Abel Ferrara films tend to spilt audiences into those who like them a lot and those who really dislike them. When Werner Herzog made Bad Lieutenant Port of Call: New Orleans, he was very clear to distance himself from Abel. Abe’s problem is that his films don’t age very well. The only other Abel Ferrara film I’ve seen is Bad Lieutenant, which along with KONY is very much of its time, but I don’t think that’s such a bad thing, although it means that no Ferrara film will ever be considered a classic.
KONY and BL feature leading actors putting in a lot of effort but ultimately producing unfortunate and misjudged performances, which suggests that Ferrara’s skill as a director is in choosing a story and shooting it in an atmospheric style, rather that getting the best from his cast. By way of compensation he does benefit from excellent casting if KONY is anything to go by; Chris Walken, Laurence (back when he was Larry) Fishbourn, Wesley Snipes and David Caruso.
KONY is one of those ‘gritty’ films where a lot of time is given to the action and the drama and only just enough attention is paid to characterisation. The result is characters whose objectives and goals are obvious, but whose motivation is never quite clear. It actually works well as a technique (assuming it’s intended) as it means the characters can do pretty much anything without behaving out of character.
Something that doesn’t work quite so well is the use of ambient noise. Scenes in restaurants and on the subway and anywhere that might be noisy have very loud background noise. It may be realistic, but it’s slightly annoying to watch, although it does provide stark contrast between these scenes and the quiet parts of the film.
Christopher Walken is down with the homies.
It’s very strange to watch at first, but it’s certainly more original that a film about Italian mobsters. I can’t think of another actor who could have pulled it off. Walken often plays sinister but fun loving characters, non better than his Angel Gabriel in The Prophecy trilogy.
I suppose I liked King of New York as much as Bad Lieutenant. Abel is a director who never really had great success, but the quality of his work allowed him to be quite prolific for a few years.
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