This movie showcases Samuel Jackson's acting talent far better than any movie he has been in. Watching him in this movie makes you realize how talented he really is, that he can do a role greater than his usual fare, that of being a hard-boiled, smart-ass black guy in either a comedy or action movie: `Pulp Fiction', `Die Hard With a Vengeance', `The Long Kiss Goodnight', et. al., all movies in which Jackson played his semi-typecast role. In this movie, Jackson branches out as he portrays an insane yet extremely intelligent man who is not malicious but rather marches to a radically different drummer than the rest of the world. His diction & facial tics convey the behavior of a jumpy, paranoid person and his humor is not of the vulgar but of the witty.
Jackson plays Romulus Ledbetter, a paranoid schizophrenic who lives in a cave in Central Park. He's no ordinary homeless person he's a rather brilliant person who suffers from delusions. We find out that he was once a talented and aspiring pianist studying at the famous Julliard but now limits himself to composing music in his head. Romulus (Rom) now thinks that an omnipotent evil that he calls Stuyvesant is out to destroy him by emitting yellow `Y-rays'. These Y-rays can read, poison, and control a person's mind and to Rom, almost everybody else in the world is under Stuyvesant's evil influence without knowing it. Worse, Stuyvesant has a new green `Z-ray', more potent than the `Y-rays'.
The central mystery of the movie starts when Rom finds a dead, frozen body outside of his cave one morning. He calls his daughter, Lulu (Anjaunue Ellis), who is a police officer. The cops arrive and Rom tries to convince to the disbelieving investigators that the death was the dirty work of Stuyvesant. The victim is identified as Scotty Gates (Sean MacMahon), a model/employee for a famous photographer named David Leppenraub (Colm Feore), who specializes in shooting dark, sinister photographs, and the police classify his death as due to the victim freezing to death while sleeping outside. Soon afterwards, Rom finds Matthew (Rodney Eastman), friend of the deceased Scotty, and Matthew reveals to Rom his suspicion that Leppenraub killed him. He further reveals that Leppenraub sexually abused Scotty & made a videotape of the sexual encounter so he would have a video for his viewing pleasure.
Romulus decides to find out how Scotty really died and who was the perpetrator. No one believes his suspicion that it was Leppenraub so Romulus starts investigating at Leppenraub's private farm in the countryside. This is where the movie gets weak. The movie is based upon a mystery novel by George Dawes Green and the complexities and subtleties are lost as it is transposed into film. While the novel might show the plot as logical (I haven't read the book so I don't know), the plot as shown by the film is convoluted. It's as if the movie is saying that the who-dunnit plot is so vermicular that only an irrational person like Romulus could figure it out.
The movie also does not really reveal how Romulus went from a budding pianist to a person living in a cave; there are hints that he was afraid of performing onstage but no clear answers. I don't know maybe this part is more fully explained in the book and edited out in the film for pacing. But showing this facet of Romulus would have added to his character.
There is a good performance in the supporting role by Anthony Michael Hall, (Brian Johnson in `The Breakfast Club'), who plays Bob, a bankruptcy lawyer who gets to know Romulus by loaning him a pen so he could compose some music. At first, Bob seems to be a sympathetic character not quite sure if Rom is completely off the deep end or just a hustler. In the end though, even he is amazed by the talent Romulus has with the piano.
In summary, it's a movie to watch if you really want to see the range of Samuel Jackson's thespian talents. But don't expect the plot to be remarkable.
Jackson plays Romulus Ledbetter, a paranoid schizophrenic who lives in a cave in Central Park. He's no ordinary homeless person he's a rather brilliant person who suffers from delusions. We find out that he was once a talented and aspiring pianist studying at the famous Julliard but now limits himself to composing music in his head. Romulus (Rom) now thinks that an omnipotent evil that he calls Stuyvesant is out to destroy him by emitting yellow `Y-rays'. These Y-rays can read, poison, and control a person's mind and to Rom, almost everybody else in the world is under Stuyvesant's evil influence without knowing it. Worse, Stuyvesant has a new green `Z-ray', more potent than the `Y-rays'.
The central mystery of the movie starts when Rom finds a dead, frozen body outside of his cave one morning. He calls his daughter, Lulu (Anjaunue Ellis), who is a police officer. The cops arrive and Rom tries to convince to the disbelieving investigators that the death was the dirty work of Stuyvesant. The victim is identified as Scotty Gates (Sean MacMahon), a model/employee for a famous photographer named David Leppenraub (Colm Feore), who specializes in shooting dark, sinister photographs, and the police classify his death as due to the victim freezing to death while sleeping outside. Soon afterwards, Rom finds Matthew (Rodney Eastman), friend of the deceased Scotty, and Matthew reveals to Rom his suspicion that Leppenraub killed him. He further reveals that Leppenraub sexually abused Scotty & made a videotape of the sexual encounter so he would have a video for his viewing pleasure.
Romulus decides to find out how Scotty really died and who was the perpetrator. No one believes his suspicion that it was Leppenraub so Romulus starts investigating at Leppenraub's private farm in the countryside. This is where the movie gets weak. The movie is based upon a mystery novel by George Dawes Green and the complexities and subtleties are lost as it is transposed into film. While the novel might show the plot as logical (I haven't read the book so I don't know), the plot as shown by the film is convoluted. It's as if the movie is saying that the who-dunnit plot is so vermicular that only an irrational person like Romulus could figure it out.
The movie also does not really reveal how Romulus went from a budding pianist to a person living in a cave; there are hints that he was afraid of performing onstage but no clear answers. I don't know maybe this part is more fully explained in the book and edited out in the film for pacing. But showing this facet of Romulus would have added to his character.
There is a good performance in the supporting role by Anthony Michael Hall, (Brian Johnson in `The Breakfast Club'), who plays Bob, a bankruptcy lawyer who gets to know Romulus by loaning him a pen so he could compose some music. At first, Bob seems to be a sympathetic character not quite sure if Rom is completely off the deep end or just a hustler. In the end though, even he is amazed by the talent Romulus has with the piano.
In summary, it's a movie to watch if you really want to see the range of Samuel Jackson's thespian talents. But don't expect the plot to be remarkable.