September 21, 2010: Redbelt
I must have seen David Mamet’s Heist (2001) too many times. I’m looking too hard for double-crosses and intrigue in his movies now. Redbelt (2008) was not at all what I was expecting, so I adjusted my attitude during the film, but it turned out to be much more straightforward than I was letting it be.
Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Mike Terry, who runs a struggling Jiu-Jitsu academy. His wife runs a struggling but more successful clothing design/manufacturing business. Mike’s students include a policeman who is just about to earn his black belt. A chance encounter with a woman who comes in off the street results in an embarrassing incident for the officer, a broken store window for Mike, and possibly a new friendship for the woman. A chance encounter with a movie star sends Mike on a trajectory towards success, but it ends up causing trouble for the police officer whose mistake on that fateful night at the academy comes to light, and Mike ends up learning how hard it is to defend your intellectual property against people with lots of money and lawyers.
I had thought that Redbelt would be about the fighting itself, but in fact it’s much more about the interpersonal power struggles and wordplay among the main players. Being a Mamet film, this doesn’t and shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did nonetheless. That said, it’s probably a richer film because of it. I won’t go into much more detail about the plot, so as not to spoil it for anyone since the movie is still fairly recent, and obscure enough that the story hasn’t been plastered all over the place in the media. My main concern with the film is how the ending is handled, since it really doesn’t quite mesh with the rest of the film, as it moves from a very gritty and realistic progression to a much more cerebral and symbolic conclusion. The “red belt” in question is an honorary title/belt held by just a single person at one time in the world, and it is what all students of the martial arts figuratively aim to earn, in order to keep their honour and integrity in check. While red belts do actually exist in various martial arts, this usage of it is unique to the film.
David Mamet is a very well-known American playwright who turned out several gems in the 1970s, having transitioned into screenwriting and then turned his hand to directing within the last couple of decades, typically directing his own original screenplays. His most well-known plays include American Buffalo, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Sexual Perversity in Chicago, which were turned into films in 1996, 1992, and 1986 (as About Last Night…) respectively. Heist is one of my particular favourites of his films, but I was disappointed in the end results (though not the concepts) for State and Main (2000) and Spartan (2004). Still, I’ll happily give Mamet the benefit of the doubt and see anything he puts out.
The performances are another element which always elevate a Mamet film, regardless of the flaws with the plot, and Redbelt is no exception. A big part of this is the stellar dialogue provided for the actors. Chiwetel Ejiofor, an underrated actor who is now really starting to get his due recognition, effortlessly carries the film with his central portrayal of Mike, an honourable man who is forced to risk his marriage, business and all friendships in order to maintain his integrity as a master of the mixed martial arts. Emily Mortimer, a British actress who is consistently underutilized, gets to say a lot with those narrowed and expressive eyes of hers, and her character experiences real growth in this film despite fairly limited screen time. And Tim Allen, late of the hokey Home Improvement TV series (1991-1999) and the voice of Buzz Lightyear in three Toy Story films, gives an impressive dramatic performance here as a movie star who is stuck within the system and tries to break out a bit, but finds that even with his power and money, there are still more powerful and more ambitious people who won’t let the system be violated lest it take away any of their influence. It’s a great role for Allen and he plays it well.
I was pleased that I finally got around to seeing Redbelt, and would recommend it to anyone who won’t mind the fight scenes scattered through the film. Great writing and performances are always worth seeing, and the plot here holds together better than some of Mamet’s weaker entries.
Snappy dialogue always saves the day.
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