The Walker (2007)

Amateur movie with Big budget

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

In Paul Schrader's stylised depiction of a decidedly pre-Trump Washington, the political establishment play high-stakes games of money, power and sex behind a veneer of perfect civility; sometimes, people get hurt, or have to be sacrificed, but nothing is vulgar is ever permitted to be seen. Caught up in the web is Carter Page (ironically, also the name of a real Trump adviser), a Southern gentleman and governor's son, but also a gay man, who makes his money as a paid companion to well-connected, elderly ladies; and who stands to be written off as collateral damage in a war that is not his own. The film is a thriller but mostly consists of conversations, in which what is unsaid is as important as what is spoken; it reminded me of the plays of David Hare. In the telling ending, one of Page's friends expresses her main feeling with respect to his loyalty: surprise.

I kind of like Paul Schrader. He's earnest, knowing, and awfully candid about himself. He wrote "Taxi Driver" and directed the odd ball remake of "The Cat People" with the toothsome young Nastasja Kinsky.As far as self exposure goes, he meets his match in Woody Harrelson, who is just as daring and whose acting style seems to be a mixture of his real personality and the particular role he happens accidentally to be playing.Yet both have some clunkers on their resume, and while this isn't quite that bad it's powerful slow in its unraveling of a complicated murder mystery involving politics, secret agendas, and devious ambition.The story itself might be more interesting if it had been more carefully pruned. Some scenes of minor importance just seem to go on too long for their own good. There are two scenes of brief violence to add some voltage to the glum proceedings. (I never thought I'd hear myself calling for more action.) Woody Harrelson is pretty good as the impeccably garbed Southern aristocrat who now finds himself a "walker," a paid escort to lone wealthy women in Washington. He's gay, so it's all safe. He plays the subject of interest in the murder in a deliberate manner, which is to say verrry slowww. His drawl is slow. His gestures are prolonged. His very walk looks as if it had been filmed in slow motion. He's got the role down pat though, and -- slow or fast -- he's believable.You have to applaud the Junoesque Lauren Bacall too. Oh, she's old, but by God she's got spunk and can still act without being self conscious. If she were seen more often in public she could become one of those gay icons -- the sassy old babe who defies age.Nice location shooting, without the use of the usual Washington, DC, touchstones. There is no undercover appointment at the Jefferson Memorial or anything. Fine job by the production designer and set dresser too.But you may need to make an effort to keep from nodding out.

In Washington, the sophisticated homosexual Carter "Car" Page III (Woody Harrelson) is a "walker", escorting the wives of powerful men in social events, clubs and shopping. Car is the son and grandson of famous politicians and circulates in the high-society of Washington; his lover is the journalist Emek Yoglu (Moritz Bleibtreu). One afternoon, Car brings his client and friend Lynn Lockner (Kristin Scott Thomas), who is the wife of the politician Larry Lockner (Willem Dafoe), to meet her lover Robbie Kononsberg (Steven Hartley) at his apartment. Out of the blue, Lynn comes shaking to his car and tells that Robbie is murdered in his apartment. Lynn tells that she can not call the police, since Larry is investigating a financial scandal with the company Ultimate that is administrated by Robbie and the scandal would destroy her husband. Car brings her home, returns to the crime scene and calls the police. However, the ambitious district attorney Mungo Tenant (William Hope) receives inside information about the love affair of Robbie and Lynn and presses Car to betray Lynn. But Car and Emek prefer to investigate the murder by themselves and find a network of power and corruption."The Walker" is a pretentious story of power and corruption in the American politics. Woody Harrelson is absolutely miscast in the role of a classy gay, since neither of these characteristics fits with his profile. The plot is exaggerated and confused, and the resolution is absolutely unreasonable. The logic conclusion should be with the powerful Jack Delorean destroying Car and Emek that have threatened him. Car inclusive tells him that he is aware of the whole situation. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "O Acompanhante" ("The Escort")

The Walker is about a profession many of us aren't aware of: socialites like Mr. Carter Page III, who escort ladies who happened to be the wives of senators and congressman around Washington DC and play cards and socialize (hence the 'social' part of the title). But it's also about a murder mystery, where a man is killed who is connected with Lynn Lockner, married to senator Larry Lockner. Who killed him, for what motive, and what are the connections and the fall-out of the scandal, are all a part of the narrative for Paul Schrader, the mind-games of Washington, the slick veneer and quietly accepted facts of corruption and greed and, usually, scandal. But it's also about this man, the Walker, how he is viewed by the women he is polite to (indeed his politeness is pointed out as a weakness, as "Don't be so polite" in this DC society), and his own self flagged by the legacy of his father, a hero in the eyes of many in DC. Oh, and he's gay, though this is only the ice on the cake.For Paul Schrader, it's a mature work that shows him skillfully working out this side of DC that is fresh in perspective. He is able to write the dramatic scenes much better, however, than those of that of a thriller. One senses Schrader's investment in his own material hit high points when he just has two people in a room talking about the heart of a matter, like an argument between Carter and Emek that is really all about Carter's father but exactly about Carter the whole time, or a scene between Carter and Lauren Bacall's elder lady when he finds out a vital piece of information (the "black sheep" dialog). Scenes like those are very good, while a chase scene down an alley feels weaker, filmed with tired and repetitive dutch angles and close-ups.So, if it isn't quite one of Schrader's best films, albeit not his worst, it is definitely an achievement for Harrelson. He disappears into the character of Carter Page III (note the III) as an effeminate but strong-willed Southern man who hides his baldness with a hair piece and keeps his politeness and calm demeanor as something that is partly natural and partly a cover for what is really deep down someone who has disappointed others around him. It's so fascinating to see this actor who, indeed, once was a co-star in White Men Can't Jump, tackle such a complex character and succeed in every scene with depth and sensitivity and subtlety. He is nothing less than totally absorbing, especially up against old pros like Bacall and Ned Beatty.