It's All About Love Review
by Harvey S. Karten (harveycritic AT cs DOT com)October 19th, 2004
IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Strand Releasing
Grade: C
Directed by: Thomas Vinterberg
Written by: Thomas Vinterberg, Mogens Rukov
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes, Sean Penn, Dougla Henshall, Alun Armstrong, Margo Martindale
Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 10/18/04
Thomas Vinterberg is no longer a virgin. Having shown us the emotions that could be dramatized with a Spartan, Dogme 95 vision in his masterwork, "The Celebration" (no artificial anything), he does an about-face with "It's All About Love," a film that has virtually no plot but unfolds a succession of imaginative and, in some cases beautiful scenes on snow- capped mountain peaks and the tundra of a frozen Arctic. The film is nominally sci-fi, taking place in the year 2021, though almost everything we see exists right now in 2004, including the New York buses and buildings and the conventional aircraft that houses the brother of the principal character.
In the year 2021, Vinterberg and his co-writer Mogens Rukov, envison not global warming but a freeze, with snow in July, and unusual scenes such as one of Ugandas who have taken to the air on their own power. But these unusual events are as nothing compared to what is going on in the life of one John (Joaquin Phoenix), who has flown from Poland (not under his own power) to New York on his way to Calgary in order to get his New York-based wife, Elena (Claire Danes) to sign divorce papers. What should have been a routine procedure, considering that John and Elena have lived apart for years, turns into a series of bizarre occurrences in a hotel, in an ice- skating rink where Elena is to perform for a large audience, and in an aircraft in which John's brother, Marciello (Sean Penn), communicates the theme of the film via his cell phone.
Vinterberg's principal theme as indicated in part by the title is humankind's inability to give or receive love. That John and Elena are on the brink of divorce is minor compared to what's going on around them and in other parts of the globe. People are lying dead in the streets, in the subways, in the parks, felled by hearts that have been weakened by sheer loneliness. Even Elena, despite her popularity with large crowds, suffers from a heart condition that could end her career.
Much of the film's story takes place as John and Elena are surrounded by a large contingent of family and hangers-on including security guards and would-be concierges who take care of such problems such as arranging for re-booking of John's flight to Calgary. It is here that Vinterberg's cameraman, Anthony Dod Mantle, creates bold tableaux, principally one of Elena surrounded by her inner circle as though a realistic painting framed by the camera. John, whose only supporter against the machinations of Elena's people is Michael (Douglas Henshall), tries to get to the bottom of a major mystery: who are the people that appear to be clones of Elena, looking almost exactly like her, and being prepped to take her place on the skating rink when Elena herself is taken down by her own weak heart?
"It's All About Love" has been called by the director "a dream," one which pretty much gives him the freedom to throw in anything he wants. Flying Ugandans in 2021? No problem. Clones? Easy. On the whole, though, the film is convoluted so that, unlike, say, "Mulholland Drive" which at least by second viewing evokes some logic, here we get only a succession of images whose central focus, our deficiency of love, is blurred.
Not Rated. 104 minutes. © 2004 by Harvey Karten
@harveycritic.com
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