THE BIG WHITE
US, 2005, 100 minutes, Colour.
Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, Giovanni Ribisi, Tim Blake Nelson, Woody Harrelson, Alison Lohman.
Directed by Mark Mylod.
Not easy to categorise this film. It can be seen as a comedy – though the shade is black. It can be seen as a scam and con drama. It can be seen as a murder thriller. And combinations thereof!
The setting is Alaska in winter, so plenty of snow and white. Robin Williams, much more restrained than in the past, is a travel agent with dreams of going on a trip with Waikiki airlines, but short of money. His main preoccupation is caring for the wife he deeply loves who is afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome (and she does let loose with it!). She is played with verve by Holly Hunter. The travel agent wants to cash in an insurance policy on his brother who disappeared five years earlier. The smart insurance honcho, Giovanni Ribisi, whose girlfriend, Alison Lohman, runs a psychic phone advisory service from home – which both the agent and his wife use – is able to deny the claim which requires seven years to have passed before a payout is possible.
Enter a dead body – into a dumpster outside the travel agency. There have been black comedies about shifting corpses around like Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry and the Weekend at Bernie films. This one will be added to the list. Travel agent, Tourette wife, insurance agent wanting promotion, sympathetic psychic, two emotionally involved hit men – and plot complications. Into which comes the long-lost brother who has read about his death in the papers. He is played, even over-played, by Woody Harrelson as the wild man from anywhere.
The screenplay shifts moods regularly, almost as regularly as someone is tied up or beaten up or even shot. There is both comedy and pathos. Williams and Hunter bring feeling to their roles. Ribisi does his bewildered innocent turn again. No major reason to see it but, on the other hand, it is not bad.
1. The blend of the thriller with the comic? Satire? Film noir?
2. Alaska, the Canadian film locations? Snow and ice? Homes, insurance offices, the corpses and their concealment? The musical score?
3. The title, Alaska? The contrast with hopes for Waikiki and the tropics?
4. Strong cast, the different styles, comic styles? Drama?
5. Robin Williams as Paul, his age, experience, the travel agent? The comic touches, the one-liners? His desperation? Love from Margaret and concern for the? The need for money? Coming across the corpse, his idea, his brother having disappeared for five years, claiming that he was dead, providing the corpse? Getting the animals to disfigure the face? Making the claim, the hopes?
6. Margaret, Holly Hunter, love for Paul? Tourette’s Syndrome? Swearing and the extent? Hope for a cure?
7. Ted, his work, insurance agent, his age, experience, the tensions with his girlfriend, his being preoccupied with his work? Refusing Paul, issue of the corpse, the rules of not giving insurance for seven years? His suspicions? The police not suspicious? His continuing the investigation, clash with Paul?
8. The Mafia killers, the characters? The murder, corpse, wanting to recover it, the extent to which they tried, the abduction of Margaret? Threats?
9. Raymond, Woody Harrelson, his disappearance, his relationship with Paul, his wildness, his reading about his alleged death, his return, wanting some of the money?
10. Ted, his girlfriend, her being a psychic – and consulted by Paul and Margaret?
11. The build up to the climax, some seemingly funny aspects, becoming very serious? Raymond shooting Margaret – all concerned, her not dying? The deaths of the criminals?
Ted and his relationship with his girlfriend, wanting to improve it, taking a more compassionate attitude towards Paul and letting him have the money? Paul and Margaret and the possibility of the trip in the tropics together?
