THE DEPARTED

Saw THE DEPARTED with Jim this weekend. Damn entertaining Scorsese reengineering of Andy Lau's INFERNAL AFFAIRS. I've got no great love for Matt and Leo, for... whatever reasons, but I've always had to acknowledge DiCaprio's talent, and, once I saw RIPLEY, Damon's. They do solid jobs of walking in Andy Lau and Tony Leung's footsteps.

Apologies for the references to the Hong Kong "original." I'd really rather not *compare* them for entertainment and quality, but the references in my mind are difficult to dispell. If you're not a HK movie fan, I guess I'd recommend seeing DEPARTED asap, then checking out the imported inspiration for it.

THE DEPARTED is basically the same story, with some very clever and spicy additions, as well as some tweaking of character details. The town is Boston, and the game is cops and robbers. The cops are a Massachusetts State Trooper task force targeting organized crime, and within that force, a squad of undercover cops, run by Martin Sheen's Captain Queenan and Mark Wahlberg's Officer Dignam, working their way in and up the gangland ladder. The robbers are an Irish-American crime syndicate, centered in Boston's Southie, run by Nicholson's merciless mad dog Frank Costello, who has planted one of his own boys in the task force that's investigating him.

As Frank's dealings bring him into conflict with competing crime families and even gain him international notice, each side's inside man becomes a threat to the other's operations, and measures are taken to uncover and eliminate them. Frank's man in the police force, Matt Damon's Colin Sullivan, has a frightful advantage, being able to work in the open and throw the weight of his badge behind his investigations. Still, Leo's Billy Costigan manages to avoid Sullivan's crosshairs, trusting in his instincts, repeatedly proving himself to be a fallen angel with drastic and daring actions, and playing his bosses and gangster colleagues to his advantage whenever he can.

As the movie unfolds, you're given glimpses into each undercover's history. Sullivan was a kid from the neighborhood that Frank took a special interest in, bringing him up and into the business over 20 years, and took under his wing to be specially groomed for his role as inside man.

Costigan, a child of divorce, spent his childhood weekends in the neighborhood, the son of a man who wouldn't accept the help or honor the influence of Frank and company, altho others in his family embraced him. Costigan grows up trying his hardest to dodge the criminal life, but can't avoid a few violent conflicts and run-ins with the law. He knows better, and has seen and lived better, and wanting to do some good with his life, shakes off the dirt and taint of the neighborhood as best he can and schools and trains to become an officer in the State Troopers. But once he arrives, his superiors, knowing his background, realize that in the battle with the syndicates, in the courts and on the streets, Costigan will be a greater asset playing the role of the no-good gangster that he's tried all his life not to be.

Some first-rate supporting work is delivered by Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg. You pay attention when they speak and you will be rewarded!

It may just be a conjunction of viewing opportunities this week, but I really feel that Baldwin is on a roll right now, bringing his brand of obnoxious excellence to 30 ROCK (I [heart] me some Tina Fey) and THE DEPARTED (at least for me). He was always good for being the kind of performer who's ready to do ANYthing for the audience (see his SNL appearances =), but I feel like I'm seeing him more and more in a particular character type that plays to his swagger and ego (real or put-on, I do not know) and he can really work that well.

Nicholson is solid as the psychotic gang boss. I was worried about him putting on a Southie accent for the role, but I don't think he ever turned it on unless it was to intentionally mock it, as directed, and that worked just fine.

The weakest member of the cast for me was the very-familiar-but-cant'-place-her actress who plays the police shrink, who builds relationships with both boys, but isn't aware of their adversarial cat-and-mouse connection. Aesthetically, visually and style-wise, she's a sore thumb against the backdrop of Bostonia and interacting with its Southie boys. That need not have been a minus, tho. Having an Eastern European beauty (I told Jim I thought she looked familiar, but it could just be that she seems like what you'd get if you took Claire Forlani and Sarah Jessica Parker and spun them together in a centrifuge) and outsider playing opposite these characters makes for character building contrast, y'know? The problem for me is that she is apparently supposed to be a hometown girl, complete with the accent. Her character is supposed to be able to turn it on and off, and given her background and profession, that makes sense, but throughout the film, it seems to come and go by accident, not design. It breaks her character for me.

I highly recommend you watch both movies. Maybe not on the same day, but within weeks of each other if you can. I haven't seen AFFAIRS since it was last at the Brattle, two years ago? But I experienced dozens of instances of movie deja vu. Some DEPARTED scenes and sequences matched my memory of AFFAIRS shot for shot for minutes. Not a bad thing, honestly, as AFFAIRS is so damn good. For Scorsese to do that, I'd say he'd agree.

*SPOILERy discussion of US vs. HK characters*

I don't know yet whether I *like* the details that DEPARTED fills in about the two undercovers. I feel like DEPARTED reverse engineered these boys' backgrounds and relationship issues using Freud as an advisor. The movie knows where they need to end up, these secret opponents, then it asks Freud, "Why would each guy make the choices that would get them to those final positions?" and, "How could those reasons be demonstrated in their upbringings and behavior?"

In AFFAIRS, we're not given very much history of the two principals, and their motivations pretty much begin and end with what side they choose to be on, who they pledge allegiance to and from whom they take orders. Their American counterparts, however, are carrying a lot of baggage around. Some of it does add dimension to the characters, but some of it seems to go toward absolving them of taking responsibility for their actions in a Foley damage control sort of way. But then, I suppose that all halps to make it more of an American story, eh?

You may get what I'm saying from just watching THE DEPARTED, but you'll definitely pick up on it if you see both films.

Which you should! =)

Keep on keepin on~