'Caught Stealing' Will Catch Your Attention
You really have to respect a filmmaker who's willing to challenge themselves. Daren Aronofsky steps up to the plate in a comedic thriller that's wildly different than his other films, yet retains his signature themes and style. Caught Stealing could have benefited from not relying on predictable clichés. There are numerous plot elements that have been used hundreds of times before. Yet, it works. Aronofsky's keen eye, handling of structure, and Austin Butler's awesome lead performance make what could have been a forgettable thriller memorable. The plot is basic. The characters could have been plucked from any other film. Yet they all synchronize beautifully.
The picture opens with a cool, extremely brief opening credit, where the title of the film is superimposed on a subway wall, making it appear to be part of the station. When we meet Hank Thompson (Austin Butler), he's running a dive bar, which is fitting since Hank is an alcoholic. As dynamic as Butler's performance is, it's not believable that he's a drunk. Booze makes you fat. However, for some reason, in every movie, drunks are thinner than a rail. Granted, some alcoholics are thin when they only drink hard liquor and never eat. But would they have the body of an athlete? Austin Butler has an incredible physique, yet we rarely see him working out. He merely pounds beer and blacks out.
A movie needs to appeal to a general audience. As cold as it is to say, viewers don't want to watch a bunch of average-looking people on screen. The eye naturally draws to unrealistic beauty standards, and your film needs stars to put butts in seats. The story kicks into high gear fast. Hank's neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith), gives Hank his cat to monitor for a few days. Hank's reluctant to accommodate, which is strange because cats, unlike dogs, are independent, making them easier to manage. Hank's wariness of the task is justified when one little cat throws him into a world of chaos.
Cleverly placing the MacGuffin in the story, there's a key hidden in fake cat poo that opens the doors to $4 million. Something that many bad people are after. From the Russian mafia to crooked cops to badass Hebrews, everyone needs the key, placing Hank in a precarious situation. The pacing is fast, hardly letting up, as it shifts from one chase sequence to another.
Where the movie shines is its style. Presumably, the picture was shot on film, judging by the grain in the screen's image, which coincides perfectly with its gritty style. Caught Stealing captures the dirty part of New York City. Almost all the locales are rundown buildings, giving the audience a sense of the desperation in which Hank lives on a daily basis. It's the story of a has-been who peaked in High School as a baseball player but failed afterwards. With the underdog root, there's a clear reason to root for Hank.
Hank may not have many material possessions, but he still has much to lose, such as his girlfriend, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), or his mother. The stakes are extremely high, with clear consequences for Hank's actions. Most films wouldn't go as far as this movie does with its casualties. Darren Aronofsky, however, knows that no pain leads to no gain. Hank is no John Wick. He gets his butt handed to him. A lot. Which is commendable since he never stops pushing forward, no matter how much pain he's in. Hank is a vulnerable protagonist with clear personal flaws he has to hurdle. That's how you write an engaging character. The more flawed they are, the more we root for them.
Although this is a thriller, it still feels like a Darren Aronofsky film, with its dark settings, drug use, and cynical outlook. Aronofsky doesn't see the best in humanity. He often examines the savagery of man. The theme of how people hurt each other and destroy their lives is explored very well, whether it be the drug addicts from Requiem for a Dream or washed-up athletes who are just trying to put their lives back together in The Wrestler. Their self-destructive behavior prevents them from succeeding. And for those who do succeed, they pay the ultimate price.
In a way, Aronofsky is returning to his roots. More than any film, Caught Stealing shares the most similarities with Darren's debut feature, Pi. Both films are about someone on the run who lives in a rundown apartment in New York, and features bloodthirsty Jews. What did the Jewish community do to Aronofsky that traumatized him so much? There's a kinetic energy that Darren is able to capture, which other filmmakers fail to achieve. Darren Aronofsky is drawing elements from his own childhood upbringing in Brooklyn, incorporating them into this period piece set in the Lower East Side during 1998. Capturing a violent city that was about to change in two years. An allegory, Aronofsky skillfully incorporates when he inserts the World Trade Center in the background of one shot.
Elements of paranoia and violence run rampant in a film that's far superior to his last picture. The actors in the film are dressed in unrecognizable makeup. If you didn't look at the poster or watch the closing credits, you'd have no clue that Vincent D'Onofrio, Liev Schreiber, or Griffin Dunne are even in it. Their makeup is exaggerated, but they don't look like SNL characters.
Caught Stealing demonstrates how a movie can follow the same plot as others in the genre and still be effective. If there's one problem with the film, is that its jokes mostly fall flat since they've been done a million times before. Even your Transformers-loving audience member can pick up on its comedic similarities to other films. Although the cop leaving a turd in Hank's toilet, which leads to the MacGuffin, is pretty clever. That was the one joke that seemed to draw a big laugh from the crowd, which was mostly otherwise silent. It might not be the best film in Darren Aronofsky's lineup, but Caught Stealing is a tense, fun thrill ride that's worth today's hefty ticket price.
