xoxoxo e: Atlantic City

Showing posts with label Atlantic City. Show all posts

Monday, December 06, 2010

look out for that wave

Last night's Boardwalk Empire ended the first season with Margaret and Nucky rejoining forces. One part romance, one part fear of loneliness, one part fear of destitution (on Margaret's part), and one part they both aren't completely sure it's the right thing to do. Still, they had a stronger reason to continue on than Jimmy did with mopey artist Angela. Someday artists will be portrayed as not only depressives or outsiders. Some of us still get the bills paid and have at least one more facial expression in our repertoire than sad clown. I'm still hoping Angela buys a ticket to Paris next season.

Jimmy's dear old dad the Commodore, played by Dabney Coleman, is still jealous of Nucky taking over Atlantic City and just ticked that he's old and ill, so he is enlisting Jimmy and Nucky's disgruntled and preternaturally stupid brother Eli in an as-yet-to-be-revealed plan of betrayal. This won't go well, but it should be interesting to watch when the series returns.

Margaret: There’s a kindness in you. How can you do the things you do?
Nucky: We all have to decide for ourselves how much sin we can live with.

So many of these characters want Nucky to take care of them, but resent him for how he does so. It's the ultimate child/parent hate dilemma. Nucky is the dad of 1920s Atlantic City. If he ever gets to be an actual one, will he change his political and criminal tactics?

Even with wonderful character Richard Harrow's violent dispatching of various D'Alessio's to the required musical montage, the episode itself was fairly gentle. Sort of like the waves lapping out to sea and lulling you to walk a little further into the surf. Here's hoping next season's big wave will knock us all off our feet with surprise.

Monday, November 29, 2010

under the boardwalk

I didn't really think I'd write about this show again so close to the finale, but last night's episode was something else. The prevailing mood is frequently ominous on Boardwalk Empire, but ominous took a walk right into out and out hostility and violence. Agent Van Alden took his frustrations and suspicions about his deputy out into the open, killing him by baptism as a crowd of horrified Baptists looked on. It was the perfect culmination of his growing religious mania and just plain mania. But has he completely lost control, to think that he could do that, in broad daylight, with no repercussions, just because he flashed a badge? Or because the witnesses were black?

Jimmy discovered that his mother, Gillian, was trying to murder his father, the Commodore. His male parentage is not as big a surprise as his female parentage was, as the hints have been coming and help to explain Jimmy's behavior towards Nucky—feeling he owes him something for looking after him, but also that he's better than him. Gillian was putting her son's anger into action. And hoping to inherit the Commodore's money. Jimmy quickly put a stop to her scheme, adding another shade to his character. Michael Pitt just keeps getting better and better, and he is matched by Gretchen Mol as his mother. We learn just tiny bits about her character each episode, but they always pay off in a big way. Here's hoping her part will expand next season. Jimmy also dealt smoothly with Angela's attempt to leave him. I know for the sake of the story's anti-symmetry that she had to fail, but I have to say hers is the least interesting character on the show. I would have been happy to wave her goodbye at the dock.

Nucky replaces Eli

Steve Buscemi's Nucky had confrontations of his own. His brother tried to strong-arm him about Kelly McDonald's Margaret and Nucky responded by firing him as sheriff, deciding he was his weakest link. Good call. While Nucky can read most people like a book, where Margaret is concerned, he's clueless. He started what he thought was a simple domestic tiff with her about her supposed jealousy, only to be surprised when she confronted him with what's really been bugging her—his ordering the murder of her husband. She was not mad at him for that as much as his manipulation of her as a chess piece, bringing her onto his board. Margaret forgets that she has been doing quite a bit of manipulation herself.

Nucky finally addressed the throwaway Lysol scene from a few episodes ago, which I questioned on another blog, and showed how much it hurt him that she was preventing any chance of pregnancy. But where Jimmy's girl is weak, Nucky's is not. Margaret was packed and gone the next day, leaving Nucky consulting fortune tellers. I'm worried for Margaret. Nucky's brother thinks she's a liability. I'm not sure about Nucky. He has done a lot to protect her and win her in the past, but will he now see her as an enemy? Is she now in even greater danger?

The title of this episode, Paris Green, was quite clever. An artist's pigment which is not used anymore, it could be made from arsenic. The can that Jimmy placed on the table ties together his mother's and painter Angela's plans quite neatly, while also hinting at the trip to Paris that never was, and Nucky's accusation of Margaret poisoning herself. It's a smart show. Boardwalk Empire has proven itself as more than a creative stunt by Scorsese and friends. Its characters are intriguing and its setting continues to provide atmosphere and history (Ponzi!) for those who are listening carefully. I'm eager to see what happens next in Atlantic City.

Monday, September 20, 2010

on the boardwalk in Atlantic City ...

On the Boardwalk in Atlantic City
Life will be peaches & cream.

I'm originally from New Jersey, or more accurately, "da Shore." But I haven't always connected with how New Jersey has been depicted in popular culture. I got bored with The Sopranos after the first season. Springsteen, although born a Stone Poney's throw away from me, is O.K. in my book, but I don't even own an album. I haven't watched any of the Jersey Shore series, because those sort of botchagaloops drove me nuts when I lived in Jersey—why would I subject myself to their antics on T.V.—with commercials, even? But for some reason I wasn't going to miss Boardwalk Empire. Who am I kidding? There was a reason. Steve Buscemi. And he did not disappoint.

Now before the endless "Martin Scorsese is a genius" chorus starts, I'll just say that I just don't go crazy for gangsters, Scorsese's strong point. The ultimate gangster movie, The Godfather, I love, but as much for its stunning depiction of the New York Italian immigrant experience and the Italian-American concept of family as it's operatic story and Brando performance. Most folks probably view those aspects of the film as the backdrop of the story, with crime at the center. But The Godfather and its murderous set pieces have been so often imitated (yes, even by Scorsese) that the crime has become the backdrop for me and the other elements the deeper takeaway.

Scorsese is a good filmmaker, and with gangster drama he found his niche. Goodfellas, although I really never want to see it again, was great. As was Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, After Hours, etc. Even when he doesn't hit a home run, his movies are interesting—Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Age of Innocence. He is forever faithful to his muse and comfort zone, the streets of New York. But now he has traveled south to Jersey, about 120 miles out of his comfort zone—and happily, it works.

What I liked most about Boardwalk Empire so far, apart from the fantastic Buscemi, was the attention to detail—the capturing of the Boardwalk's split personality: viewed with your back to the beach it is pure honky tonk—bright and sleazy and tawdry and flashy and fun—even in broad daylight. Turn your back to the penny arcades and you can gaze at the sea—relentless and peaceful and contemplative. That aspect of Atlantic City's personality has always held true, from the time depicted in the series to my childhood, pre-casinos, when it had really gone downhill, to the post-casino era of today.

Cinderella you will find your fella
Someone waiting for you...

The young gangster wannabe, played by Michael Pitt, fresh from the trenches of World War I also helps set the 1920s context. As does the young Irish lass played by Kelly McDonald, set up to become very important to Buscemi, who, thank god, doesn't seem to be written as the typical "complex" bad guy. Buscemi, who is also out of his comfort zone with crime boss Nucky, is one of those actors who, whenever he shows up, no matter what type of character he's playing (and he's played some weaselly ones), you are happy to see him. Personal favorites include The Big Lebowski, Fargo, Reservoir Dogs and a bit in The Wedding Singer. He's also great in Ghost World, Miller's Crossing, Desperado—the list goes on and on.

So in other words, the show seems off to a good start and has definitely set up enough to make me want to come back for more. There is something about Boardwalk Empire that reminds me of the entertaining and good movie Ragtime, which, I think may end up being a good thing. Ragtime was a sprawling, episodic book with lots of characters—probably too sprawling to ever be turned into a great movie, along the lines of The Godfather, which had a sharper, honed-in narrative. But HBO, with the ability to tell an extended story, is the perfect venue for such a saga. Scorsese is also a producer of Boardwalk Empire and may return to do a few more episodes as director. As long as he continues to approach his comfort zone subject matter with fresh eyes I will be eager to see what he sees. He has gotten things off to a good start.