In his fourth feature film as a director Tim Blake Nelson proves once again that, if nothing else, he's an auteur in the strictest sense of the word - he's a director of his own vision and inspiration, but he's not quite there when it comes to making a film that works as a satisfying and complete experience. His most solid film so far has been The Grey Zone, but while Leaves of Grass is more scattered, it's just as surprising and intriguing - but it's also heavily flawed in terms of structure and pacing.
In Leaves of Grass Nelson shows that he's very influenced by his good friends Joel and Ethan Coen; like many of the Coens' films, it's disguised as a genre film - a stoner movie in this case - but is actually a character study, and a half-cynical study of Americana and American culture; the characters are quirky, disquieting and very intriguing, and the actors all deliver wonderfully, especially Edward Norton in a dual role that stands with his wonderful performances in the late 90's.
Nelson's directorial work is quite capable, but his script, unfortunately, has some problems, and while the film is very promising in its first half, it falls apart in the last thirty minutes or so, as the character study turns into a nonsensical action film. The ending is rushed and doesn't deliver on the promises made by the first half of the film, by the great aesthetics and the wonderful acting. The result is that the film is a great watch - especially for fans of directors like the Coens, Wes Anderson, Jim jarmusch and Spike Jonze, and independent film as a whole - but it's pretty forgettable and doesn't measure up to its own potential.
In Leaves of Grass Nelson shows that he's very influenced by his good friends Joel and Ethan Coen; like many of the Coens' films, it's disguised as a genre film - a stoner movie in this case - but is actually a character study, and a half-cynical study of Americana and American culture; the characters are quirky, disquieting and very intriguing, and the actors all deliver wonderfully, especially Edward Norton in a dual role that stands with his wonderful performances in the late 90's.
Nelson's directorial work is quite capable, but his script, unfortunately, has some problems, and while the film is very promising in its first half, it falls apart in the last thirty minutes or so, as the character study turns into a nonsensical action film. The ending is rushed and doesn't deliver on the promises made by the first half of the film, by the great aesthetics and the wonderful acting. The result is that the film is a great watch - especially for fans of directors like the Coens, Wes Anderson, Jim jarmusch and Spike Jonze, and independent film as a whole - but it's pretty forgettable and doesn't measure up to its own potential.