The Jacket (2005, DVD)

The Jacket is a movie that's sadly more known for Keira Knightley's bare breasts than anything, thanks to the buzz spread on the internet, but this is mainly due to her recent popularity in the Pirates movies. If you do want to find a topless Keira Knightley, you should know that The Jacket is not an isolated incident; she has done a few short topless shots in the past on film in the movies Domino and The Hole, which provide better but still short glimpses of her topless for you pervs out there. Plus, to simply cut to the chase and break it to you Knightley fans, her scene in this movie consists of 5 seconds of her having sex in a choppily cut scene and then an equally shorter one earlier with her sitting in the bathtub naked.

Ok, now with all the sex aside, what about the actual movie? The Jacket has been dubbed partly a psychological sci-fi thriller, with the sci-fi part coming from the fact that time travel gets involved in the whole mix. When I first read the summary, which described a military veteran, Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) with post-war psychological problems, getting framed and put into a mental institution for a murder he has no memory of, I was pretty dubious and shied away from this film. To me this sounded like the start of a plain crazy film, and well, it met my expectations. Much of the film revolves around Jack s conception of himself; he thinks he is sane (like most insane people) and believes that the twisted treatment he is undergoing, which involves a disturbing combination of drugs, a jacket (which the film is named for) and a morgue drawer, is actually the cause of his current insanity, something the reader can either interpret as legitimate or something else.

To keep spoilers to a short, I'm actually going to stop here and let the viewer figure it out as they watch. I do feel The Jacket, like Muholland Drive, is just one of those films that really should be left up to the viewer to interpret. Part of the fun is thinking about how the plot will work itself out (what else is there to do during the maddeningly slow pacing of the film?). However at the same time, I feel even though they drop clues left and right, not to mention, evoking the spine-tingling voice overs of Brody, it's not a film that you should try too hard to piece together. In the end, and as with most stories that concern time-travel, some things do not make sense, and will never make sense, no matter how hard you try to piece it together. Plus, the relationship between Jack and Jackie Price (Keira Knightley) is just a bit creepy if you think about it. He originally meets her as a little girl, and through the wonders of time-travel does get to sleep with the older version of her...maybe director John Maybury is just mocking the male fantasy or not.

Speculation aside, The Jacket is a well-crafted story made with great attention to detail. On some level it is almost too artsy for my tastes, using a ton of horror-flick screen flashes, and close-ups of Adrien Brody s sweaty face, and other camera tricks. Maybury clearly uses as differing styles to represent the different states of madness that Jack finds himself in. As Jack travels forward in the future, you can tell that the scenes seem to suddenly seem more natural and vibrant, where else, oddly, in the so-called real world, the world seems beset with hallucinations, and drab colors. All the while, this movie has you guessing which one is real, especially when you start noticing the same people appearing in new contexts as the film proceeds. It s a head-trip but a good one at that.

Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley are the two main actors and actresses to pay attention to in this movie. There are a few other characters like, Kris Kristofferson, who still reminds me far too much of his role in Blade for me to take him seriously, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, who other than her work in the twisted homoerotic message dumping, eXistenZ remains off my radar. Keira Knightley s role unfortunately failed to impress me in any way, as I ve felt she has played the angst-filled alcoholic, chain smoking, bad girl before and quite frankly, I m tired of seeing her in the dark-eyeliner. Adrien Brody s career on the other hand is starting to take off and The Jacket is an intriguing look into his potential. I ll admit, at some times I felt he was miscast because he has a far too doe-eyed approach that gave him some kind of permanent wounded puppy image in the whole film, and it seemed a bit too much like a recurring one-trick pony. Still, I have respect for him, and this may or may not play its part in shaping him to be a future success.

In conclusion, The Jacket is what it is. It s a weird twisted psychological screwball movie that has a few gaping holes, some bits of violence and suspense mixed in, but all in all a focus on tripped out camera work and direction, coupled with long passive moments where the viewer is maybe expected to shut their brain down and wonder. If you spend too much time letting your suspension of disbelief get upset by some of the films confusing and whimsical points then you definitely will not enjoy this one. Sit back, let the drug-fantasy cloud your mind till it has no where to go, but realize this is one slow film even at the comparatively short running time of 103 minutes, and I d say that impatient film-watchers will definitely find themselves struggling after the first half hour. The last 30 minutes though, at least are fast-paced and the ending awkward as it is, does give some sense of closure. Recommended, but only when you re running out of movies to watch.