesting filmmakers today. He won last year’s Sundance Film Festival’s Filmmakers Trophy and was recently honored at the Independent Spirit Awards for best first script. As a director, LaBute incorporates many long continuous takes to allow his actors more freedom. Matt Malloy is perfect as a weak willed and easily manipulated corporate suit. Stacy Edwards elicits sympathy; however, she still retains her dignity despite the hell that the men put her through.

Aaron Eckhart, who won the Independent Spirit Award for best new actor, shapes his character of Chad into one of the most fascinating portraits of a mentally disturbed individual. Chad is devoid of any conscience. He is unable to experience any real feelings so he intentionally hurts and manipulates others to see “how it feels”. What makes his performance so startling is how everyone seems to like Chad, despite the fact that he so totally despises everyone else.

Many critics dismissed In the Company of Men as simply being misogynistic. However, the film operates on several levels. It exists as a dark comedy about modern relationships, an examination of the cutthroat corporate world, and a character study about a true sociopath. Neil LaBute has created a film with crackling David Mamet-like dialogue and interesting characters along with a premise intended to spark heated conversation.

HARD BOILED
1992 Orion
After relative disappointments with his first two films (Hard Target and Broken Arrow) action director John Woo finally hit it big stateside last summer with the release of Face/off starring John Travolta and Nicholas Cage. This was Woo’s first American effort that compared with previous work in his native Hong Kong.

After making a name for himself with actioners like A Better Tomorrow, Part 1 and 2, The Killer, and Bullet in the Head, John Woo made his most wildly entertaining film with 1992’s Hard Boiled.

Chinese superstar Chow Yun-fat stars as a tough Hong Kong cop butting heads with an organized crime syndicate. The film opens with a dizzying shootout in a public market after a gun buy goes wrong and leaves Yun-fat’s partner dead. Yun-fat reluctantly accepts the help of Tony Leung, who is also a cop working undercover, to bring the crime syndicate down. The case leads the two men to a huge hospital where they wage war with the syndicate in an extended shootout over the film’s final thirty minutes.

What separates the work of John Woo from any other action director is his operatic approach to screen violence. Every scene is beautifully choreographed like a ballet. Woo also adds a touch of poignancy to all of his characters. They are often struggling with who they are and what they are doing. Woo also blurs the typical lines between good guys and bad guys.

John Woo is known for his collaborations with Chow Yun-fat much in the same way as Martin Scorsese is to Robert DeNiro. Yun-fat, who made his American debut this year in The Replacement Killers, has the cool screen charisma of the likes of Sean Connery and Clint Eastwood.

For anyone looking for films with spectacular action and characters that keep your interest when the bullets are not flying, check out John Woo’s Hard Boiled as your first class in HK Action Films 101.