The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 300 Days to go: 289
Movie #73: Confidence
To make a successful movie about con artists — or especially about a particular con — the audience has to be duped. This is not an easy task, obviously, since the audience knows it’s a con (it’s often right there in the title, see: The Sting) and is looking for ways to reveal the trick before the movie does. However, if a movie can lay bare certain aspects of the con, while holding back on others and smudging the timeline or order of events enough to blur the narrative, the audience gets the reveal just as the mark in the film does, and it’s immensely satisfying. Confidence is just such a movie, and it is immensely satisfying.
The key to Confidence is the framing. The movie starts with our narrator, Jake Vig (the dead sexy-and-he-knows-it Edward Burns), lying dead in an alley. From the point of view of the audience, Jake’s ghost or whatever is telling how he got in this, shall we say, predicament. He points the finger at Rachel Weisz (who we find out later is Lily, a woman he meets when she picks his pocket, as all con artist meet-cutes go), who is somehow the cause for him being held at gunpoint in the aforementioned alley by (the equally fine) Morris Chestnut (as Travis). Travis wants to know how it all started too, so we enter our second narrative layer (Jake narrating to the audience and Jake talking to Travis) as we go into a flashback within a flashback to three weeks earlier.
From this point on, the audience goes ahead aware of these two layers, and maybe a third a little later on, but the movie itself is actually working on an entirely different level. Some things are authentic, others are not, while sometimes there’s crossover of the two and maybe things don’t mean what they seem. (The opening titles do a great job of illustrating this impermanence with letters that turn and move and switch into other letters, forming different words in the credits. Title work doesn’t get enough credit, so it’s important to point out when it’s really done well and with intention.) It’s really seamlessly executed, to the point where even if you think you’ve guessed the trick, it’s still not disappointing whether or not it turns out you were right.
The other way the framing works to the movie’s advantage is that it provides necessary exposition about how a confidence game works, who the players are, and what roles they play. It makes the film easy to follow without losing any of its intricacy. The complexities of the relationships and motivations of each of the characters remain undiminished by the seeming transparency of explaining how the cons work. This is thanks to deft plotting and direction, plus excellent character work by the actors.
Jake’s crew is rounded out by Paul Giamatti as Gordo and Cougar Town‘s Brian Van Holt as Miles. When they lose their fourth to retribution by crime boss “The King” (Dustin Hoffman), Jake brings in rogue grifter Lily. There are also a couple of dirty cops (Donal Logue and Luis Guzman) and a federal agent named Gunther Butan (Andy Garcia) in the mix, wreaking their own kind of havoc. Everyone brings their A game to this one, playing at least three or four different roles throughout, layer upon layer, seemingly open yet distant — cards close to the vest. Motivations may be straightforward or misleading, and none of the puzzle pieces really come together to form a clear picture until the end. It’s really spectacular work all around, though I think Rachel Weisz deserves the most praise. Burns is stoic throughout — a no-nonsense leader of the group, a straight-talker, determined, always with a clear intention and plan even if you don’t know what it is — but Weisz gets to play the enigma. She’s the wild card, and you never know who she might be playing or what she might be after. It’s a great role for a woman — strong, confident, aloof, underestimated and pivotal — and I think that’s the kind of thing Weisz is great at and doesn’t get enough credit for. Special props also go to Dustin Hoffman. He’s an odd choice for a crime boss, to be sure, but he brings so much depth to the role. He’s hypersexual, manic, somewhat prissy and yet still menacing. It’s fascinating to watch his interactions with both Burns and Weisz, as he really plays up those encounters, but even with his own staff he’s quite intriguing.
The con artist movie is a popular, well-worn one. The Sting is no doubt considered the best, and The Grifters was also highly acclaimed. In the 21st century, Ocean’s 11 gets the most praise — and it’s great. It’s funny and inventive and I love it. But in my opinion, Confidence is the better of the two films. The stakes are higher, the structure is stronger, and the performances are better. Check it out sometime.
Viable Option 