DEMOLITION : Wednesday 15th June 2016.

I saw 'DEMOLITION' at my favourite Sydney movie theatre on Wednesday evening last week as part of the Sydney Film Festival screenings. Due in Australian cinemas on 14th July, released in the US on 8th April and screened at TIFF in early September 2015, it would be fair to say that this film has so far found only a limited audience and received luke warm reviews for the most part. It is a shame because the film promises so much with a strong Director at the helm in Jean-Marc Vallee who most recently brought us Reece Witherspoon's 'Wild' and Matthew McConaughey's 'Dallas Buyer's Club', and a strong cast in the three principle leads. The movie theatre was well attended which gives an indication of the pulling power of Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead and the calibre of the Director, but that said, the woman sat next to me got up and walked out within 20 minutes! Make of that what you will!

The story here centres on Davis Mitchell (Jake Gyllenhaal) a successful investment banker who has worked since aged 27 in his father-in-laws business. Driving in the car with his wife Julia (Heather Lind) at the wheel, Davis is talking on his mobile phone on loud speaker with her Dad and his boss Phil (Chris Cooper) when unexpectedly and from nowhere the car is smashed sideways on with Julia's side taking full impact. We cut to the hospital where Davis and Phil are given the news of Julia's death as a result of massive head trauma. Phil is devastated as any grieving father would be, Davis however, processes this in a different way, detached and without emotion, he escaped almost unscathed. He siddles up to a vending machine in the Hospital waiting area to buy a packet of peanut M&M's, but delivery is halted mid-way through and his money is gone. Using his phone, he takes a photograph of the vending company details.

After the funeral, at her parents home where there is a wake for Julia, Davis retires to the study and begins to draft up a handwritten complaint letter to the vending company explaining his experience at the Hospital. Before getting to the point however, he feels compelled to record his life story detailing the facts that brought him to that Hospital and that vending machine in the first place. Davis throws himself back into work, but is hardly able to concentrate, his mind wandering and emotionally disconnected. Phil offers encouragement and words of wisdom, security and support, which inwardly Davis shrugs off almost with disdain and contempt.

Moments before her death, in the car Julia asked Davis to fix a leak in the home fridge using a tool kit given to him a few Christmas's ago and that he had all but forgotten about, not being a very handy toolkit kinda guy by his own admission. One evening home alone, he notices the leak in the fridge, searches out the tool kit and begins to dismantle the fridge . . . completely, until it is a mass of component parts on the floor - a process he clearly finds therapeutic. Having been told once by his father-in-law 'if you want to fix something, you have to take it apart and put it back together again' - advice he clearly takes to the extreme, and so he begins to dismantle anything that captures his interest - his desk top computer at work, the cubicles in the gents toilets because of a squeaking door, a newly delivered espresso machine ordered by his wife and still in the box. He even pays some building contractors to allow him onto a condemned house in his business suit so that he can help physically pull down a house. All of these actions, and his day to day observations he sees as a metaphor of his life - that they have some hidden meaning that he didn't appreciate until now.

In the meantime, he pens several other letters to the vending machine company, never expecting to get a response but because he finds this some form of release to express himself in writing to a complete stranger whom he is never going to meet. Until of course upon receiving four letters the customer service representative from the vending company calls - at 2:00am in the morning. They strike up a conversation and Davis feels an instant attraction to the womans voice, and tracks her down to her place of work. That woman is Karen Moreno (Naomi Watts), who by now knows everything about Davis through his letters and feels equally attracted to him, although she is in a relationship with the vending company owner, and has a 15 year old rebellious son Chris (Judah Lewis).

After several aborted attempts to meet, they do so, and Karen is attracted by his free thinking and reckless spirit. Davis starts to chase Karen and as their relationship starts to strengthen, so does his relationship with Chris who is battling his own adolescent challenges, not the least of these being over his own sexuality. This gives rise to a some moments of dialogue that are real laugh out loud moments that pack a punch, and show what young Judah Lewis might be capable of as an Actor in the future.

Meanwhile, Phil has taken it upon himself to set up an honorary scholarship fund in Julia's name and as her legacy, using her life insurance monies, but he needs Davis' signature on a release document for it to proceed and to which Davis procrastinates much to Phil's chagrin. Then there is Karen's declining relationship with her vending machine owner boyfriend, the growing pains that Chris is experiencing and all the while Davis is yet to shed a tear for his dearly departed wife. He is in denial, and clearly enjoying his new found freedom, dismantling objects that take his fancy, and there is a new girl on the scene.

Davis decides that it would be a good idea to demolish his own modern house in the suburbs, and buys a bulldozer off e-Bay to assist him and Chris in the process. When the bulldozer stalls and they fail to get it restarted they set to the kitchen and lounge with sledgehammers, crow bars and pick axes . . . great fun, and incredibly therapeutic as they trash the place wholesale. Davis seems hell bent on demolishing the life he once knew and starting afresh, but during this process makes a startling discovery that brings him back down to Earth and results in a confrontation with Julia's parents. At the same time Chris attends a party and gets badly beaten up. That same night, Davis visits Karen's home and walks in unexpectedly to find her boyfriend having returned home from an interstate trade show, and promptly gets beaten up too.

The film draws to a close with Davis reconciling with Julia's parents, and he making a gesture to keep Julia's memory alive in a public place and for the public (and children especially) to enjoy. As for his ongoing relationship with Karen we are left guessing, but Chris invites him to witness a controlled building demolition event at 11:00am one morning, which he attends with Chris looking on through binoculars, smiling. Another metaphor!

I enjoyed this film but more for the chemistry between Davis and Chris especially, and can see that it won't be for everyone. It lumbers along at times, and it is hard to really connect with a man who refuses to mourn the death of his wife, recognise the grief of those others around him, or show any emotion, feeling, or heart for his new personal circumstances despite the tragedy of it all. Despite this Gyllenhaal gives a compelling strong performance as the detached soul seeking to rebuild a new life after demolishing the old; Chris Cooper makes up for the emotion as the father racked with guilt over the all too premature loss of his daughter; and Naomi Watts provides the anchor to keep Davis grounded with what and who he really is. All of that said there are moments here that will shock, surprise, make you laugh out loud and make you cringe with an ending that is just a little too sugar coated for me. Worth a look for sure, but you can save yourself the price of a movie ticket and wait for the BluRay and DVD release too.

 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-