397 - House of Games, United States, 1987. Dir. David Mamet.

Thursday, February 1, 2018

397 - House of Games, United States, 1987.  Dir. David Mamet.

No, this is not House of Cards.  It is House of Games.

It is not a web series about a South Carolina Congressman who becomes Vice President and then President.

It is a feature film about confidence.

Confidence?

Yes.  Confidence.

You mean confidence as in conviction, trust, faith, or belief in oneself or someone or something else?

No, not that kind of confidence at all.

And yet, yes, exactly that kind of confidence.

As in The Con.  As in Con Man.  As in Con Games.

Because that is exactly where those phrases come from.  From confidence.

You are the Mark.  He is the Con.

He gains your confidence.  You trust him.  He takes advantage of you.

The Short Con.  The Send.  The Big Store.

Ricky Jay is a magician who became a technical adviser to Hollywood directors, beginning with Caleb Deschanel's 1982 film The Escape Artist. 

He grew up in Chicago at the same time as David Mamet, and they met early in their careers and became friends.

So David Mamet gave Ricky Jay his first acting role in Mamet's first-directed feature film.  He asked Jay to show him a Money Exchange short con that he could use in the movie.  Jay did not want to reveal real schemes that his friends used on the streets, so he invented a new one just for the movie.

Ricky Jay plays George.  A small-time poker player.

But the film is driven by two people.  Lindsay Crouse and Joe Montegna.

Crouse plays psychiatrist Margaret Ford, a woman who has just published a best-selling book, Driven, about psychotherapy.  Her star and her income are on the rise.

Joe Montegna plays Mike, a man to whom Ford's patient Billy Hahn owes money.  Billy is suicidal, and Margaret wants to help him.  She goes above and beyond the call of duty.

She goes to visit Mike.

This is a psychiatrist with chutzpah.

Or a lack of boundaries.

And for that we get a clever movie.

Perhaps she can write another book.  Perhaps Mike can be a useful source of research.

David Mamet is one of our most prolific writers.  He has written so much that the odds are pretty good that you have seen something of his work, whatever your taste or preferred genre.  He has written plays, screenplays, and books.

His screenplays written for other directors are often more mainstream, popular films, while his screenplays that he directs himself are often quirkier independent films--several times involving con games.

House of Games was his first film to direct.

In his commentary on the film he references quite a few classic films, demonstrating his knowledge of film history.

He also states that he used the Poverty Row films of the 1940s as prototypes--as the lower budgets yielded more artistic choices, such as simple sets, confined spaces, dark shadows, and tighter and more complex plot lines to make up for the lack of stars.

This film clearly follows that line.

Cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchia captures just that sort of feeling.

If you like clever plots and intrigue featuring intelligent characters, then you may enjoy this one.

You will enjoy the two leads.  Joe Montegna shows why he has been so successful,  You know him not only from his many movies but also from the television series Joan of Arcadia, The Simpsons, and Criminal Minds.

And you will see a couple other great actors early in their careers:  The late J. T. Walsh and Mamet's artistic partner William H. Macy.

Now . . .

Can you please give me change for a twnety?