Tonight’s feature presentation is Ridley Scott’s Matchstick Men, which easily makes my personal top five from Scott, and now that it’s a Netflix streaming option, I hope more people check it out. The cinematic sleight of hand on display in this film is remarkable.
It’s so stylish in a very subtle way; I love it when Ridley goes “small” and here he just allowed the amazing screenplay to take center stage, never over-doing anything on an aesthetic level. This twisty, funny, ultimately nasty movie features a great Nicolas Cage performance in one of the ultimate conman roles to hit the big screen, with career best work from the sensational Sam Rockwell as his affable partner.
Alison Lohman’s young looks were perfectly used as a further layer to the tricky narrative, and Dody Dorn’s editing is razor sharp with not one wasted moment. John Mathieson shot in bold widescreen, ramping up the shutter speed during the numerous mental attacks that Cage suffers, emphasizing space and minutiae in an effort to convey mental and emotional anguish and uncontrollable behavior.
Hans Zimmer’s jazzy, atypical score evoked an old-school feeling, and the way that Cage’s OCD ticks and mental sketch-outs were used to pepper this constantly morphing story added edge and unpredictability to one of the most overall surprising films of the last 20 years. I have watched Matchstick Men at least 10 times and I’ll continue to do so throughout the years – it’s absolutely terrific on every single level.
Bruce Altman and Bruce McGill, two of my favorite character actors, both provided extremely memorable support. This film should have done so much better at the box office (only $40 million domestic?), and despite mostly excellent reviews, it just doesn’t get talked about enough.
Matchstick Men is available on Blu-ray, so if you have that, also check out the wonderful documentary Tricks of the Trade, which was put together by the fantastic behind the scenes master Charles de Lauzirika!
Review by Nick Clement
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Matchstick Men
Summary
It’s so stylish in a very subtle way; I love it when Ridley goes “small” and here he just allowed the amazing screenplay to take center stage, never over-doing anything on an aesthetic level.
