On this week’s episode of The Filmography, Bjorn and I find a rare opportunity to truly disagree on a picture!
While Bjorn found much to praise about Paul Schrader’s 2013 Lindsay Lohan-starring, Bret Easton Ellis-scripted, self-financed, psycho-sexual thriller, “The Canyons,” I found myself wanting a lot more from (as the poster reminds us) the creators of “American Psycho” and “Taxi Driver.”
There is no way to detail my number one complaint without a major spoiler, so suffice it to say that the story doesn’t get interesting until the last 15 minutes of this movie. Although it doesn’t look anywhere as cheap as it’s actual budget, it lacks the polish of Schrader’s other pictures, is his least ambitious piece of filmmaking, and the most compelling thing about it is the fact that Schrader and Ellis self-financed. That should have resulted in a picture of great artistic vision, where two iconoclasts who have pushed the boundaries of what is acceptable (or even advisable) in mainstream cinema and literature, respectively, are freed from the constraints of studio interference. But there is nothing particularly revolutionary about the film itself.
Lohan is (unsurprisingly) much better than her part calls for, but everyone else is beyond wooden. Notorious pornstar (and accused rapist) James Deen’s casting in particular reeks of a publicity stunt. It’s only in the last couple of scenes that he gives off even a glimmer of whatever Schrader and Ellis must have seen to cast him in the first place. The bottom line is that Schrader and Lohan both deserve far better material than this.
Listen to the latest episode of The Filmography podcast here:
Watch the trailer for “The Canyons” here:
Watch the Q&A from the world premiere of “The Canyons” at the Film Society of Lincoln Center here:
Read the NY Times Magazine’s article “Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan In Your Movie” here:
And in the spirit of fairness, here is an IndieWire article, which like my dear pal Bjorn does, inexplicably praises the picture:
And finally, as a very special treat, here is an excerpt from the excellent Paul Schrader interview with my pals over at The Seventh Art: