The Canyons
explores the dark side of human nature, while trying to offer critiques on the
technology obsession of modern society and a dying film industry. The film follows the story Christian (James
Deen) a manipulative movie producer who makes movies to keep his father off his
back and to keep his trust fund. Trouble
stirs when Christian suspects that his girlfriend Tara (Lindsey Lohan) is
seeing another man. The Canyons is a twisted and erotic tale of the darkest parts of
the human mind.
Director Paul Schrader does a good job of creating the
sexually tangled and sadistic lifestyle of his characters on the surface. But the characters feel a little flat, in
part due to some bad acting and the direction of the movie goes astray is with
its attempt at cultural critiques, the critiques end up to thinly spread over
multiple subject matters. Whether it is
society’s obsession with technology or The Canyons perceived decline of the
film industry it’s hard to identify the message that the film is so desperately
grasping for. The cinematography is
rather beautiful for the most part and the movie is competently edited. However this goes out the window during the
opening scene for the most part, which is awkwardly shot and edited
together. The film does have an
overbearing use of cutaways that can become annoying at some parts. For instance in the opening scene in the
middle of a conversation in a restaurant the film has a sweeping crane shot of
a bar on the other side of the restaurant, this all done in the middle of the
dialog.
The Canyons is a
movie that features one of the strangest acting ensembles ever assembled in a
movie. A cast that ranges from porn
star James Deen to award winning director Gus Van Sant who plays Dr. Campbell,
Christian’s therapist. It’s a daring
move to cast a porn star as a leading man and judging from James Deen’s
performance it’s a move that won’t be attempted again anytime soon. A reason behind Deen’s casting though could
be the movie’s various sexually twisted scenes.
The movie sports some of the most sadistically erotic scenes that I have
ever seen in a film, the scenes will leave you disgusted (or aroused depending
on whether that’s your thing or not) which I’m pretty sure is the movies
intention. The movie at times borders on
being soft-core porn, but one that sports a sinister quirk.
The big draw of the movie, or the big question that everyone
wants to know is if Lindsey Lohan puts on a good performance. While it’s not the cannonball into the pool
sort of performance that some may be hoping for out of Lindsey, it is a foot in
the water, towards the right direction.
She puts on a solid performance and is undoubtedly the best
actor/actress in the film, though her performance is nothing to rave
about.
The Canyons is a movie that I would tell people to go see,
not because it’s a good movie, but that it is an experience much in the way
that Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers
is an experience. The movie creates a
stylistic, materialistic and infernal hell, but the bad acting occasionally pulls you out of
the experience of the movie along with the movie being over packed with commentary. The movie is gorgeous at parts and
stylish, but it’s bad acting and lack of execution and direction keep the movie
from becoming an in-depth exploration into the dark and sexually twisted
hellscape of the human experience.
Rating: 44/100
