Review of Overnight / The Boondock Saints

Introduction

Troy Duffy is a documentary makers dream. Now I know that you can cut a documentary a hundred different ways and get a hundred different versions but as long-time William Burroughs collaborator Brion Gysin said, `The best cut-ups come from the best material`. And there`s no doubt about it - the production team here lucked out when they got commissioned to track the rise (and fall as it turns out) of this loud-mouthed egotistical chancer.

For those in the don`t know - Troy Duffy submitted a half-decent screenplay (The Boondock Saints) to Miramax in the late 90`s, and got offered the type of deal that most ex-Bouncers could only dream about.

Some $300,000, plus the chance to Direct the movie himself, plus - well, dammit why not - the bar he worked in, bought, paid for and delivered, the ideal creative environment for Duffy and comrades to develop their master-plan, amongst the broken glass and late night tequila slammers.

So what was the master plan? Well, Duffy had moved West with his band (The Brood) to get a deal .and then landed the film-deal. So now the plan was to do it all. His way. And that meant a lot of lengthy tirades to those around him about his own ingenuity…as well as a lot of hard-nosed bullying. It meant a lot of double-dealing, a lot of drinking, a lot of shouting, a lot of bragging and a healthy dose of completely losing the plot.

It`s not a pretty experience. But it is an utterly compelling one, and one that no one comes out of looking all that great. Sure, Troy is the featured monster here but it`s also notable that the man who signed him in the first place, Miramax`s Harvey Weinstein, is a duplicitous and powerful man who has the ability to make or break careers in Hollywood with just a handshake.

Like `Lost in La Mancha`, that wonderful documentary (that was originally destined to be a making of feature on the DVD), about a film that never got made
By Director Terry Gilliam, out of the fall-out comes a very good documentary film in it`s own right.

With a real fly-on-the wall approach, and a gentle `give him enough rope` presence, Try Duffy delivers again and again. It`s an intense psychological portrait of a man who clearly has the street-suss to have penned a decent screenplay, yet who doesn`t have the intelligence or the modesty to keep his high opinions of himself to himself.
("I`m Hollywood`s new hard-on…")

He`s also revealed as, frankly, a nasty piece of work who abuses the good-nature and support of those around him, including his talented brother who`s modest and humble personality is shadowed by Troy`s and in true brotherly tradition, Troy bullies the hell out of him until one day his brother can take no more. But of course, by then, nor can anyone else.

Miramax pulls out of the deal and all the doors start closing. The record deal comes off but the band only manages to sell some 690 CD`s in total and they are unceremoniously dropped.

Troy, keeping his ill-gotten gains to himself whilst those around him are being thrown out of their apartments being unable to pay the rent, goes for a new deal and eventually raises the finance to direct the movie. But as an independent, the budget is something less than $7m, which is small change in Hollywood these days.

Still, he manages to get William Dafoe in as a light-footed, hard-nosed cop as well as Mr. Billy Connolly. Not quite the Brannagh and DeNiro line-up that Duffy would have liked.

There`s a magic moment during filming when Dafoe asks what he should do at the end of the scene. `You wait for me to shout cut!` says Duffy without any trace of irony.

Billy Connolly comes across as grossly sycophantic at his early meetings with Duffy and on set, egged on by Duffy and cohorts laughter, he goes into a routine that isn`t remotely funny but more akin to a kid that doesn`t realise that the other kids are laughing at him, not with him. It`s a toe curler of the worst order!

Overall though, despite the gently rolling fly on the wall feel, I thought the results were a fine documentary that was incredibly thought provoking.

THE BOONDOCK SAINTS
So having watched `Overnight`, it was with some trepidation that I started to view the movie. Having seen its luke-warm reception (i.e. total rejection) at Cannes, and having witnessed the monstrous ego at the heart of its production, I wasn`t expecting much.

But to be perfectly honest, whilst this wasn`t the greatest movie ever made, or even anywhere close to that, it wasn`t as bad as I felt it should have been.

So what is `The Boondock Saints` about? Well, it`s a kind of `Pulp Fiction` meets `Ash Wednesday`. Only not as good.

It`s about two Irish brothers from Boston who take revenge on the local Mafiosi. They`re hard working, hard drinking, outrageously cheeky and filled with foolish courage. And when some East European heavies pick on the bar they frequent, they`re not going to sit by and see it happen.

William Dafoe, by far the best thing about the movie, plays the part of a strange, gay cop working with a sixth sense that outwits even the most conscientious forensic cops. He`s always there first.

The two boys are joined by a third crazed `saint`, Rocco, who`s really mean and means business. (You get the sense that maybe Duffy saw a little of himself in the role...).

The film kicks off quickly and could have been a real contender if it weren`t for the endless fade-ins and fade-outs that reveal a poor man`s approach (creatively and financially) to getting from one scene to the next. As a result, you constantly feel like you`re watching extracts, and the pace falters about a third of the way in, where the movie starts to lose its way.
Well, regardless of what I think, the movie never picked up any serious interest with regards to a theatrical release and ended up going straight to video, and has now landed on the little silver platter format that we all enjoy. Most the time.

Video

OVERNIGHT
This is non-anamorphic, probably shot on low-grade mini-DV in the main (quite a staple amongst documentary makers now with its low-cost materials and discreet size), though it looks fine despite this.

THE BOONDOCK SAINTS
This is weird. Sure it`s 2:35:1, but I suspect that this is cropped from a pan and scan 4:3 rather than a re-transfer. Or am I just losing my marbles?! Maybe the cropping on some images was intentional and I`m just not going with it.

Whilst there is evidence of some money spent on the production - with some nice tracking shots and the frequent use of cranes, I`m almost certain that the budget was wearing thin around the time of grading because the stock is wildly variable. A bigger budget film would have spent more time correcting black-level and improving saturation and contrast. That said - I don`t think we can blame this on the poor engineer responsible for the transfer.

Audio

OVERNIGHT
Well, this is documentary sound, some good and close and some wide and thin. But it all kind of works and is no better or worse than you would expect.

THE BOONDOCK SAINTS
The sound-mix here is decidedly suspect on occasion with voice competing with music and so on. Given Duffy`s record as a power-mad tyrant running a production autocracy, I suspect this is a case of having a musician (Duffy) involved in the mix. Always a mistake - inevitably they want everything louder than everything else. For the most part it`s fine, though a little irritating when it so blatantly occurs.

That said, the choice of music (sometimes Duffy`s own) is inspired and, though untypical for this type of movie, gives the film a melancholy air that works to a degree.

Features

OVERNIGHT
These included the theatrical trailer, which is a nicely cut piece that would definitely make you want to see more.

There are also some `deleted scenes` included here - which is kind of ridiculous in a way. As a documentary, the shooting ratio was probably 50 to 1 (i.e. 50 hours shot for every hour shown). So there must have been a hell of a lot of so-called `deleted scenes` lurking on the apocryphal cutting-room floor. They are more of the same and just add to the mounting evidence that Duffy isn`t a likable kind of a guy.

There`s also an alternative ending which, once again, seems to demean the impartiality of objective documentary making, though clearly this is far from that.

There`s a very brief extract from `Backstage with Barry Nolan` where Directors Smith and Montana discuss a little of the making of this documentary.

THE BOONDOCK SAINTS
Nada. But then the `Overnight` feature is all the `extras` you`re going to need on this one. There is a feature-rich version of this movie doing the rounds, (possibly in the US?) with a full-feature commentary from Duffy, as well as some other extras. But none of that was to be found on this review disc.

Conclusion

OVERNIGHT
Documentary films about filmmaking are generally thoroughly enjoyable. Especially when things don`t go right. (`Lost in La Mancha` is a fine example of such a film).

This fly on the wall journey, tracing Troy Duffy`s meteoric rise from complete obscurity (as an LA bar-bouncer), to his self-destructive demise is grimly fascinating.

Of course, there`s no doubt that the edit here of what must have amounted to a large amount of available material has been cut to accentuate this tale, though the consistency of Duffy`s self-delusion and aggressive bullying throughout make me think that the conclusions drawn are probably fair.

One thing still nags though. Duffy did go on to make `The Boondock Saints` and, whilst this documentary takes delight in showing its failure to get distribution interests, having seen the movie it`s no where near as bad as you feel it ought to be. In a way it`s a reminder of just how good the screenplay probably was - despite the fact that it`s author was a repugnant, overbearing and egotistical bully. Indeed, it seems that `The Boondock Saints 2` is in production at present. Which is quite a different ending that the one we see here, where Duffy`s bar is being vacated, and he is seen working yet again as a bar bouncer, a few pounds heavier, and with a little less hair.

Who knows? Maybe this moral tail won`t have so neat an ending after all!

THE BOONDOCK SAINTS
Despite being nowhere near as awful as it ought to have been, with a high-octane screenplay, and a great (if weird) performance from Daniel Dafoe that was almost Lynch-like (had an air of Twin Peaks about it…), this still fell flat.

It just had a habit of falling short from the outset - a `Pulp Fiction` wannabe that never quite rose to the same dizzy heights.

On the plus side, apart from the god-awful freeze-frame captions and the constant fade up and fade downs, it didn`t smack of low budget.

With `Boondock 2` currently underway, someone must have liked it. Maybe it did OK on its straight-to-video journey and recouped some of those drinking costs after all.

OVERALL
As a two-pack though, this makes for a pretty entertaining and unusual night-in. Worth a rent - I can`t see anyone wanting to watch either twice.