Sonny (2002)

Pretty Good

best movie i've ever seen.

A lot of fun.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Sonny is one of those small great films that makes me recover my faith on the seventh art.Nicholas Cage give us a film full of pain, rage, passion, love and with a little option to the hope.a portrait of the suffering that produces a clear lack of hope.The leading role lies on the great James Franco(the best actor of his generation) he plays to the haunted and dreamer Sonny.He is supported by great actors as Harry Dean Stanton,Mena Suvari, Seymour Cassel, Brenda Blethyn and Scott Cann( son of the legendary James Cann).This film gives a lot for very little and that is the best thing that can happen to a movie lover. Since the first time I saw the trailer I knew I was going to love the film and it didn't disappoint me.

Nicolas Cage needed to get this out of his system, I guess. He never directed before or since, and it's a project that speaks somewhat to what we know about his influences - James Franco, channeling, I think, James Dean, who was Cage's reason to become an actor - and, I suppose, to his wanting to tell this particular story of a gigolo in New Orleans circa 1981. Whether or not he'll make a movie with such concerns, or just another movie as director period, remains to be seen. For now we have this, a melancholy look at a young man screwed up by his mother (and by screwed up I mean by her having him as a man-whore starting when he was 12 years old) and unsure of where to go in his life. It has its misses, and just strange quality about it at times. But it also has life and some weird energy about it that's hard to shake off.Cage certainly casts with some interest, and more or less he's a good actor's director. He gets Franco to dig deep into his character Sonny, a guy who escaped to the army more-so than really serving from his existence as a hustler of lonely middle-aged women looking for some hot thrills and sex. When he gets back he wants to go legit - something his mother (Brenda Blethyn) is dead-set against - but is drawn back in after a bad encounter visiting an old army buddy in Texas, and when he realizes that his reputation in the quarter of New Orleans he lives in is locked: he's a man-whore, and is undesirable except in his lowly position. He also seeks advice from a boyfriend of his mothers, Harry Dean Stanton, and his mother's current protégé prostitute played by Mena Suvari.Cage manages to get some really affecting scenes with his characters. One of which is the morning after Sonny and Carol have done some prostituting at a Louisiana mansion (Sonny with the main madame, Carol with some other guy), and they're at a farm and see in the barn a dog that's just given birth to puppies. It brings Carol to tears as she thinks she won't be able to get out unless she makes a clean break. It's one of those highly melodramatic scenes- think Douglas Sirk, that much so- but it works, albeit with some cheesy touches (when Carol says to Sonny "I love you" rain just starts on cue). Other scenes try to be more affecting but are a little more compromised. Scenes where Jewel (Blethyn) does her sob routine in front of Sonny work up to a certain Tennessee Williams style dramatic point, but Blethyn's accent is way over the top. A couple of short scenes between Stanton and Franco fare much better.And other times Cage is just trying things out as a director, and sometimes things work and sometimes not. He's a little rocky when it comes to scene transitions: we see Sonny's trip from New Orleans to Texas with lots of fast-motion shots of his car driving to Rush's 'Limelight' and it's just silly. And when it comes time for Sonny to really be low in the dumps following the death of a character, as he wanders drunk and meets a gay drug-fueled pimp (played by Cage himself, Acid Yellow, a particularly strange and unerring figure to come at this point in the film), it's met with some mixed results as Franco is good but everything else seems forced or fake. But, again, usually with his actors he gets good work, and a feeling of a 1950's existential crisis comes out of the material that works for Franco to play up (frankly he might even be better than Dean in some cases, perhaps slightly channeling young Cage to boot), and the ending of the film is a very nice twist.It's not something to rush out to rent or buy, and I'm sure only die-hard Cage enthusiasts or fans of the actors will really seek it out (any die-hard fans of Blethyn out there?). On its own terms, however modest, it comes in with a swagger and heartbeat and does its own thing to some good if not great effect. If Cage has another project he wants to direct, I'll show some interest if not overwhelming enthusiasm.

If it were not for his famed director uncle Francis Ford Coppola, we would never know of Mr. Nicholas Coppola.. Yep thats his real name. Mr. Cage is a detriment to acting and now directing. What a shame that Hollywood has become an occupation of who you know, not how talented you are. This film proves that point. This was a muddled film with the best moments being of a randy nature. Josie Davis, youngest sister of 'Charles in Charge' was worth seeing in her one scene,with and without clothes. The movie seemed muddled. This took place in the early 80's , but one got the sense it was more like the early 40's. It just seemed that pieces of the puzzle never quite fit. Basically a love story of a young man from a dysfunctional , brothel family ,consisting of an overbearing over the hill mother and other surprises , that were predictable but I wont reveal. Sonnys love interest , one of the prostitutes living in this perverted house of debauchery. Coming back from military service , Sonny hardly exhibited discipline that would come from a successful stint in the Armed Forces. I watched this cheap DVD in about 14 sittings or so it seems. While the acting was somewhat acceptable, the inconsistencies and realism was not. It seemed like it was the same exact set and location as 'Pretty Baby' filmed about 3 decades earlier. Watch this dreary film and film set at your own peril.

Even a well-known cast of respected actors can't bring this ill-conceived project by actor turned director Nicolas Cage ("Adaptation") to either a dramatic or sexual 'climax' for that matter.It's a shame that a major actor like Cage who's had the opportunity to work with almost every great director in Hollywood could have gleaned so little info about the craft of film-making.The only thing I can say in Cage's defense is that he did hire a competent crew and he shot on film and not digital video (as opposed to real worst movie of 2002 - "Chelsea Walls" - the digital disaster by fellow first-time actor-director Ethan Hawke).Therefore, Cage's film really isn't the worst of the year since it is at the very least - 'technically' competent, but all other creative aspects are amateurish at best. This forces an above-average cast of actors to overcompensate with mawkish, over-the-top performances - leaving the audience with no one to root for or care about.Only Cage's marquee value (as an actor) could have gotten this soon-to-be video release a limited run in theaters (for the moment), but it won't be too long into 2003 before it hits video shelves.Possible rental for curiosity-seekers only! You've been warned!