By Morris Dean
The movie Arthur Newman (2012, released theatrically in 2013, directed by Dante Ariola) isn't about Arthur Newman, except in the negative sense that the character it is about—failed professional golfer, father, and divorced husband Wallace Avery (played by Colin Firth)—can't be golf pro Arthur Newman.
Practically speaking, a fatal flaw in that assumed identity has already been ferreted out (as we shall learn by and by). And, psychologically speaking, Wallace discovers anyway that he simply can't be someone other than who he is.
He acquires a traveling companion (Charlotte, played by Emily Blunt) who conveniently identifies herself as "Mike" since she's carrying the driver's license of her paranoid-schizophrenic twin sister, Michaela. Wallace has found her slumped beside the motel swimming pool he's staying at and discovers the driver's licence in her duffle bag at the hospital he has brought her to—she needs to have an identity for admission, after all.
Charlotte is given to assuming identities herself—anybody but the person she hopes to have left behind in Durham, North Carolina. (I vaguely remember reading about Colin Firth and Emily Blunt's being in town for the filming, and my wife and I recently discovered Durham's historic Watts Hospital, which serves as the place where Charlotte's sister has been institutionalized.)
Having quickly seen through Wallace's disguise by discovering in one of his bags an old driver's license of his own that he failed to destroy, Charlotte easily manipulates him into using other people's homes and assuming their identities for an hour or a night—a fantasy game at which Charlotte is well-practiced.
The identities theme is richly played on. Wallace's mysterious disappearance (there's circumstantial evidence that he may accidentally or intentionally have drowned off a Florida coast) prompts both his estranged son and his abandoned girlfriend (played by Anne Heche) to evaluate who he was and what their relationships were to him.
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Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean
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Morning Morris. Good review but doesn't sound like my cup of tea. I believe everybody here decided last night was enough. We are moving on from eating turkey. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteIt was good, thanks. What about pumpkin pie? Have you moved along from that too? I could eat pumpkin pie for a few more days.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many pies and sweets, we've had to get rid of them all while we can still get into our clothes[smile]
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