Max

Rating:
Summary: Limitless unrealized potential, but still decent.
Review: Max (Menno Meyjes, 2002)

Menno Meyjes (Empire of the Sun, Ricochet) steps behind the camera for the first time to direct his own controversial script. Like most controversial scripts, this one got built up a lot more than it should have by people who probably haven't even seen the blasted thing.

The story centers on Max Rothman (John Cusack), a wealthy Jewish art dealer not long after the end of World War I, before the massive German depression kicks in. He is a staunch modernist, but modern art isn't selling too well in a Germany that just got its head handed to it on a platter, and Rothman is looking for a new angle. He meets a young, promising artist by the name of Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor, from Almost Famous). Rothman and Hitler develop a testy friendship of opposites, with Rothman's libertinism and Hitler's asceticism grating against one another mercilessly, but the two men have a grudging respect for one another, and Rothmann has a genuine desire to help Hitler's career (if, one thinks, only for Rothman's impending success as an art dealer).

The story of the making of Max is a tale of Hollywood political correctness run roughshod over creativity. The film was originally to be produced by Amblin Entertainment, but Spielberg-though he thought the script a brilliant one-pulled out at the last minute because of fears of a backlash from the Jewish community. With production at a standstill, Cusack immediately forewent his salary because of his belief in the viability of the film. (In the end, it was produced by an international conglomeration of companies, including Film Council UK (Formula 51, Bend It Like Beckham) and Canadian producers Alliance (eXistenZ).) It is also a tale of how even unwelcome publicity is publicity, and by the time Max was finished, many people expected the best thing since sliced bread.

Max is a good film. About that there can be no doubt. But it is not a great film. While it doesn't, as Spielberg so euphemistically put it, "dishonor the memories of holocaust survivors," it doesn't exactly tread much controversial ground, either; if the struggling artist had been anyone but Adolf Hitler, Max would likely have opened unheralded, played arthouses for a few weeks, and been seen afterwards only by hardcore fans of one of the movie's stars. The ideas in it are wonderful ones, and there is much that deserves criticism by those who are better at such things than me (for example, Rothman's constant exhorting that Hitler must find his distinct voice in art, and the wonderfully ironic resolution of that statement not long before the film's climax), but the film itself is just not quite the equal of all that. It ends up with the same general feel of 2001's In the Bedroom; a lot of great stuff that just doesn't gel quite right. ***

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Film Based on Fictionalized Pre-nazi Hitler
Review: MAX begins in a giant art warehouse and creates a stark atmosphere of post-WWI darkness and chaos. Max (John Cusack) is an artist who lost his arm in the war and he meets Hitler (Noah Taylor), depicted as a directionless artist. The film bases some of its ideas on reality (Hitler was an aspiring artist, but before, not after the war), but one problem is we like and feel sympathy for this Hitler.

Noah Taylor doesn't resemble the real Adolph in the least; in the film he's an artist who isn't anti-semitic and he's too damn likeable and cool looking with his army trenchcoat looking and acting more like a post-modern beatnik than a Nazi. The Chaplin mustache isn't even here. (Though the real one donned a mustache from before WWI). He's coerced by the military into public speaking, and his speeches are interesting and comical. "I paid 10 marks for this coat" "You paid too much" "That's what I told the Jew who sold it to me."

Nevertheless, the point is made: had Hitler been prompted in another direction than politics the Holocaust may well have been avoided. And Max, now an art dealer trying to induce Hitler to pursue his art rather than politics is the focal point to the alternate reality. The ending is pretty predictable, and prompts one to ask, could something like this really have happened.

John Cusack does a good performance and his relationship with Hitler is what holds our interest throughout the film.

Rating:
Summary: I cant believe I'm saying this but...
Review: Max is a well done movie. It is well acted and well written (the marvelous, ironic script heralding at the forefront of the many virtues that this film adornes) however I maintain that the writer/director Menno Meyjes was simply not ready to direct this, skill wise. The film, as another rewiewer put it had limitless potential, but alas falls short of what it could have been. I have seen the movie twice now and have come to a few conclusions regarding what was missing in the film (and bear in mind that these are all subjective and I fully encourage you to come to your own).

The first is that as much as I love John Cusack, and there can be no doubt that he played his character well, had he sported an accent of some sort it would have made him stick out less in the film. As is, the picture is populated with actors all speaking with at least a hint of a German accent - John Cusack in spite of his good conveyance of emotion and motivation, doesn't quite seem to fit in with his distinctly American (Chicago) accent. As I watched the film, more often than not I was seeing John Cusack as John Cusack, not Max Rothman. But for those less acquainted with his previous work, the reaction might be different.

Secondly the film could have served well with a larger budget, and as said, a more accomplished director. I've heard it said that Spielberg showed interest in the film at one point - that would have been a god-send. In spite of the fact that much of the film displays a distinct style by the new director, some of it comes across as a little sloppy, like puzzle pieces forced into place where they don't necessarily belong.

Lastly, and please try to bear with me here - the actor who portrays Adolph Hitler in this acts far too insane. Again, don't misunderstand me, Hitler was without a doubt a very disturbed individual but historically speaking we all know that, and I think it fair to say that his actions can speak for themselves. Thus to get a small, anemic actor who spits while he screams at the top of his lungs, refuses handshakes, shrugs people off rudely, and displays all other manners of common indecency simply doesn't help the film from a character's standpoint. It seems like the film was in a way attempting to show the side of Hitler that we didn't see, but got cold feet with the thought of Nazi connections being drawn, and just to cover his tracks directed the actor into a screaming frenzy, thus making sure that we all knew that he knew that Hitler was a [jerk]. *Takes a deep breath.* So to summarize - we know Hitler was psychotic - just showing that all over again does nothing for me other than dislike him as a character in the film and lose sympathy for the man as a struggling artist. I'm not saying a more sympathetic view would be necessary but a less repulsive view of the man as a character in the context of the film would have made the whole thing much more interesting and engaging storywise. As of now the whole thing reaks slightly of a director afraid to completely commit to his inherently controversial, and possibly brilliant script.

B+

Rating:
Summary: Great and Fact-Finding Film
Review: Max is mostly about Adolf Hitler, and how one man shows him to express his angry feelings into paintings. A wonderfully rich award-winning film with a great cast. Noah Taylor, who prtrays his character really well, plays the infamous Nazi-ruler Adolf Hitler.

Rating:
Summary: Fictional Account of Real Motives that Shaped 20th Century
Review: Max Rothman (John Cusack) is an art dealer and World War I veteran in post-war Germany. In 1918, he makes the acquaintance of another veteran and aspiring artist by the name of Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor). Hitler is a good draftsman, but is never able to convey any meaning or feeling in his paintings. Nonetheless, Rothman sees Hitler's anger, frustration, and self-doubt and encourages him to reveal those emotions in his artwork. Ultimately, Hitler finds that he cannot, but that politics is the perfect vehicle for his feelings. Defeat in WWI and the humiliation of the treaty of Versailles have left a void in the German psyche that radical new political movements exploit to their advantage. And Adolf Hitler comes to believe that Politics is the new Art.

"Max" is a fictional film. Max Rothman did not exist. But Adolf Hitler was, in fact, an aspiring artist of apparently little talent before there was any such thing as a Nazi. "Max" proposes a scenario of what might have transpired if Hitler had been befriended by a perceptive, sympathetic art dealer, who, nonetheless, understood the marketplace for art and the shortcomings of Hitler's paintings. Why make a mostly fictitious movie about a very real and very loathed historical figure? "Max" places Adolf Hitler in the context of post-WWI Germany and shows us why his ideas found a substantial audience. More importantly, the character of Max Rothman is able to comment directly on Hitler's personal failings and idiosyncrasies, while providing an example of how Germans who were more saddened than angry at the nation's difficulties were dealing with the situation. "Max" allows us to see Hitler through the eyes of someone who understands him, is repulsed by him, but at the same time pities him. Rothman can say to Hitler what we might say to him had we known him at that time in his life. And Hitler can say what he might have said, given what we know of him, in response. This film is an interesting way of illuminating Adolf Hitler's character and motivations. "Max" elucidates the personal -not political- reasons for his actions. And all motivations are ultimately personal. John Cusack is particularly good here, successfully expressing Rothman's intelligence, charm, and resignation to life's realities. Noah Taylor effectively conveys Adolf Hitler's extreme emotional needs. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Plodding and Inaccurate
Review: Not to nit-pick, but Hitler was not the aspiring artist after WWI in Munich; it was before the war in Vienna from 1906 to about 1911. The German army was not broken by the Third Ypres campaign in 1917; it folded after its almost successful offensive in 1918 (broken by American soldiers and Marines). So it goes throughout this dull and uninteresting film. The idea of presenting a young Hitler was fine and daring but this movie is watchable only for the fine performance of Cusack as Max.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointingly shrill and cliched...
Review: Perhaps I was watching a different version of the MAX that's gleaned such glowing reviews. I disagree with most of them adamantly. With exception of FIRST CIRCLE post-WW I ambience of Germany which Director Meyjes effectively evokes;and typically fine acting of John Cusack as Max Rothman,I found this "border-line" art film about ART & EVIL very disappointing.In my estimate, Noah Taylor's portrayal of Hitler as aspiring artist was shrill and repugnant,approaching parody.There is nothing charismatic or remotely fascinating in his one note characterization of the man Lucifer himself might yield to. From the jump, Hitler is portrayed as frustrated punk with illusions of grandeur and delusions of talent.[The scene in the hovel/attic where he attempts to paint, and realizes he has no artistic ability is POWERFUL.] Even scenes where Hitler's once-and-future Nazi mentors recognize his--historically undeniable--warped Preacher's "grace" as orator are unconvincing because all Taylor does(like many of today's talentless RAPPERS)is fume and scream.

MAX had possiblity for being an unforgettable political HORROR film; perhaps cult classic. Its failure is magnified. Ambience, theme and Cusack cannot save a cliched effort in PM murk. Director Meyjes utterly misses this "incarnation" of Hitler.His man claims to aspire to construct classic BEAUTY. In resentment and unparalleled egotism, he determines to DECONSTRUCT an entire world order; murder millions; and poison human desire for the Good,True & Beautiful: SOMETHING WICKED,indeed,THIS WAY COMES. Meyjes and Noah Taylor,ultimately, do genesis of Evil disservice by displaying it as teeth-grinding PETULANCE without seductive glamour or potential for perverse triumph. MAX'Hitler is a fool. History records he was sheer TERROR.(2 & 1/2 stars)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting concept. Great performance by Noah Taylor
Review: Playing the role of Adolph Hitler probably guarantees that you'll never work again in Hollywood. I think that's why the relatively unknown Australian character actor, Noah Taylor was chosen. He is the best thing about this film. Noah brings to life a young Adolph, full of disappointment at coming home from the Great War, only to face unemployment and rejection. Noah's portrayal of Adolph's gradual confidence, in his belief that politics the new artform is chilling.

John Cusack's acting, on the other hand is so unbelievably wooden, that he doesn't even manage to give a realistic performance of a person experiencing pain, in a scene when he is being kicked to death by Nazi's. Someone with real talent, such as Kenneth Branagh, would, I think have been better cast in the role of the art dealer, Max Rothman. The script is stilted and the two token women in this film are not given any real chance to reveal their characters.

So, if you are curious about the concept of Adolph Hitler as a failed artist and want to see a good actor make a bad script shine, I suggest you buy this film.

After you see it, I think that you will agree with me that Noah Taylor has done a brilliantly realistic job of portraying the of the most hated man of the 20th Century.

Rating:
Summary: Historical accuracy is for saps
Review: Plodding, maybe. But innacurate?? Grow up. The movie is a fantasy which revels in its own speculation. A work of fiction is not responsible for historical accuracy, even one that purports to be historically accurate. It's only responsible for its own dramatic strength. To me, the drama has a tinge of the comic because it plays on what we already know about Hitler's future. It toys with the idea that he was on the fence about how to express himself and if this Max character played it differently, the 20th century could've turned out better. Cusack is successful in his portrayal of a man who's disturbed by Hitler but has no intimations as to what lengths he will eventually go. While on a sort of a double date, he says to the girls, "Hitler has this thing about blood purity. We think...we hope it's just a metaphor." And Noah Taylor is just brilliant, adding nuances and idiosyncrasies, fleshing out the character as a brilliant but pathetic wretch whose rage and resentment will eventually lead him to horrifying heights. The movie lags a little in places, but the direction is very sharp, as are the performances.

Rating:
Summary: Speculative history...
Review: Speculative historical films and books can sometimes be entertaining, exploring the 'what ifs', the myriad of possibilities of how history 'could have been' if only that certain someone had turned left instead of right, or had not been murdered, or had not married, or had not invaded the USSR, or had not dropped the bomb, or... these kind of musings are only limited by the power of our imaginations - the possibilities are endless.

~Max~ is an interesting look into post WW1 Germany, the conditions of that country and a cursory look into a new art movements beginnings in response to the war. Modernism began after the Great War, and one of its important manifestations was German Expressionism. Anyone familiure with German Expressionism would agree that the work can be quite haunting. Anyone familiar with the Nazi/Hitler response to this art movement is aware that some of these artists ended up in concentration camps based solely on their 'modern' views of art. The Nazi campaign against 'decadent' forms of art began with propaganda, moved onto violence and gangster tactics, ending in a total ban on the movement in all its forms. The only form of art allowed in Germany during Hitler's reign was a kind of retro Greek/Roman classicism with a strange Aryan twist. In other words, this was Hitler's view on art and of course nothing else was permitted. This film explores the 'what ifs' of Hitler's attempted entry into the German art world.

Most people are aware that Adolph Hitler was an aspiring artist and ended up being a failed one. This film speculates on Hitler's artistic aspirations and actions straight after the war. In the film, Hitler (Noah Taylor) meets Max, (John Cusack) a Jewish art dealer, and we see him pathetically attempt to become an artist, ironically, however, motivated and financially supported by Max, who sees Hitler as having potential as a Futurist; we also see Hitler's rise in the National Socialist Workers Party. Noah's performance as the ranting Austrian is quite impressive, his acting in this film is nothing less then brilliant. In fact, it is worth seeing the film for this performance alone. Cusack also does a fine job as Max as we come away from the performance with great sympathy for the character.

Overall the film is well made and the subject matter is interesting - well worth having a look at.