The Singing Detective

Rating:
Summary: not perfect but interesting nevertheless
Review:


When "The Singing Detective" was first produced as a TV mini series in 1986, it had a cumulative running time of well over 400 minutes. In this theatrical remake, the story has been pared down to no more than 106. I haven't seen the original - which enjoyed almost unprecedented critical acclaim in its time - so I have no idea how much of its quality has been lost in its currently truncated form. Hence, I will only be talking about this expurgated version, which stars Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson, both in virtually unrecognizable roles. It should be noted that the screenplay is credited to the late Dennis Potter, the author of the original work, so we can assume that director Keith Gordon simply cut and pasted - though a less charitable person might say "bowdlerized" - the much longer teleplay.

"The Singing Detective" tells the surrealistic tale of a writer of detective fictions who is suffering from a horrifically painful and disfiguring skin disease. As he lies in his hospital bed, his mind drifts back and forth between reality and fantasy, a hallucinatory condition brought on by fever and his own author's imagination. At times, Dan is acutely aware of his miserable situation in the here and now, with all its attendant physical and psychological agony. At other times he becomes lost in re-enactments of key scenes from his gumshoe fictions, memories of his miserable childhood, and elaborately staged song-and-dance numbers in which the characters lip-synch to musical standards from the `40`s and `50`s.

Because its style and subject matter are somewhat off-putting at first, "The Singing Detective" takes a bit of getting used to, but eventually the themes and stylistic elements begin to come together and the film takes off. The irony is that, for all the razzle dazzle of its form and style, the film is at its most intriguing in its quieter, subtler moments when the embittered hospital patient is forced to confront the demons of his own tormented psyche. Dan Dark is a man who obviously prefers the world of fantasy to the cold harshness of an often excruciatingly painful reality. In addition to his debilitating disease, Dan is also haunted by a failed marriage and an often tragic childhood that he tries to "correct" by entering the world of idealized fiction, one that he can manipulate and control. As the bombastic hospital psychologist figures out, Dan's illness is essentially psychosomatic in nature, one rooted in his inability to accept the realities of life in his own skin. In fact, Dan ultimately discovers that his disease is as much a product of his imagination as the scenarios and characters that make up his fiction. The illness becomes his way of not having to deal with his inner torments. Somewhat paradoxically, his writing becomes a form of therapy for him, helping him to deal with all that unresolved bitterness in his soul. The film is as much about psychological healing as it is about physical healing. Oddly enough, Dan's confrontations with his wife, psychologist and other hospital staff are actually far more interesting than what is happening in his rather puerile imagination. Still, towards the end of the film, when Dan starts to make some profound psychological breakthroughs, the fantasy scenes actually do begin to work and the complex structure pays off.

Downey does a fantastic job bringing Dan to life, conveying both the physical and emotional anguish the character is undergoing. Gibson has a great deal of fun playing the part of a paunchy, balding psychiatrist whose unorthodox methods wind up getting to the root of his belligerent patient's troubles. Robin Wright Penn, Jeremy Northam, Adrian Brody, Katie Homes and Alfre Woodard among others all deliver top notch supporting performances. And special praise must surely go to the large makeup staff whose work here is nothing short of miraculous.

"The Singing Detective" will probably not satisfy diehard fans of the original lengthy mini series. But for the rest of us who have seen no other version than this one, the film's audacious style and complex themes help the movie ride up and over its not inconsiderable flaws.

Rating:
Summary: Touching AND Funny At The Same Time!
Review: "The Singing Detective" may not be an obvious pick for "Best Picture of 2003" honors, but it gets my vote for underground hit of the year. Hospitalized as the result of a rare skin disorder, novelist Dan Dark (Robert Downey, Jr.) drifts into a subconscious world of fantasy lore, and imagines himself as a gangster to escape the harsh reality of his existing condition. What follows is a drama/comedy/musical that'll have a dual effect on "The Singing Detective"'s audience - in that it will have you both laughing and crying at the same time. To help the proceedings along, a semi-all-star cast is on hand, which includes Alfre Woodard (as a hospital chief of staff) and Mel Gibson (as Dan Dark's psychoanalyst). To top it all off, the film's soundtrack, featuring 1950s and '60s tunes helps paint a spectacular picture, in that it provides an interesting backdrop for the storyline. If there's one minor flaw to this picture, it would have to be the makeup job of Robert Downey, Jr.. In far-away shots, it looks perfect and masterful - but in closeups, it pretty much looks "paint-by-numbers" (nonetheless being unappetizing when one is consuming refreshments during the movie!). Nevertheless, "The Singing Detective", in terms of layout and cinematic preciseness, has Cannes Film Festival subleties craftfully etched inside its durable craftsmanship. Definitely worthy of at least two views at your local theater, and for your video library in the very near future!

Rating:
Summary: It's a Freudian Mystery Musical!
Review: A disfiguring skin disease confines novelist Dan Dark (Robert Downey, Jr.) to a hospital bed for months. Embittered by his condition and paranoid about his wife's (Robin Wright Penn) fidelity, Dan hallucinates the plot of his first novel "The Singing Detective", replacing the characters in the novel with real people from his life. The resident psychiatrist (Mel Gibson) believes that the noir detective novel about a 1950's era "gumshoe that warbles" holds clues to Dan's paranoia and self-loathing. How much of the detective story reflects Dan's real life and how the two have become intermingled in his hallucinations remain to be seen as Dan slowly recovers.

"The Singing Detective" is adapted from the 1986 television miniseries of the same name, written by Dennis Potter, who also wrote the film's screenplay. The film defies categorization, and it may take the prize for the most genre-crossing film that I have seen. "The Singing Detective" is a mystery within a mystery, a comedy, a psychological drama, and a musical. Yes, a musical. The plot is nonlinear, jumping back and forth between Dan's ordeal in the hospital, his memories, and his hallucinations of various times and places. It takes the audience the better part of the film to figure out how it all fits together. In this way, the film is like a jigsaw puzzle of Dan's mind...a mystery to be unraveled. The other mystery is the one Dan's fictional detective is simultaneously trying to solve. I'm not sure why Dennis Potter made the detective a singer. This introduces a musical element into a story that is already so overcrowded that it can be difficult to decipher. "The Singing Detective" is the most overtly Freudian movie I've seen in ages. In fact, if there is any film to which it can be compared, it reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's "Spellbound". Both films alternate between reality and stylized Freudian hallucinations. In both films, a man's past and his salvation, of which even he is not aware, are to be found in his hallucinations and the mystery solved with the help of a sympathetic psychoanalyst. Unlike "Spellbound", "The Singing Detective" could actually be called overbearing in its style, though.

"The Singing Detective" is genuinely hilarious at times. It elicited more than a few loud guffaws from the audience in my local theater. It's also to be commended for being clever and surprising. And Robert Downey, Jr. gives an impressive performance, as always. But the film's first act unfortunately does nothing to draw the audience into the story. On the contrary, it introduces some unattractive characters in a confusing manner and does more to put the audience off than anything. This may be attributable to the fact that "The Singing Detective" contains too much material for a film of this length, so it is obligated to dive right in instead of easing the audience into its frenetic mix of fantasy and reality. But if you get past the first half hour or so, it improves. Another element that is likely to alienate some of the film's audience is Dan's misogynistic tirades, which wore on my patience after a while. So I'm giving "The Singing Detective" a marginal recommendation. If you don't like non-linear methods of story-telling, garish imagery, and Freudian inferences, you won't like this film. If, on the other hand, you like (truly funny) cynical, vindictive, occasionally obscene humor and the aforementioned characteristics appeal to you, you might want to give "The Singing Detective" a try.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Admittedly, I haven't seen the original British miniseries, nor had I even heard of it before renting this movie. If you're in a similar situation, I'd definitely recommend giving this film a shot.

Robert Downey Jr. is brilliant in his role as Dan Dark, a mystery novelist hospitalized with a rather nasty skin disease. A bespectacled and bald Mel Gibson, looking for all the world like a senior citizen, is also excellent in a supporting role as Dark's therapist.

Overall, a top notch movie that provokes quite a range of emotions.

Rating:
Summary: Robert Downey Jr with a skin rash.
Review: Adults Only! Contains sexual content. Hyper film noir.
I guess an actor must once in a while do a film that helps pay for the house and the therapist. Robert Downey Jr. did "The Singing Detective". Downey plays "Detective Dan Dark" who is in the hospital with a horrible skin condition all over his body that has lasted for three months. It is so bad he is losing his mind. he flashbacks to the land of 1950's film noir where he is a singer (lip-sync old 1950's tunes here). He also has written a book full of pictures which his psychotherapist (Mel Gibson) believes contains clues about his life.
He has a problem with women, especially his wife (Robin Wright). It goes back to when he was a child when adults would have sex in front of him of near him.
His wife has found his screenplay without him knowing about it. She plans on typing it herself and cashing in on it for herself while her husband is in the hospital.
That is Robert Downey Jr. singing "In My Dreams" during the end credits.
Some scenes were filmed east of Lancaster, California and north of Antelope Acres, California.

Rating:
Summary: Robert Downey Jr., is The Singing Detective
Review: After having watched the original TSD six-part mini-series and read some of the bewildered comments about this film when it first screened at the Sundance Film Festival, I prepared to see this movie with some trepidation. Fortunately for us, TSD was included last fall at the Toronto Film Festival, where it played to a packed house of over 1200 people. Director, Keith Gordon was in attendance, along with the film's star, Robert Downey Jr. (Dan Dark) and Katie Holmes (nurse Mills.) Five minutes into it, I knew this was something special and unique as I found myself laughing, clapping out loud and even shedding a few tears.

The film was everything Gordon described it to be and then some. (And so was the original.) The 2003 DVD of The Singing Detective is a revised and sharper version of the mini-series and rewritten by Dennis Potter himself. It's a comedy, film noir, musical, intense microscopic character study and surrealistic detective story, with the film's hero slipping in and out of hallucinatory daydreams, as he reluctantly wrestles demons from his childhood. This is accomplished with the aid of one Columbo type, Dr. Gibbon, terrifically underplayed by Mel Gibson. The beauty of the journey is in observing how Dark gets from A to D, while trying to distinguish his angels from the devil. The emotionally and physically ill Dan Dark, unwittingly achieves this task while imagining himself as the tougher, fearless, ladie's man hero of his detective novels. To boot, this detective likes to croon a tune in the after hours clubs.

After having watched the film at the Toronto festival and then seen it again this weekend by renting the DVD, I have to confess this is one of the most fascinating and brilliant films to grace movie screens. It wasn't just an apparition. The critics who didn't care for it, most likely didn't understand it, as it is a challenging film. Even Roger Ebert admitted he had to give it a second look in order to assimilate what he'd initially seen and liked it. (If you're excpecting Chicago, this film is not for you.) In spite of the fact that it wasn't completely understood, almost all critics were unanimous in their praise of Downey. He is superb. Forget Chaplin. (The biopic in which Downey excelled and was nomimated for an Oscar.) This is his complete virtuoso performance and it's worth renting the film just to observe his work alone. No wonder Sean Penn verbally acknowledged Downey in his short list of actors who were not nominated for an Oscar this year, when he received his own statue for the award. With an excellent supporting cast, this DVD is definitely worth the rent, but a few words of caution. Watch it twice and you'll be delighted and amazed by what you might have missed the first time around. In the words of Dan Dark. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

Rating:
Summary: A great mix of film noir, musicals and human drama
Review: Author Dan Dark is trying to recover from a severe case of psoriasis, which causes him immense physical pain and sometimes the occasional hallucination. As he re-works his first novel, "The Singing Detective," in his mind -- sometimes imaging the people surrounding him as characters in this book, sometimes breaking out in song -- Dr. Gibbon, a psychlogist, tries to help Dark get at the root of his ailment by examining the events of his past.

Writer Dennis Potter re-works his TV mini-series into a fine film, mingling musiclas, film noir and a good human drama. Robert Downey, Jr., is excellent as Dan Dark, suffering both with the terrible skin condition an with his deep-seated emotions behind the characters in his first book. His delivery of Potter's fast-paced dialogue as well as his finesse with the character are amazing. Probably one of his best performances. The supporting cast also gives fine performances that truly enhance the film: Mel Gibson as Dr. Gibbon; Adrien Brody and Jon Polito as the two bumbling hoods; Katie Holmes as Nurse Mills; Jeremy Northam as Mark Binney; and Robin Wright Penn as Nicola/Nina/The Blonde. The makeup is also wonderful, especially both the work done to give Downey, Jr. psoriasis, and the almost unrecognizable Mel Gibson.

My only gripe is that the editing is sometimes a bit choppy making some scenes not flow as well as they could. Other than that, this is a great movie, filled with fine performances and a sharp, strong script.

Rating:
Summary: A great mix of film noir, musicals and human drama
Review: Author Dan Dark is trying to recover from a severe case of psoriasis, which causes him immense physical pain and sometimes the occasional hallucination. As he re-works his first novel, "The Singing Detective," in his mind -- sometimes imaging the people surrounding him as characters in this book, sometimes breaking out in song -- Dr. Gibbon, a psychlogist, tries to help Dark get at the root of his ailment by examining the events of his past.

Writer Dennis Potter re-works his TV mini-series into a fine film, mingling musiclas, film noir and a good human drama. Robert Downey, Jr., is excellent as Dan Dark, suffering both with the terrible skin condition an with his deep-seated emotions behind the characters in his first book. His delivery of Potter's fast-paced dialogue as well as his finesse with the character are amazing. Probably one of his best performances. The supporting cast also gives fine performances that truly enhance the film: Mel Gibson as Dr. Gibbon; Adrien Brody and Jon Polito as the two bumbling hoods; Katie Holmes as Nurse Mills; Jeremy Northam as Mark Binney; and Robin Wright Penn as Nicola/Nina/The Blonde. The makeup is also wonderful, especially both the work done to give Downey, Jr. psoriasis, and the almost unrecognizable Mel Gibson.

My only gripe is that the editing is sometimes a bit choppy making some scenes not flow as well as they could. Other than that, this is a great movie, filled with fine performances and a sharp, strong script.

Rating:
Summary: A great mix of film noir, musicals and human drama
Review: Author Dan Dark is trying to recover from a severe case of psoriasis, which causes him immense physical pain and sometimes the occasional hallucination. As he re-works his first novel, "The Singing Detective," in his mind -- sometimes imaging the people surrounding him as characters in this book, sometimes breaking out in song -- Dr. Gibbon, a psychlogist, tries to help Dark get at the root of his ailment by examining the events of his past.

Writer Dennis Potter re-works his TV mini-series into a fine film, mingling musiclas, film noir and a good human drama. Robert Downey, Jr., is excellent as Dan Dark, suffering both with the terrible skin condition an with his deep-seated emotions behind the characters in his first book. His delivery of Potter's fast-paced dialogue as well as his finesse with the character are amazing. Probably one of his best performances. The supporting cast also gives fine performances that truly enhance the film: Mel Gibson as Dr. Gibbon; Adrien Brody and Jon Polito as the two bumbling hoods; Katie Holmes as Nurse Mills; Jeremy Northam as Mark Binney; and Robin Wright Penn as Nicola/Nina/The Blonde. The makeup is also wonderful, especially both the work done to give Downey, Jr. psoriasis, and the almost unrecognizable Mel Gibson.

My only gripe is that the editing is sometimes a bit choppy making some scenes not flow as well as they could. Other than that, this is a great movie, filled with fine performances and a sharp, strong script.

Rating:
Summary: Well-Acted but incoherent
Review: Dan Dark, writer of noir, Raymond Chandler-esque Detective fiction is suffering from a severe skin condition that has made him virtually a prisoner in his own body. Mentally, he dwells in the realm of his novel, The Singing Detective, where he is a suave, hard-boiled yet sensitive PI. When forced to interact with the real world, Dark is obnoxious, angry and abusive. When his condition fails to improve, his doctor prescribes psychotherapy. Using his book as a key to his past, his therapist hopes to unlock Dark's subconcious and set him on the road to healing.

There were several good things about this movie. The concept had a great deal of potential to be depthful and interesting. The film-making was pretty interesting. The performances were remarkable and Mel Gibson's make-up job was astounding. But the movie as a whole didn't work for me because the overall story lacked a coherent dynamic structure. The pieces worked, but they didn't fit together and I felt that some of them were missing. I don't mind having to fill in a few blanks in a movie, but in _The Singing Detective_ I had the constant and unpleasant feeling that I wasn't quite sure what was going on.

The movie moves through three storylines: the real world of Dan Dark in the hospital, the fantasy world of Dan Dark, The Singing Detective, and the memory world of Dark's childhood. I didn't think the Detective world was given enough attention. The story that was happening there was not entirely clear and there was little internal logic. This frustrated me because it seemed to me that the detective world was supposed to be the place where the other two worlds met. But since it had no solidity, it was only a tenuous bridge and the viewer was left to make up a lot. I would have liked it better if the filmmaker had chosen to spend more time with the detective world and less time in the hospital. Also, far too much time and detail was spent in Dark's memories. By the time we got to the big revelation scene, it was redundant because we already knew what Dark was going to say. There was no sense of climax, and the closure seemed contrived.

The murky story was muddied even further by a subplot that seemed to deal with Dark's paranoia about his present day life. I think this could have been left out. Often there was no clear distinction made between what was really happening in the present-day world and what wasn't. All in all, the film had such a surreal feel that, not only was it difficult to tell what was going on, it was difficult to care.

Watching _The Singing Detective_ was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with pieces that have intersting shapes but, when joined, give a picture of a Rorshach ink blot. What the viewer gets out of it is probably his own business. What I got was bored.