Ghostwriter:or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love David Boreanaz
I’m going to break my semi-writer’s block by starting something new, a series I’ll call Needs More Love. I’ll start it off with a bang, the movie Suffering Man’s Charity (or Ghostwriter, depending on when you’re viewing it.)
The plot I shall summarize thusly: John Vandermark(Alan Cumming) is a failed composer/music teacher who has a habit of “charity”, providing room and board for young men he feels have “promise”. The latest in the series is Sebastian St. Germain(David Boreanaz) who freely sleeps around with anyone who will help him up in the world(except John). John thinks that his charity has been taken advantage of and wants payment(read: sex) which Sebastian is either unwilling or unable to give. Things go downhill from there, but I won’t spoil the surprise for you.
Why you should see it: wow. That’s all I could say upon first viewing. This movie is one of the best-acted pieces I think I’ve seen in quite a bit, everyone has a part and plays it to the bone.
This is Alan Cumming’s directorial debut, and I have to give him a pat on the back for it. He plays John as a miserable, self-absorbed pathetic monster and still manages to make you feel sympathetic to the character. Even towards the middle, when he nose-dives past the moral event horizon, you still feel stirrings of pity for such a wretched human being. What might’ve been just an aging, raging queen a la Dr. Frankenfurter turns out to be a three-dimensional, if highly flawed, character.
A word about David Boreanaz. I never bought into the hype around Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I didn’t see the attraction behind Angel. But this move? Hot dayum! Boreanaz can not only act, he can walk the walk. It is completely believable that his character is a player, stealing hearts on either side of the playing field…and I’m not just saying that because he wears a bra and panties at one point(enjoy it while it lasts, ladies, it slides rapidly downhill into fan disservice after that) Sebastian St. Germain is the antithesis of everything John stands for: a common, unpretentious man-slut who doesn’t fall for John’s trademark “charity” guilt.
The two are the focal point for most of the movie(though Boreanaz is not onscreen for that long, his presence is felt much longer) and come to a head in something I would be remiss in not mentioning: the torture scene. See, John’s not the most stable of people, and Sebastian makes the mistake of underestimating his host’s desperation. What happens next is gripping, tightly acted, and very hard to watch. Alan Cumming is magnificent, alternatively malicious and groveling, and Boreanaz does something I haven’t seen in a scene like this yet: he gives as good as he gets. At one point, a single remark from him utterly destroys John, and even though Sebastian is the one tied up we get the feeling that the playing field is a bit more even.
There are other actors in the movie that deserve a mention: Henry Thomas(hey kids, it’s Elliott!) as John’s oldest friend, who is the first to call bullshit on John’s “charity”; Jane Lynch is awesome as always, but I think the best part is Karen Black’s one-scene wonder as a middle-aged drunk who is Sebastian’s potential sugar mama. Cumming chews the scenery with gusto, but Black devours the props, the lighting equipment, and the backdrop. It’s so fun to watch the two go head-to-head, and while the scene is brief it’s tons of fun.
Reservations: the official write-up says it pays homage to Grand Guignol horror and brother, they weren’t kidding. The movie jumps far away from the realm of good taste in the torture scene, even if you’re a sick chickie like me. It goes kind of flat after that, the tension between the two actors is dispersed, but what comes after is still worth watching.
Where you can get it: it’s out on DVD and at Netflix, but if you must download it illegally, I have to tell you what you’re missing. Commentary. The DVD itself is pretty bare-bones, but the director’s commentary is well worth renting, because Alan Cumming is Fucking Adorable. Really. You will never meet a cuter monster than the one he plays here. He knows every name involved in production and was probably a great deal of fun to work with. He’s like a little Scottish bunny, he’s so stinkin’ cute. I hate to fangirl all over you, but I wish they made plushies of him.
Well, enough of that. Summary: see Ghoswriter, for I decree it messed-up slashy goodness.