Spin
a review by Jeffrey Overstreet
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Based on the novel by Donald Everett Axinn, Spin is the first film for director James Redford, son of Robert Redford. The movie won the Crystal Heart Award at Indianapolis’ Heartland Film Festival in 2003, and only now is it finding its way to big screens in a limited release.
Redford clearly shares his father’s flair for making quiet, down-to-earth films, although Spin falls far short of the lyricism of A River Runs Through It. But let’s not judge the younger Redford by the masterpieces of his father yet. It’s his first film.
Spin tells the story of Eddie Haley, an orphan whose parents died in a plane crash. As he grows and tries to find direction for his life, Eddie learns to fly a plane like his father, rebels against the counsel of his uncle and the Mexican ranchers who raised him, and falls in love with a Mexican-American beauty named Francesca.
Spin is a bit workmanlike, and the story isn’t much more complex or challenging than a Disney Sunday night movie. It brushes up against important themes like the dangers of prejudice and the ugliness of abuse, but it fails to engage these themes in any fresh or interesting ways.
Lead actors Ryan Merriman and Paula Garcés make an attractive couple, but they’re too well-groomed to make the story stick; their clothes always look brand new, their hair is always perfectly styled, and they don’t find enough subtlety or personality to make the characters distinct.
The film’s supporting cast redeems the experience—veterans Stanley Tucci and Ruben Blades turn in understated and winning performances as Uncle Frank and his ranch foreman Ernesto. The picturesque Arizona backdrop, and the storyteller’s passion for celebrating the rewards of a close-knit family, sweetens the rather bland proceedings.
Like the production, the story is a mixed blessing. On one hand, the film is unconventional in its avoidance of simplifying things into good-guy-versus-bad-guy rivalries. On the other hand, there’s not much compelling about the plot. It ends up as a mellow character study in which the familiar formulas make us think that the story is leading us to explore certain themes—prejudice, rebellion, family values, following your dreams, etc. But the story never gets around to exploring anything. It only scratches the surface of these issues, following Eddie from one simple conflict to another.
Only at the very end does Eddie stumble onto the scene of a crisis that demands the audience’s full attention. Even there, though, the last act tension seems almost an arbitrary development, as though the story has finally decided which of many roads its going to follow.
Once Eddie makes the inevitable turn toward being a smarter guy, the film devolves into a series of sentimental conclusions, reminding me of a very different sort of movie. Yes, this is the biggest pile-up of climactic goodbyes and benedictions since The Return of the King. But Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning movie earned all of those goodbyes over the course of three extra-long films. Spin is just one, small, 106-minute film.
Moreover, The Return of the King, a fantasy, was full of characters who got dirty and sweaty and dealt with the elements. They lived in a world that was rough and real. Thus, we were as bound up in the tension as they were. In Spin, characters tiptoe so as not to get their costumes dirty, their brows sweaty, or their viewers involved. They unfortunately succeed.
Again I’m tempted to compare Spin to the far more convincing and subtle A River Runs Through It, which progresses at a meandering pace, but never leaves the strong plot about brothers choosing different paths and reaping different rewards. B let’s avoid Redford, Sr. as a comparison. Let’s try another nostalgic, old-fashioned film about young people coming of age—October Sky. Spin lacks the humor and surprises that spiced up October Sky, and where Jake Gyllenhaal and his supporting cast was just a bit off-center, making things odd and interesting, Merriman seems more like a model than an actor. To make a rash generalization from one film … he’s like an after-school-special version of Edward Norton. He may have rougher, more complex characterizations in him, but he’s got to lose the picture-perfect polish.
Spin is by no means a failure. It just falls short of the handsome piece of work it could have been. Redford gets a gold star for showing promise in his first outing, and for avoiding the indulgences of so many other coming-of-age films. Many directors set out to make a splash with their first release by being too daring. Redford errs on the side of restraint, which is a more admirable error by far.
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Writer, director – James Redford, based on the novel by Donald Everett Axinn.
Producer – Elaine Rogers.
Cinematographer – Paul Ryan
Editor – Nicholas C. Smith
Music – Todd Boekelheide.
106 minutes. Rated PG-13.
STARRING: Ryan Merriman – Eddie Haley; Stanley Tucci – Major Haley; Dana Delany – Margaret Swift-Bejarano; Paula Garcés – Francesca Montoya; Rubén Blades – Ernesto Bejarano.
Tags: Recommended Audience: Teens and Up, Review Archive - S