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Ivans xtc
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| Year: |
2000
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Director: |
Bernard Rose
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| Stars: |
Danny Huston, Peter Weller, Lisa Enos, James Merendino, Adam Krentzman, Robert Graham, Joanne Duckman
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| Genre: |
Comedy, Drama, Sex |
| Rating: |
  9 (from 1 vote) |
| Review: |
Bernard Rose's searing DV-drama is essentially the antithesis of films like The Player, for while Altman's admittedly entertaining film used star cameos and in-jokes to poke gentle fun at Hollywood, Rose and co-writer Lisa Enos have nothing but contempt for the industry and the people who populate it. Its nearest neighbour is Abel Ferrara's Dangerous Game, but this one's even more concentrated in its portrayal of privileged self-destruction.
Actually, Ivans xtc isn't really about Hollywood at all, but about one man's attempts to reconcile his own mortality within a world whose inhabitants truly believe they'll live forever. Ivan Beckman (Danny Huston) is a fast-living, fast-talking talent agent, legendary in Tinsletown for his smooth-tongued charm and love of narcotic excess. On the day that he achieves his biggest professional success — convincing megastar Don West (Peter Weller) to sign with his agency — he also learns he has lung cancer; a bitter irony considering smoking is the one vice he doesn't have. As a result, Ivan ups his pill, coke and booze intake, his efforts to draw closer to the people he really cares for — his girlfriend, father and sister — failing when he finds himself unable to tell them of his condition.
Ivans xtc may have the hand-held feel of a Dogme movie, but it's a world away from Lars Von Trier and his rabble-rousing pals. The opening title sequence is a long, beautifully shot montage of Los Angeles, with a stirring orchestral accompaniment, while the emotional climax is similarly scored, a wordless depiction of Ivan's lonely death.
The film is carefully structured — it opens as news of Ivan's demise filters through to his work colleagues, those who knew of his lifestyle unable to believe that he has died of natural causes ("The cancer is a cover story" they whisper). The funeral is an excruciating affair — a neurotic writer (James Merendino) fired by Don West from the film he was going to direct turns up to pick a fight with the megalomaniac star.
The acting is exemplorary — Huston anchors the film with a dazzling mix of cock-sure arrogance and unfettered terror at his impending fate (never is this truer than in the hilarious/heartbreaking scene where he has to list his weekly drug and alcohol intake to a quietly shocked insurance lawyer), while Peter Weller is a wonderfully despicable ego-monster. Ostensibly based on Tolstoy's Death Of Ivan Ilyich (although the real-life excesses of CAA agent Jay Moloney, who committed suicide in 1999, was apparently also a source), Ivans xtc is uncompromising, compulsive viewing, a true modern day morality tale.
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| Reviewer: |
Daniel Auty
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