It's a simple story, really. A man falls for his gangster boss' girl. More explicitly, when a young man is given the opportunity to lose his identity and start over, he takes it. His past, whether dark or just dull, is never known. He, now William (James Franco), ends up in New York City and is noticed by a gangster (Josh Lucas) who likes his style and offers him a job as a messanger, picking up and dropping off envelopes. William is introduced to the nameless gangster's right hand man, Victor (Martin Donovan) and his prostitute Ann (Julianne Nicholson). The rest follows to its natural conclusuion.
This film moves very slowly. It is for each viewer to decide if the whole cast and crew are on quaaludes or if it is an artistic and poetic expression of the human condition. Franco's William is, if not brooding, at the very least enervated; his love for Ann, though lathargic, is the only sign of life in him. Donovan's Vincent is a working thug who would fit better into a career in accounting. Still, his was the most empathetic role. He was simply human, with a dram of feelings and physicality -- more than the other characters mustered. Nicholson's Ann was more of a sleepwalker than a women who earns her keep in the throes of passion. When she asks if she can lie down, she does lie down unmoving, wrapped in a borrowed kimono with her eyes closed. And our evil gangster, played by Josh Lucas, needs little energy expension to be a threat. Therefore, he doesn't waste any.
This is a minimilast film where each word, each movement, is fraught with intensity. It's interspersed with nature film footage William is supposed to be editing for television besides his job as a messanger. This much be very significant footage; in any case, it's really pretty. It seems to be always night, or uncomfortable day anticipating night. Close ups of Franco's unmoving face linger. Silences are stretched beyond meaning -- meaning I wondered why the silences were so long. I may be an impatient Luddite who is missing the point or ir it may be just a really slow movie. If you like poetry and New York films, check out the very same James Franco as the young, enthusiastic poet, Allen Ginsburg, in 'Howl.' Or if you want to see Franco in yet another Mill Valley Film Festival entrant, check out '127 Hours.'
William Vincent
Director/writer/editor: Jay Anania
Cast: James Franco, Julianne Nicholson, Martin Donovan, Josh Lucas
Time:100 min
Playing at the Mill Valley Film Festival at the Sequoia on October 16, 9:30 pm, and at the Rafael on October 17, 4:30 pm
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