An extremely popular theme of a story is what is traditionally referred to as the Beauty and the Beast. This story outline proves several classic archetypes as well as access to more than a few morality lessons that endure the vagaries of specific societal constraints. Each generation is free to take the basic themes redeploying them to suit the current concerns. At one end of the spectrum is the world renowned animated treatment, ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Then at the opposite end is a newcomer into the fray ‘Passion Play’, which is the film under reflection here. The usual focus of this type of story is the importance of inner qualities over superficial appearances. ‘Passion Play’ endeavors to take the story into a much darker direction, a decidedly more serious production targeting an unequivocally mature target audience. Although there are numerous typical missteps mostly in the arena of technical discrepancies, the movie does attempt to redefine the sub genre by rearranging it to something relatively new; fantasy noir. This makes a world of difference in how this movie should be approached at least on a critical level. From just and entertainment perspective the flick is a reasonable beer and pizza night faire although not suited for the kids, wives or girlfriends. When a game is rained out or guys poker night falls through this movie can readily step in for an enjoyable time. After all it does feature male film favorites Mickey Rourke, Bill Murray and Megan Fox. Even with a realistically notable cast the overall feel of the film just fails to gel; unable to pull the component parts together to completely hold the interest of the audience. This is particularly worrisome for the producers considering it’s a predominately male audience and Ms Fox is frequently in a state of undress. It should be noted that the film was an independent production costing less than $14 million. Such a movie is generally made more for artistic expression than as a significant revenue stream. This does fit with the filmmaker’s attempt to redefine a firmly established type of story into something far afield from the traditional format. This form of experimentation is vital to the advancement of cinema as an art form. The down side is this is also the venue were mistakes are made hopefully to benefit future activities.

Replacing the usual finding inner beauty theme that this type of story contains the noir feeling is used to inject a redemption premise into the mix. In true Noir archetypes the main character is broken down trumpet player Nate (Mickey Rourke) is barely on step ahead of a mob hit instigated on the behest of low rent mob kingpin Happy Shannon (Bill Murray). The motive for the disagreement is a tryst between the trumpeter and the mobster’s wife. This does strengthen the film noir foundation employing the oldest motivation for discord present in the classic form of the genre. Of course the next required element is the beautiful femme fatale supplied here by the ever lovely looking Ms Fox. Once again she is hampered by a role the overly depends on her looks rather than permitting her to stretch her acting prowess. She really needs to speak to her management about getting auditions for some ‘ugly’ parts. This tract has done wonders for many A-List actresses propelling a few to the center stage on Oscar night. Quirky roles like this or ‘Jennifer’s Body’ is alright but they will type cast her in such a way that she will be hard pressed for quality part as time inevitably marches forward. Both Rourke and Murray underwent drastic career makeovers so successfully that they now garner critical acclaim and can well afford to participate in experimental independent projects like this. The cast and filmmaker do seem to have made an honest attempt; it doesn’t feel like anyone phoned in the contribution but sometimes the best intentions can’t pull it together. While on the run Nate happens across a low rent carnival featuring a freak show. The main attraction there is a living angel Lily (Megan Fox). Actually, she does have a pair of fully formed wings growing out of her shoulders. There is an element of doubt as to the reality of the story introduced when Happy’s thugs find Nate and drag him off for a summary execution. He is miraculously rescued by a group of Native Americans in identical white outfits. This gives the audience a means to relegate the story as a post demise fantasy or something that despite being beyond reason happened to the regrettable Nate. Initially Lily has a boyfriend, Sam, the side show barker (Rhys Ifans) but it doesn’t take long before the winged beauty turns to the muscularly built Nate as her bet as a ticket out of being displayed in a glass cube like some exhibit. One subtle piece of stunt casting is the inclusion of Bud Cort. This is not his first time in a movie dependent on prosthetic wings. He appeared in both ‘Dogma’ and ‘Brewster McCloud’. True diehard cinemaphiles will get this rather obtuse reference.

The movie swerves off course but at lease the writer/director Mitch Glazer was thinking outside the box. This is his debut as a director but he previously wrote the screenplays for such vehicles as ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Scrooged’. This is a drastic departure for him in the script department but I do have to give credit for a man trying to grow artistically; spreading his wing as it were. This is an interesting idea that may not have achieved its goal but at least it was different.