The Essential Directors: # 3 Michael Mann

Michael Mann on the set of Public Enemies (www.imdb.com)

While the Examiner Essentials celebrates unique and classic film, the Essential Directors are the people who can fill a whole Examiner Essentials list on their own. While it may be very difficult to succinctly explain why some of these film makers are essential, an attempt shall still be made. And here it is.

Michael Mann

For whatever reason, when film nerd discussions inevitably turn to the "best director" topic, Chicago-born Michael Mann doesn't get nearly the level of love he deserves. But since 1981, Mann has been crafting excellent movies, often dealing with the law and the people on both sides of it, but also trying his hand at period pieces and biopics.

By this point, everyone has seen Heat (and if you haven't seen it, you really should. Like right now), but Mann has a bunch of other amazing movies under his belt. Below are a few of the highlights, though just about any Mann film is worthy of going into. But not everyone has time to sit down and watch ten movies. So if time is not on your side, check out any of these Michael Mann flicks to get an idea of why he's so essential to modern film (but if you haven't seen Heat, just start with that).

Did I mention Heat is essential viewing?

1. Thief (1981)Michael Mann's feature length film debut, Thief is about a jewel thief named Frank (James Caan, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 3D), who is in the twilight of his jewel heisting career. He's looking for a few big scores so he can retire and spend the rest of his life not having to worry about being arrested, and part of his retirement plan includes settling down with a nice lady and having a kid. And when the opportunity comes up to work a couple of huge scores set up by crime kingpin Leo, Frank ignores his instincts and agrees, even though it could lead to big problems. However, he didn't realize exactly how big those problems would be, and finds himself having to make very drastic decisions to solve those problems. Mann uses this story to explore themes and ideas that would pop again regularly throughout his work; Frank tries to keep his professional and personal life as unencumbered as possible, especially since his criminal profession makes him enemies quite easily on both sides of the law. Mann also loves his men on a mission type of story, usually involving criminal enterprises of some sort. Mann also loves the strong antagonist, usually someone diametrically opposed to what the hero wants, but also someone that the hero can see a reflection of himself in. Frank doesn't want to be a criminal until the day he dies, he wants to get out while he can. The last thing he wants is to become anything like Leo or his goons. Mann also uses some film techniques that would go on to characterize his work. He uses a very modern (for its time) electronic synth score, composed and performed by Tangerine Dream (who also did the score for Ridley Scott's Blade Runner), which included lots of long, sustained notes and went a long way to establishing the mood of the movie. It emphasizes the neo-noir aspects of the film; instead of the sad saxophone and tinkering piano of old school noir films, it's a moody electronic piece. Mann also has a great eye for composition, and one of the best shots of the movie is from behind two characters as they stare out over the water. Mann loves to film his characters looking thoughtfully at a body of water, as if they are contemplating their vast, deep and ultimately unknowable future that is laid out before them. Thief is a great movie and a great start to movie making for Mr. Mann, who would only get better from here.

2. Manhunter (1986)A box office flop upon release, Manhunter is the first Hannibal Lecter movie (though here his name is spelled Lecktor instead of Lecter and he is played by Brian Cox instead of Anthony Hopkins. What a world!), and could be considered the best of the series. William Peterson (To Live and Die in LA, Young Guns II) plays retired FBI specialist Will Graham, who has been brought in to help solve a serial killer case. Much like Silence of the Lambs, the serial killer is not Lecktor but someone else, and Lecktor is consulted for insight into the mind of the killer. The killer in this case is the Tooth Fairy, named so because of how he likes to bite his victims with his crazy teeth, and played by awesome actor Tom Noonan (Synecdoche, New York, Snow Angels, Robocop 2). Another electronic heavy score really emphasizes the tense and weird mood of the movie, and there is awesome use of Iron Butterfly's "In a Gadda da Vida" during the movie's climax. And Mann's love of sterile whites and blue tinted hues comes in handy quite nicely in this movie. Brian Cox is a crazy Lecktor and does a lot with his two scenes, and it would have been interesting to see him continue his portrayal instead of moving on to Hopkins, but dems the breaks. The real villain is the crazy Tooth Fairy, and he gets a surprising amount of character depth (typical of a Mann film); when a chance at love comes into his life, he actually settles down and his murderous rages subside for a short while. For a moment there, he can almost have something of a normal, non-murdering life. But of course that doesn't last. Kind of nice to see it there for a moment though. Even family killers deserve a chance at love. This is a great movie and one that has gained a nice home video and cable TV following, so get on board with the best Lecktor movie of them all.

3. The Insider (1999)
Michael Mann's follow up to Heat took a step away from the lawless versus the law enforcers template, and instead focused on the battle between big tobacco and public health. Al Pacino comes back to work with Mann again and plays Lowell Bergman, a TV news producer for 60 Minutes on CBS. Christopher Plummer does an awesome job as Mike Wallace, and Russell Crowe plays Jeffrey Wigand, a Big Tobacco whistle blower. The crux of the story deals with Wigand and his decision to go public with confidential information proving that tobacco companies purposefully put an addictive and harmful product on the market. But in Michael Mann fashion, there are other aspects to the story as well; such as how CBS, in the face of legal and financial retaliation, decided to not air their interview with Wigand, despite him practically throwing his life away to do what's right. While these themes and topics may be far less exciting than large-scale bank robberies, jewels heists and serial killers, Mann still manages to wring loads of tension and dread our of this situation. Mann is skilled enough that he can make a simple deposition hearing as intense as possible (thanks in large part to awesome character actor Bruce McGill). Mann gets all of his trademarks in as well, including blue-hued scenes, characters on balconies looking out over a city, characters on this beach staring out over a body of water, and a droning electronic score. And one of his best trademarks? Great actors doing excellent work. If Michael Mann can use people like Jim Belushi and Chris Elliott in a non-ironic way and have it work, than he can work wonders with people like Pacino, Plummer and Crowe. The Insider is an excellent movie and a great way to end the 100% film era for Mann.

4. The Michael Mann Digital Age (2001 - Present)Starting with the excellent biopic Ali (2001), Michael Mann made the jump to digital video, making him an early adopter of technology that is now championed by directors like David Fincher, Peter Jackson, Bryan Singer and Richard Kelly. Mann's use of digital video adds a sense of immediacy and grittiness, as in the intense shoot outs in Miami Vice (2006), the tense taxi rides of Collateral (2004) or the jailbreaks of Public Enemies (2009). And while these films do not seem to have the same impact as his 80's and 90's films, they still stand out from the pack of movies released every year, as Mann knows how to tell a story and how to tell it well. And after digging into Mann's filmography, it is very interesting to see how he uses his same techniques with new technology, and how he adapts to newer cameras (as digital video presents limitations in comparison to pure film). And even though Mann switched to new technology, he sticks with his favorite themes, like tough men with ambiguous morals put into difficult situations and people's struggles with "right" and "wrong." Mann also sticks with his style of reusing actors, like Jaime Foxx (Ali, Collateral, Miami Vice), Barry Shabaka Henley (Ali, Collateral), Domenick Lombardozzi (Miami Vice, Public Enemies) and Jada Pinkett Smith (Ali, Collateral). Whether dealing with an iconic boxer, vice detectives or a legendary bank robber, Mann ties them all together with his sure hand of direction and great eye for composition, which both combine to make for very above par storytelling.

In Summation

Michael Mann is truly one of the best directors out there, and the movie going public should do their best to support his movies. He has a unique and interesting style that hasn't changed too much since 1981, but somehow manages to stay effective over 25 years later. His filmography is loaded with classics, and hopefully he'll continue to make great movies for many more years to come.