Jerry Lewis takes center stage.
Virtually everyone in the world knows the feeling of loss. Therefore, when we see it on screen, it is something to which we can all relate. In Daniel Noah's newest film, Max Rose, we do more than merely relate, we feel it on a deep, painful level. However, the truly impressive thing about the movie is not just the sadness Noah and his cast are able to impart, but the happiness and humor as well.
Filmic legend Jerry Lewis stars as the title character in the movie, which opens its story in the aftermath of the death of Max's wife of 65 years, Eva (Claire Bloom). As he has a very strained relationship with his son, Christopher (Kevin Pollak), it falls to Max's granddaughter, Annie (Kerry Bishé), to care for the widower and help him through his grief.
Almost immediately, and very understandably, Max begins reminiscing about his life with Eva, contemplating conversations either real or imagined. As Noah depicts it, moments with Eva take place in a vibrant world, one full of color. The real world though, the one in which the love of Max's life is gone, is far less saturated; far more gray. It is both striking and utterly horrifying, a great filmic representation of how that loss must feel.
The depth of Max's despair is so great that he can't even manage to sleep in the bed he used to share with Eva, choosing instead to stay downstairs in a chair in the living room. And, although Annie tries her best to boost Max's spirits, and would give anything to make her grandfather feel better, there is little she can do, and her own life is suffering in the process.
Soon enough, things get worse as Max discovers that Eva's compact contains an engraving to her, from another man, Ben. Max turns this engraving over in his mind again and again – who was Ben, what happened on the date on the engraving, was Eva cheating on him? The events in question are more than 50 years in the past, but for Max, a retired piano player who was out of town working on that particular date, they are fresh wounds at a time when he can ill afford a new pain.
So, the movie unfolds with Annie and Chris doing their best to help Max, and Max trying to keep his head above water and get a grip on this new history, one which he does not wish to share with either his son or granddaughter. A move to an retirement home may help him somewhat, but he still can't fully get beyond the compact and the secrets it contains; but then, who could.
Lewis plays Max with an incredible nuance and depth, just as Bishé does with Annie. The waves of grief coming off both are palpable as they each try to prop the other up, whether it's with a memory of the past or an episode of Columbo. Pollak is almost equally admirable as Chris, who has a vast set of problems all his own, ones which the movie certainly offers up but doesn't explore as much as it might.
This indicates the biggest weakness of the film – it is so focused on telling these particular aspects of Max's story that other things must drop by the wayside. In the wake of Claire's death, Max isn't regularly visited by friends or well-wishers, just Annie and Chris. It is as though, despite living in the same house for decades, Max and Claire had no friends. Here Max is, trying to uncover the secrets of the past and he has no friends with whom he can sit down and discuss them. In a movie full of true, real emotions this rings false.
Beyond that, as the story progresses and Max looks for closure in his new surroundings, the movie offers a bit of deus ex machina to move things forward. The results may be powerful, but the journey feels more than a little forced.
While these elements are definitely blemishes on the film, they do not ruin the tale. There is a sense of fragility to Max Rose which remains intact despite these minor missteps, a fragility ascribable to the emotions it depicts across both the Annie-Max and Claire-Max relationships.
The Verdict
Getting an audience to feel an emotion may not be the most difficult task a filmmaker faces, but what Daniel Noah and company do here goes beyond just garnering an emotional response. The movie is something that feels true and right, beautiful and horrific, happy and sad. Max Rose doesn't force tears in brute fashion. Instead, it paints emotion with a fine brush, offering nuance and depth. The feelings Max had over his 65 years of marriage are something to which most people can only aspire, while the sense of loss that comes after is something everyone would like to avoid. Lewis manages to offer both of these things with a single look, and that alone makes Max Rose worth seeing.
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