Because I felt guilty
I was listening to jazz on my computer in the shower and managed to drip water all over the keyboard while attempting to turn down the volume when I thought my roommate had returned. My attempt to be considerate of someone else’s toleration of noise was rewarded by the complete frying of my laptop (I’m a genius!)
As a result, I waited until I was able to secure a laptop/borrow one from my friend before I made a final edit and published these on the blog. Perhaps I should have tried to find a computer (like a library computer) sooner, but I figured other than carelessness I had done the assignments on time and everything would be okay. (foolish, maybe) As a result, I will be submitting extra long (but extra-edited) reviews.
“Locke” is an 85 minute movie directed by filmmaker Steven Knight starring the chameleon-esque “what does he really, actually look like again?” Tom Hardy, a selection of voices, and a really really nice car.
Getting There
I hadn’t planned on watching a movie, in fact, I hadn’t planned on spending any money at all. It was a Saturday, I had finally left my bedroom after an unproductive day of Netflix and listening to rain, and after 30 minutes of wandering around, the wet dog that had once vaguely resembled me purchased a ticket to see Locke the movie. Not to be confused with Jaws, which for some reason I kept thinking of. After deliberating between Locke and a few other movies that either just looked bad, or depressing as shit (Fed-Up), I reasoned that spending 15 dollars and 85 minutes locked in car with an enlarged projection of the beautiful Tom Hardy would suffice.
The theatre has high ceilings, features an expansive waiting room, free postcards from dispensers you may remember from those Italian restaurants you went to as a kid, (or not), and a cafe/bar thing where you could buy a $4.50 mocha and cry about it in comfy chairs. I went with the water and waited for a line for Locke to begin. The way the theatre is set up, someone guards the entrance to the stairs to the movie theatre while other movies are showing. This effectively just means you have more time to deliberate buying a $5 beverage and wondering what the popcorn will taste like.
I purchased a giant bag of popcorn because I was hungry and had strategically chosen a movie that I didn’t anticipate would guilt me into throwing it away mid-movie (Fed-Up); and washed it in a ton of butter and salt. I exited the movie theatre twice before the movie began to get the sufficient amount of butter and salt. Note to prospective moviegoers, the popcorn bags at Angelika are not particularly efficient at evenly spreading butter, even with a practiced butter-shaking hand.
The theatre filled up while my row remained empty. If I was looking for seat-mates it may not have been particularly effective to sit on the very end of the aisle, but what can I say, I like my leg room.
God never sent me that seat-mate i wanted, but at least I had a whole row to myself.
Movie
The entire film was shot in a span of 8 days. Because the scenery wasn’t super important and Tom Hardy is never seen actually exiting the vehicle, filming the movie didn’t require that much space. (They put the car on a short track and filmed the entire film each day going back and forth and back and forth). I know that Tom Hardy wasn’t driving in circles, but the repetition of it all makes me wonder if he ever got dizzy.
The movie was very good. Tom Hardy’s acting was excellent (no surprise there) and the dialogue was fantastic. In short, the movie captures a long solitary (except not) car ride that takes place at night and is interrupted by a few of people in his contact book as they demand, plead, cuss-out, and shame Tom Hardy into solving the problems that he has indirectly or directly caused.
Effectively Tom Hardy, confined to a small (but as I said before, super-decked out) space, must juggle and come up with solutions to all the problems in his life in the span of 2 hours. Touching on his own domestic relationships, work, and children-Tom Hardy displays the general range of human emotion. In the few moments of downtime from incoming calls, Tom Hardy either holds in his emotions, or creepily talks to himself in the car mirror. That part was kind of confusing, but I suppose I would do the same if I had cast Hardy in my movie. Oh Tom you play screw-loose so well. As the movie progresses, we see Tom Hardy unravel, try to keep his shit together, and function more effectively and productively than most of the people he’s talking to. The film invokes some sympathy, some empathy, and a whole lot of tense.
Locke is a beautifully simple movie that manages to capture the intricacies of life and life’s mistakes. Where simple in scenery the film makes up for in beautiful shots and cinematography: rain on windows, cool angles, and Tom Hardy’s face. While I think they could have chilled out a bit with adding so many artsy angles, watching never got boring.
Reminiscent of the movie Carnage in regards to physical constraint, “Locke” is a beautifully crafted, emotionally stirring gem of a film, featuring multiple boiling points, a sexy man, and humanity captured in tight confines of a car you will most likely never be able to afford.