Review: Simone (2002)
Steve Rhodes
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2002 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
"I relate better to people when they're not actually there," Simone, a hot new
actress, tells her co-stars about why she will not be physically present in any
scenes with them. This is understandable since Simone, short for Simulation
One, is actually just the virtual alter ego of Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino), a
director who is the wizard behind the curtain. No one knows this secret other
than Viktor, who brags to Simone, "Our ability to manufacture fraud now exceeds
our ability to detect it."
S1M0NE, by writer/director Andrew Niccol, is Niccol's third in a distinguished
line of scripts (GATTACA and his Oscar nominated THE TRUMAN SHOW) and his second
directorial outing after his brilliant job in GATTACA. With such a track
record, I was eagerly awaiting S1M0NE, and I was not disappointed. This is a
smartly and sharply written comedy with a sci-fi bent that never ceases to
delight.
The story starts with Viktor being jerked around by Nicola Anders (Winona
Ryder), a "supermodel with a SAG card." Nicola, the star of his current
picture, is very angry because she doesn't have the biggest trailer on the lot
as specified in her contract. Although Viktor tells her that she has the
biggest trailer in the entire world, Nicola isn't happy. She points out that
her almost football field length trailer is not as tall as some, so she quits.
The movie's other actors think that she is irreplaceable. As her leading man,
Hal Sinclair (Jay Mohr), puts it, "No other actress in the world could play the
part!" Viktor reminds him, however, that the picture is a remake.
With Nicola off the movie, Viktor's reputation becomes so damaged that no
actress, well no flesh-and-blood actress, will take the part. With help from a
mysterious guy named Hank, Viktor soon has his fingers dancing across the
keyboard creating a pixilated actress who is to die for.
Simone becomes the sensation of the year, with people aptly raving to Viktor
about her, "Unreal," "Not of this earth" and "Where did you find her?" Needless
to say, this sets the press into a feeding frenzy. They desperately need
answers to some important questions about the never seen-in-person actress. The
first of these crucial questions is, "Who is Simone dating?" The tabloids go
wild trying to get the dirt on her, using everything from spy satellites to
bribery.
The bright and inspired supporting cast is headlined by Catherine Keener, who
plays Elaine Christian, Viktor's catty ex-wife and the head of the studio in
which he works. Evan Rachel Wood plays Lainey, his sweet teenage daughter. And
the lovely, blonde goddess Simone is played by ... Let's don't go there. I
don't want to give anything away.
The story never manages to lose steam, even in the stretch. Al Pacino and all
of the actors are great, but the script is the star of the show. The movie's
perfectly chosen theme song? "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman."
S1M0NE runs 1:57. It is rated PG-13 for "some sensuality" and would be
acceptable for kids around 8 and up.
My son Jeffrey, age 13, laughed loud and often, giving it *** 1/2. He said that
it was very funny and almost as good as THE TRUMAN SHOW, a favorite of his.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 23, 2002. In
the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters and the Century
theaters.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Email: Steve....@InternetReviews.com
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Laura Clifford
------
When art film director Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino) loses his demanding
star Nicola Anders (Winona Ryder, "Mr. Deeds"), his ex-wife Elaine (Catherine
Keener, "Lovely & Amazing"), who also happens to be head of the studio, is
finally forced to fire him. On his way out the door, he's accosted by a
crazed one-eyed man, Hank (Elias Koteas, "Novocaine"), who insists he has
the solution to Viktor's problems ('You have something that I don't have - an
eye'). Weeks later, Viktor receives Hank's inheritance - a hard drive
containing "Simone."
Writer/director Andrew Niccol takes the God complex and artificiality
ideas of his screenplay for "The Truman Show," a sprinkling of his
genetic engineering elements from "Gattaca" and adds an examination of
artistic motivation for his clever new comedy "Simone." Al Pacino chalks up
his second terrific performance of the year as an outdated auteur
scrambling for his place in movie history.
The film opens with the somber strains of "Requiem - In Paradisum"
over a seawall vertically cutting into the horizon, the last shot of
Taransky's
stalled magnum opus, "Sunrise, Sunset." Cut to a studio lot where
a wild-eyed Taransky is furiously removing the cherry flavored candies out of
a bowl of Mike & Ikes. An imperious Nicola Anders (Winona Ryder, "Mr. Deeds")
arrives, complains about the height of her trailer, and informs Viktor
she's out of his film, having already issued a 'creative differences' blurb
to the press.
Elaine swoops down in a golf cart to convince Viktor to compromise with the
actress, and meeting resistance, fires him. Daughter Laine (Evan Rachel Wood,
"Practical Magic"), pecking away at her laptop outside a soundstage,
commiserates, upset that her mom and dad will be even further apart now. But
Viktor meets Hank's computer-generated Simulation One and learns to manipulate
it, lowering the Streep level, upping the Bacall (leaving the Borgnine), and
completes his film with Anders' credit replaced with Simone (supermodel Rachel
Roberts). "Sunrise, Sunset" and its 'star' become a huge hit and the
director's career is assured if he can keep the press and the public from
uncovering his secret.
Jan Roelfs's ("Gattaca") production design keeps Viktor defined within
his landscape by horizontal lines (the break between his backyard beach
and the sea, billboards, crowd control barriers, limos) except when
he's placed in the narrow alleys between the studio soundstages. There,
he's either dwarfed in a cavernous hell, or, when addressing the press
from a pulpit-like podium, he's God-like, shot by cinematographer Edward
Lachman ("Erin Brockovich") with soundstage walls rising vertically, pointing
towards heaven. Niccol the filmmaker merges his collaborators' symbolic
images with his words, insinuating, for example, that in Hollywood, only God
speaks to the press, with Vicktor's earlier horrified reaction at Anders'
having done so when she had the upper hand.
The writer/director plays with the concept of artistic vision, literally
showing eyes in all manner of amusing ways (a giant poster of an eye
rolls by behind Hank, Simone is erased from the computer screen with her
right eye the last image to disappear). He has ironic fun with Taransky
trying to finish off Simone with her 'directorial' debut, "I Am a Pig,"
which is a ridiculous 'art' film not too far from his own (the public love
it). Reality and artifice are juxtaposed as human characters wonder about
their worth while Elaine becomes jealous of a nonexistent person. Visually,
the Hollywood setting is obvious for this purpose, but it's still explored with
wit, such as when press cars are driven up to their owners standing in front
of a painted backdrop, or when a holographic Simone sings Aretha's "A Natural
Woman" to a concert crowd.
Al Pacino comically comes apart both creatively and emotionally. He's a
dervish of delight or despair and a dashing ladies' man. Keener ironically
softens her image as a studio head, combining self assurance with an
almost wide-eyed enthusiasm for pursuing her goals. Young Evan Rachel Wood
is very good as the balance between the two. Winona Ryder redeems her
misjudged performance in "Mr. Deeds" with her small role here, vacillating
between bitch goddess and humbled talent. Simone is coyly credited
as herself. Also notable in the large cast are the tabloid press team of
Pruitt Taylor Vince ("Heavy") and Jason Schwartzman ("CQ"), determined to
find Simone. Taylor Vince's Max is obsessed with the beauty, rolling about in
the bed and hugging the toilet bowl of a hotel room Taransky's tricked out
as having been occupied by Simone. Schwartzman takes a surreal goofy route
as Max's assistant Milton.
"Simone's" problems are few, but keep the film from being truly great.
Niccol makes Taransky's film's look silly, like a parody of
Antonioni crossed with Bergman, so it is implausible that the beautiful
blonde would become such a worldwide sensation. Taransky's dependence on
his ever present Jack Daniels is unevenly handled. The final
act begins predictably and ends unsatisfactorily, with the hero trading
dominance by a computer program for control by the two real women in
his life.
"Simone" is stuffed with ideas, a wickedly comical look at Hollywood.
B+
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Robin Clifford
When film director Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino) finds himself removing the cherry
pieces from a large bowl of Mike & Ike's for a prima Dona
model-turned-movie-star (Winona Ryder) he knows that he has hit rock bottom in
his professional life. Then the studio head, his ex-wife Elaine (Catherine
Keener), fires him. When he meets manic, one-eyed and dying Hank Aleno (Elias
Koteas), a man with a brilliant software invention - a computer-generated "human
being" - Viktor sees the virtual reality package as his salvation in "Simone."
In 1992, Robert Altman, in his satirical Hollywood tome, "The Player," had one
of the slimy movie producers come up with the idea of completely eliminating the
screenwriter from the filmmaking process. Director/producer/scripter Andrew
Niccol takes it one better in his Tinsel town fantasy tale, "Simone." After
Victor's leading lady, Nicola Anders (Ryder), walks out on his picture because
her 50-foot, luxury Airstream trailer is not the tallest on the lot, the
director becomes desperate. When the now-dead Hank has a package delivered to
Viktor, the helmer realizes that he has a genie in a bottle, in the guise of a
computer hard drive. When he loads it onto his system he sees, for the first
time anywhere, a software package called Simulation One. To Vic's astounded eyes
comes the image of a beautiful woman, perfect but not too perfect. He realizes
that he has a new star and the key to finish his latest film, "Sunrise
Sunset."
Taransky changes the software package name to the more appealing acronym of
Simone and introduces his latest "discovery" to his unsuspecting cast and, in a
phone-only meeting, she wins them over immediately. He exorcises all of Nicola's
scenes and cuts CGI Simone into his near-completed film and it is a hit, thanks
to the great "performance" by Simone. Suddenly, he has a megastar on his hands
and he plays her popularity like the conductor of a symphony. Vic has it made
but when you release the genie you can't just put him back in the bottle. Like
Count von Frankenstein and his monster, Viktor must struggle to keep from being
destroyed by his own creation.
I marvel when I watch Al Pacino perform. In his recent flick, "Insomnia," he
played a sleep-deprived homicide cop trying to solve a murder in the land of the
midnight sun and he made me feel like I was awake for days on end. In "Simone"
he is a Jack Daniels drinking filmmaker whose irreverent style has, over the
years, put him on the outs in the Hollywood film community. When his leading
lady leaves you can see the pressure build on the man, mind and body. His
haggardness vanishes as his new "star" rises and is replaced by a relaxed air
that all is well. The man makes you believe his character and you feel the pain
and elation that Pacino weaves into the role. Also astounding is the
sexagenarian actor's ability to convincing play the romantic lead with woman
half his age. I am, you may have guessed, in awe of the man.
While Pacino's Viktor is the predominant figure in the film, a solid cast of
supporting actors also surrounds the actor. Catherine Keener is likable as Vic's
ex (wife and boss) though a little too nice to be the ruthless head of a studio.
She makes believable that she still loves Viktor and that he would love her.
Young Evan Rachel Wood, as Vic and Elaine's mature-for-her-years teen daughter
Lainey, does a marvelous job opposite the dynamic star. Elias Kotais in a small
but meaningful role is at once, very funny and very sad. Pruitt Taylor Vince, as
the hard-nosed editor of a scandal tabloid, and Jason Schwartzman as his sneaky
toady, are a wonderful pair that reps the media's gullibility. Jay Mohr gets to
play the shallow, narcissistic leading man with a goofy edge. Supermodel Rachel
Roberts does a fine job as the title character. The combination of real CGI and
live action allow Roberts to put a genuine personality on Simone.
Andrew Niccol has created a fantasy tale that may not be all that fantastical
anymore, what with the quantum advances being made in the CGI industry. But, his
yarn isn't just about movies without actors; it is also a satire on the
gullibility of the media that can be manipulated by anyone who is clever and
resourceful enough.
The techs fit the near-future aspect of the film as we are presented with the
images of the virtual Simone as "she" is given voice and movement by Viktor.
(The "Do not pay any attention to the man behind the curtain" theme is straight
out of "The Wizard of Oz" as Vic manipulates his creation to the delight of
millions.) The futuristic concept is tempered, though, with such recent works as
the all CGI "Final Fantasy," making the wonder of "Simone" not so wonder-full.
Cinematography by Edward Lachman goes far in capturing the visual contrasts
between real life and Viktor's computer invention. Production design, by Jan
Roelfs, is simple yet striking, especially when we enter the cavernous sound
stage where Vic uses his computer to create his ingénue. Computer graphics keep
us, the viewer, privy to Taransky's magic as he uses his slight of hand to keep
one step ahead of a world smitten with the beautiful Simone.
"Simone" is a fun and funky look into an artificial creation in a world that
thrives on artificiality. With Pacino as its star, the bar gets raised a notch
and I give it a B.
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Shaun Sages
A film review by Shaun Sages www.MovieNavigator.org
GRADE: C
Starring: Al Pacino, Catherine Keener, Pruitt Taylor Vince,
Jay Mohr, Evan Rachel Wood, Jason Schwartzman
Directed by Andrew Niccol
Running Time: 117 minutes
Rated PG-13 for some sensuality
Since the advent of CGI, its been predicted that in due time live actors will be
replaced with digital performers who don’t improvise or ask for salary
increases. But can synthetic thespians (or synthespians) elicit the same
emotions -such as moving audiences to tears- as flesh and blood actors? Can they
effectively reenact De Niro’s renowned “You talkin’ to me?” monologue from Taxi
Driver? According to writer-director Andrew Niccol, it doesn’t matter because
either way the public doesn’t care about performance. Rather, the masses crave
tabloids and celebrity exposure; anything to help them feel they personally know
a person.
In Simone, Al Pacino plays Viktor Taransky, an artistically visionary director
who’s on the verge of being blackballed by Hollywood and fired by his studio
executive ex-wife (Catherine Keener). When bankable star Nicola Anders (Winona
Ryder in a cameo role) drops out of his latest film, all hopes of reviving a
wounded career are diminished. No actor, no matter how unknown, wants to work
with Viktor - - that is until a computer whiz and longtime admirer (Elias
Koteas, also in a cameo) gives him the perfect solution. Wrapped in paper is a
disk containing the program Simulation One, or Simone as renamed by Viktor.
Programming Simone to adopt the talent and nuances of beloved actresses such as
Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn, her beauty and charm are displayed in front of
an embracing public in Viktor’s new movie. Simone becomes a phenomenon overnight
and, in return, an uncontrollable Frankenstein-like creation. And that’s about
the time Simone’s moral question pops-up; should the director come clean about
the pixilated actress, or continue with the charade. In other words, can the
public accept a digitized performer? This is also when Simone stops expanding on
its interesting concepts in way for Viktor to plan new schemes of making his
star look palpable to her unsuspecting fans.
Niccol seems to have remade The Truman Show (which earned him an Oscar
nomination for Best Screenplay) as a Hollywood satire; only it lacks the depth
of his previous screenplay. Simone stretches a good idea into redundant comedy
that isn’t funny past the opening jokes. And neither is leading man Al Pacino,
whose lifeless performance ranks among his most unimpressive. Pacino seems to be
replaying his sleepwalking act from Insomnia, which fit into that film’s context
but has no place in this one. Though the man can be funny, recall his playful
Lucifer in Devil’s Advocate, here he’s too drained of energy to generate laughs.
Then again, aside for Pruitt Taylor Vince playing a Simone-obsessed tabloid
journalist, the entire cast is lifeless. As lifeless as the 3D generated title
character.
While there is plenty of humor to spare, along with numerous studio potshots,
most of it is within the first half-hour involving Simone’s success. Were she
actually cast in a film, surely critics and audiences alike would trash her
performance. But that’s the point Niccol tries getting across; people are unable
to differentiate handcrafted effects from digital ones. We’ve been trained to
accept Star Wars’-CGI over 2001’s non-digital effects. The message is an
interesting one, and if Niccol had directed his second feature with less
obviousness and repetition, as in not reducing the story to a series of comic
cover-ups, Simone would’ve conveyed that message without forcing us to believe
it.
-Copyright 2002 by Shaun Sages
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John Sylva
Reviewed by John Sylva
(C) 2002, TheMovieInsider.com
If there's something to be gained from Andrew Niccol's Simone, I sure don't
know what it is. While the usually inventive writer/director's film is
always watchable and occasionally quite engaging, the intentions in his
telling of film director Viktor Taransky's (Al Pacino) creation of a digital
actress (part CGI, part model Rachel Roberts), named Simone (short for
"Simulation One"), are never completely revealed. If he's aspiring to relate
a cautionary tale, he fails because the message at hand hasn't been clearly
defined; if he's striving for satire, his film's observations are far too
skin-deep and redundant for that; if he's wanting to share a parable, the
heavy-handed, unfocused writing makes this an impossibility. Followers of
Niccol's philosophy might deem that my indifference to Simone stems from my
ignorance, as, at several turns here, plot developments are presented that
seem to label not only moviegoers but those behind the cameras as well as
rather nonsensical individuals. Does Niccol mean to imply that he finds his
own craft and those who admire it to be foolish? I doubt this extreme
implication to be intentional, but his shoddy, fairly unthoughtful screenplay
would lead one to believe otherwise. How else can one account for so much of
the rather cynical material here? So, rather than my own ignorance being at
fault for my criticizing Simone, as uncharacteristic as it may be of the
filmmaker, especially when one considers his previous efforts (Gattaca and
The Truman Show), lack of distinct aspiration on Niccol's part is the primary
guilty party.
Although a few moments of comic gold do humorously show how easily pleased
the film-going public can be, it's when the picture calls on Niccol to back
up his ideas regarding the malleability of moviegoers that he falters
greatly. For starters: The entire world (including Viktor's ex-wife Elaine,
played by Catherine Keener, who's unfortunately denied her usual foul-mouthed
shtick by a PG-13 rating) seems to worship Simone not only because of her
looks but because of her incomparable acting abilities as well; at the
Academy Awards, she's even nominated twice in the same category. The
implication here is that moviegoers see a pretty face who can act (the film's
treating of Simone often calls the reputation of Julia Roberts) and go ga-ga;
so, if this thought holds truth, shouldn't Simone's audience find the
synthetic actress to be a revelation as well? The most we're ever permitted
to see of her in action is a brief snippet of film that, in reality, would
likely be ridiculed by audiences and critics alike. Simone's character
offers little payoff, especially considering third act plot developments that
seem to contradict the position of the use of digital actors taken in the
film's exposition. Furthermore, Niccol has a central performance in Pacino
that does its own share in defeating the film's credibility. When such a
one-note performance from one of the industry's finest actors is present, the
viewer can't help but to be bewildered; after all, this is a film that
scrutinizes the state of modern filmmaking. If a high-profile comedy can't
even make good use of someone of Pacino's caliber, I question what qualifies
Simone to think itself so superior to the Hollywood way. There's a
substantial amount of material to work with here as digitized actors become
an increasing possibility with advanced technology, but Niccol simply doesn't
seem to know how to express his personal beliefs regarding the topic in a
coherent fashion.
Simone has the great misfortune of being the third entry this year in the
what-goes-on-behind-the-scenes genre--even though, considering the talent
involved, the prefix should undoubtedly be absent. Both Woody Allen's
Hollywood Ending and Steven Soderbergh's recent Full Frontal (in which Keener
also starred) took similar pessimistic slants towards conventional
filmmaking. But, in their key difference with Simone, both not only sent up
the art but proved to be solid films in their own rights as well. Simone's
jabs at the industry seem like childish whines more than anything, stuck-up
actors who have high demands (such as Winona Ryder's, who also appears in a
scene that's strangely similar to one in Mulholland Drive) are walking
cliches, and the depiction of the media and the paparazzi is as stale as I've
seen. While true that Simone has been delayed for some time and the script
was likely complete before either of the aforementioned pair's were, Niccol
would have come up short even if his was the first out of the gate; the
release's inconvenient timing just makes the flaws all the more apparent.
What Simone ultimately amounts to is nearly two-hour, one-sided attack on the
lifestyles of the very people who'll be feeding this box office dollars. And
in their--in our--defense, I challenge Niccol: Sure, the American public may
find a strange fascination in the lives of actors they've never met, one like
many have for Simone in the film, but, in all honesty, is anyone being hurt
in the process? The answer is no; only narrow-minded, scornful films like
this are at a loss.
GRADE: C
Film reviewed August 21st, 2002.
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Harvey S. Karten
Rating out of 4 stars: 3.5
Reviewed by Harvey Karten
New Line Cinema
Director: Andrew Niccol
Writer: Andrew Niccol
Cast: Al Pacino, Catherine Keener, Evan Rachel Wood, Pruitt
Taylor Vince, Jay Mohr, Elias Koteas, Winona Ryder
Screened at: MGM Room, NYC, 8/13/02
If you tuned into a news channel and heard your favorite blow-
dried guy state that "escalating violence and the threat of all-out
war have taken a back seat to news of tonight's Oscar
nominations," would you believe your ears? Of course you
would, because nothing deters people from talking, viewing,
living the Oscars. Considering that the actual presentation of
the awards is a yawn, why the big interest ? Why would one
billion people the world over that's about one-fifth of the world's
entire population (and probably includes a few ayatollahs tuning
in from whatever hidden areas they inhabit), be so intent on this
annual event? Why would every magazine from People to New
Republic and maybe even North Korean News Online be
enveloped by talk of Hollywood stars? Andrew Niccol's
"Simone" does not answer the question as much as explore it
and, wow! does he ever present what is likely to be the parody
of the year, done without viciousness but with the light touch
that makes "Simone" so absorbing, amusing, and revealing.
"Simone," which in some ways is a modern version of Mary
Shelley's theme in her classic "Frankenstein" (about a scientist,
seeking fame, who creates a monster that destroys its human
creator), is about a digitalized actress who is so beautiful, so
perfect in her roles, and so charming in her talks to TV
interviewers and large audiences alike that she becomes an
international idol. Simone is Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe,
Rita Hayworth, Madonna and Whitney Houston all wrapped up
in one package. What the public does not know, however, is
that she is not human but a collection of ones and zeros-- which
could be what writer-director Niccol thinks of some current
celebs worshiped even by people who never go to the movies or
watch a concert.
The motive for Simone's creation arrives when failing director
Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino) is hit by yet another setback when
the neurotic star of an unfinished production, Nicola Anders
(Winona Ryder), walks off the set. Ready to throw in the towel,
Viktor is hustled by a dying software engineer, Hank (Elias
Koteas), into accepting a computer program that could revive
his career. When the skeptical director loads his large
computer screen in his locked studio to discover a digitally
designed beauty named Simone and "teaches" the faux
presence on the computer to mimic his actions and the voices of
some of Hollywood's greats, his career takes a heady upswing.
When his next film, "Eternity Forever," draws unanimous raves
from critics and audience alike, the press and adulating crowds
demand to see its star in the flesh. By stalling repeatedly and
making excuses for what he calls her agoraphobia, he finds that
the public loves this "performer" ever more for her purported
modesty.
Ironically, studios feel free to make movies sending up their
industry ("The Player," for example, is Robert Altman's biting
examination of Hollywood greed and power) because think of
this there is nothing that Hollywood can do to diminish its hold
on the imagination of its huge audience. A studio publicizing a
blockbuster could probably put up a poster highlighting not the
plaudits of critics ("greatest movie of the summer," "a roller-
coaster of an adventure") but of its most caustic criticisms ("a
bomb skip it and wait for the video and when the video comes
out, skip that too") with little impact on box office. Why so?
Possibly because (if I recall a term paper I once did for
Psychology 101) individuals will obsessively seek to merge what
they perceive as their small selves into something
greater which is why following and rooting for professional
sports teams is so popular from Kansas City to Kierabati and
why housewives and executives alike might freely discuss their
opinions of Nic Cage's marriage to Elvis Presley's daughter.
Simone is credited "as herself" and is indeed a creation of the
studio's digital effects team. The story Simone herself and her
vast crowd of followers occasionally takes a back seat to the
human yarn of a lonely man who has outlived his fifteen minutes
of fame and who seeks recognition from his public and a return
to the home of his ex-wife, studio head Elaine (Catherine
Keener) and the daughter, Lainey (Evan Rachel Wood) who
conspires to get her parents together. With a supporting cast
sporting comic touches especially Elias Koteas as a software
producer whose Frankenstein creation literally did kill him; Pruitt
Taylor Vince as a National Enquirer type of journalist who sees
a chance for a Pulitzer if he can deconstruct the Simone story;
and the lovely Evan Rachel Wood as Viktor's young daughter
(who reminds me of a young Bridget Fonda); "Simone"
succeeds admirably, with abundant laughs, in mirroring our own
foibles, our own preoccupation with celebrity and our refusal to
admit that the big names are people who put their pants on one
leg at a time just like us.
Rated PG-13. Running time:117 minutes. (C) 2002 by
Harvey Karten, harvey...@cs.com
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