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'A Tale Of Two Brothers': The making of Leaves Of Grass
Synopsis
An Ivy League Classics professor becomes mixed up in his lawless identical twin's drug dealings after receiving word that his brother has been murdered and returning to Oklahoma to discover he's been hoodwinked. To say that Bill Kincaid (Edward Norton) is ashamed of his upbringing is an understatement at best. Turning his back on his working-class parents and working diligently to erase any traces of his Southern accent, Bill develops a reputation as a true scholar dedicated to excellence and philosophical exploration. His brother, Brady (also Norton), on the other hand, devotes most of his time to growing marijuana plants. Arriving home to find Brady very much alive, Bill winds up mending bridges with their capricious mother and reluctantly agrees to help his brother out of a tight jam involving notorious drug kingpin Pug Rothbaum, who might just send both siblings to an early grave. Meanwhile, Bill can't help noticing that free-spirited poet Janet (Keri Russell) has somehow managed to find true happiness in the most unlikely surroundings. Actor-director Tim Blake Nelson's (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) taut comedy-thriller Leaves Of Grass also stars Susan Sarandon and Richard Dreyfuss.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Bill Kincaid (Edward Norton) is the American Philosophical Journal's "New Face of Classical Thought", and about to land his own institute at the prestigious Ivy League Brown University. The movie opens at the close of one of his lectures:
"... the balance needed for a happy life is illusory. And as soon as in our gorgeously flawed human way we think that we've attained it we're pretending divinity and we're gonna crash."
No sooner is the philosophical seed for Leaves of Grass sown, than we're whisked to some truck-stop where Brady Kincaid (Edward Norton) is spelling out his own philosophical bent: "We don't deal in crystal meth ..." he tells the motley-crew squeezed round the plastic table, for this is the guy whose IQ is higher than his brother's, and has directed it towards building the "Taj Mahal to hydroponics", resulting in the best marijuana in Oklahoma.
The twins' mother (Susan Sarandon) has checked herself into some kind of retirement home, and wonders aloud to Brady if Bill will ever come back to see them again: "I think it's gonna take one of us dyin' to get him to come back down here...." Needless to say, Bill finds himself drawn back home, wrenched from his life of books, into a world he's spent the last 12 years escaping from.
Edward Norton is possibly perfect - long may he reign thus as brilliant and underrated. Few actors can boast such versatility, and pull it off so that the whole "twin thing" rises above being a gimmick. Backup is solid in the forms of Sarandon, drug baron Richard Dreyfuss, and director Tim Blake Nelson himself playing Brady's best pal Bolger. Keri Russell is bright (and underused!) as the would-be poet, cat-fish wrestler, love-interest, who recites Walt Whitman's "unashamed passion ... without definable restriction" that so seductively counters the discipline of Bill's existence.
The movie has, without doubt, every element of a cult classic in the making: superb acting; quirky plot; off-kilter characters; it should have been one of those movies that slips under the radar and gathers a post-cinema momentum by word of mouth. But, perhaps it doesn't quite know what it wants to be, unfavourable comparisons have been made with the Coen Brothers' style, and the movie's abrupt shifts in tone could be where the problem lies. The dark comedy of the first half is suddenly strongly violent in a way that throws the film out of balance, even as it sets up a surprising (and redeeming?) pathos.
Norton fans won't need any incentive to buy this movie, and those who like something a little off-the-beaten-track might just be charmed (as this reviewer has been) by this erratic offering.
"... the balance needed for a happy life is illusory. And as soon as in our gorgeously flawed human way we think that we've attained it we're pretending divinity and we're gonna crash."
No sooner is the philosophical seed for Leaves of Grass sown, than we're whisked to some truck-stop where Brady Kincaid (Edward Norton) is spelling out his own philosophical bent: "We don't deal in crystal meth ..." he tells the motley-crew squeezed round the plastic table, for this is the guy whose IQ is higher than his brother's, and has directed it towards building the "Taj Mahal to hydroponics", resulting in the best marijuana in Oklahoma.
The twins' mother (Susan Sarandon) has checked herself into some kind of retirement home, and wonders aloud to Brady if Bill will ever come back to see them again: "I think it's gonna take one of us dyin' to get him to come back down here...." Needless to say, Bill finds himself drawn back home, wrenched from his life of books, into a world he's spent the last 12 years escaping from.
Edward Norton is possibly perfect - long may he reign thus as brilliant and underrated. Few actors can boast such versatility, and pull it off so that the whole "twin thing" rises above being a gimmick. Backup is solid in the forms of Sarandon, drug baron Richard Dreyfuss, and director Tim Blake Nelson himself playing Brady's best pal Bolger. Keri Russell is bright (and underused!) as the would-be poet, cat-fish wrestler, love-interest, who recites Walt Whitman's "unashamed passion ... without definable restriction" that so seductively counters the discipline of Bill's existence.
The movie has, without doubt, every element of a cult classic in the making: superb acting; quirky plot; off-kilter characters; it should have been one of those movies that slips under the radar and gathers a post-cinema momentum by word of mouth. But, perhaps it doesn't quite know what it wants to be, unfavourable comparisons have been made with the Coen Brothers' style, and the movie's abrupt shifts in tone could be where the problem lies. The dark comedy of the first half is suddenly strongly violent in a way that throws the film out of balance, even as it sets up a surprising (and redeeming?) pathos.
Norton fans won't need any incentive to buy this movie, and those who like something a little off-the-beaten-track might just be charmed (as this reviewer has been) by this erratic offering.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Edward Norton has produced some first class performances, starting with his debut alongside Richard Gere in the 1990's, but, for me, this is the finest to date from this under-acclaimed actor. Here, he plays both of two idential twins who could hardly be more different in character: one, a narcotic lab-running country lad from rural Oklahoma, the other a philosophy professor at Harvard. If the portrayal of both is just a tiny bit cliched, it's as near as dammit that you're going to get in 1.5 hours on the big screen, and what really matters to me is that he plays both roles equally perfectly (his portrayal of the country boy is often brilliantly hilarious). Often the two are together facing each other and arguing and fighting, so it's obviously shot seperately, but excellent direction/production makes it work just right. It must be very hard to do well, dialoguing with someone who isn't there, but Norton does it brilliantly and in my world, this achievement alone would get him the oscar (but...won't happen). The story is well told as well: no need for me to ruin it for you, but Norton's accomplishment is, to my taste, a career-best thus far.
Format:DVD
Leaves of Grass is a brilliant film on many levels. I can't praise it enough and I can't do anything but write a love letter here. If you are one of those wierdos that has read and enjoyed Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy you will find the skeleton of the plot tantalisingly sketched out in scholar Bill's lecture on the Dionysian and the Apollonian early on in the film and it all makes sense when you find out that Bill's estranged twin brother is a virtuoso pot farmer. The message is simple: you repress Dionysus at your peril. Scholars should get stoned once in a while and chase beautiful and clever poet fisher-women. How cool is that?
I don't agree with those reviewers who find the change of register towards the end of the film clumsy. It does provide a jolt, yes. But it is necessary and deliberate. Dionysius must be sacrificed. This is tragedy, like life itself. The question is, can you still embrace life in all its aspects as Bill finally manages to do, even when your beautiful, wayward stoner brother gets killed?
All the actors do a great job. The characters are full of life and deftly realised detail. This plot could have easily invited characature, but it didn't. Norton shows extarordinary skill as both twin brothers and Keri Russell as passionate poetess Janet has enough dionysian vitality for all the actresses in Holywood put together, all the more powerful for how understated it is. Script-writer and director [and actor in his own film here] Tim Blake Nelson is surely one of the most amazing cinematic intelligences around.
I don't agree with those reviewers who find the change of register towards the end of the film clumsy. It does provide a jolt, yes. But it is necessary and deliberate. Dionysius must be sacrificed. This is tragedy, like life itself. The question is, can you still embrace life in all its aspects as Bill finally manages to do, even when your beautiful, wayward stoner brother gets killed?
All the actors do a great job. The characters are full of life and deftly realised detail. This plot could have easily invited characature, but it didn't. Norton shows extarordinary skill as both twin brothers and Keri Russell as passionate poetess Janet has enough dionysian vitality for all the actresses in Holywood put together, all the more powerful for how understated it is. Script-writer and director [and actor in his own film here] Tim Blake Nelson is surely one of the most amazing cinematic intelligences around.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Ed Norton is simply the best
Just love Ed Norton great actor he is my one big would love to meet him and would defo be startstruck.
Film is quite gory in places.
Film is quite gory in places.
Published 12 months ago by Ella
Norton rocks as usual but the film doesn't!
I honestly think Edward Norton is one of the best actors out there but in my opinion some of the films he chooses are very average...this is a prime example! Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mr. Mj Bickle
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