| The
Review: |
Aimlessness presents the notion
of being adrift without any direct purpose, or ambition, while
it could also symbolize a nomadic lifestyle of living from
day to day. Either case lacks direction, which often originates
within a dreamy vision without a direct goal such as the wonder
of what a hill hides on the other side. Once the initial curiosity
has been put to rest, a new fascination arises from what lies
beyond the next hill. The drifty mind also emerges through
students’ difficulty in paying attention for a longer amount
of time, as boredom sets in, or through the consequence of
an attention deficit. Hard Promises tells a tale of such a
man, Joey, performed by William L. Petersen who most will
recognize from the TV crime drama CSI. ***
The director Martin Davidson cleverly
opens the film with a panning shot that symbolically portrays
the notion of Joey’s aimlessness, as a cowboy rides across
a vast prairie with large hills in the background. Smoothly
the camera flows to the left, as Joey’s persona appears on
the screen. He is telling a small group of cowboys a story
from Tahiti, but these men do not understand the point of
his story, which furthers the notion that Joey is a unique
individual with lofty and continuously shifting dreams. However,
Joey’s dreams are all about to crash when a letter arrives
that seems to have been all over the United States in the
search for him. With a blank stare Joey begins to grasp the
content of the letter, as someone is getting married – his
wife. ***
After a long drive back home, a
disgruntled Joey first visits his friend Pinky (Jeff Perry)
in order to get his bearings on the situation. It has been
a long time since they met, and Pinky wants to share with
Joey about his successes such as a child, a promotion, and
a dream car. But Joey brushes it all off, as he quickly asks
Pinky about his wife’s wedding situation and how he could
have missed it. Quickly, yet nicely, Pinky drops the bomb
on Joey and tells him that she has divorced him and now wants
to get married. As the story unfolds, it reveals that Joey
has been traveling the world while working odd jobs, as his
wife and daughter have been stranded away from Joey’s search
for something better. It has been a lengthy solitude for his
wife Chris (Sissy Spacek) who even breaks down the solitude
over the last 12 years in days, which makes it obvious that
he has neglected her. Joey also has a daughter with Chris
whose upbringing he has nearly completely missed, which would
make most people feel a little irritated with him. ***
Despite Joey’s selfish preoccupation
with the search for something, it is hard to be angry with
him, as his awareness is much similar with that of an irresponsible
child who does not truly understands what he does that hurts
others. Joey is also a very nice and polite person, which
emerges whenever he meets people in the film. These conflicting
concepts of friendliness and selfishness presents an interesting
character study that Davidson’s film provides through Petersen’s
performance. The supporting cast including Sissy Spacek accentuates
Joey’s egocentric behaviors, which brings forth both his positive
and negative characteristics. It is also interesting to see
how he rationalizes his own self-centered behaviors. Nonetheless,
it is with sadness that the viewer will see how his daughter
is caught between him and a traditional family lifestyle with
a father figure in the home. ***
The character development and the
persona of Joey are rather stimulating. Yet, the film fails
to notice its own weakness, as it does not have any distinct
discord. Maybe, it is to enhance Joey’s indifference. However,
it makes the film feel unimportant, and might loose some viewer’s
attention when it gives insufficient effort to portray issues
such as love, freedom, and family. The lack of meaning hurts
the cinematic experience, as it does not reach above other
films with a similar theme. *** ---
|
| Image
and Sound: |
There is grain visible on the screen,
as is some dirt and speck when viewing the DVD. In addition,
the colors seem to be slightly faded, but it does not really
remove anything from the visual experience, unless the viewer
begins to nitpick the image quality. The sound presentation
is decent with no detectable audio distortions, as the film
heavily rests on the use of dialogue. *** ---
|
| Final
Words: |
Hard Promises presents an interesting
character through William L. Petersen, and Sissy Spacek’s
performance is as usual, very good. Thus, the verdict on this
film is that it is worth a viewing, because of Sissy Spacek.
However, the film does not create a memorable story, or much
to contemplate. ***
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