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Voices (The)
R2 - United Kingdom - Arrow Films Review written by and copyright: Matthew Crossman (28th June 2015). |
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The Film
 Jerry (Ryan Reynolds) is an amiable, hard working person who is employed in a bath tub factory in a small town called Milton. Jerry has a small problem in that he has a medical disorder that requires him to see a court appointed psychiatrist and take medication to keep his symptoms under control. Jerry lives on his own above a bowling alley with a dog, Bosco, and a cat called Mr Whiskers. Both talk to him with Bosco being a sensible, peace loving animal whilst Mr Whiskers has psychotic tendencies. Jerry is smitten with Fiona (Gemma Arterton) a young, British woman that works at the same factory as Jerry in the accountants department. Jerry asks Fiona on a date, to which she agrees, but she then stands him up to go on a night out with her girlfriends at a karaoke bar instead. On his way home after the ‘date’ Jerry sees Fiona who is trying to get a taxi home in the pouring rain. Jerry offers Fiona a ride home which she accepts. On the way Jerry’s car hits a deer. The animal, in terrible pain, asks Jerry to put it out of it’s misery which Jerry does by slashing it’s throat. Horrified, Fiona bolts from the car and runs into the woods. Jerry pursues her and when he catches up with her he stabs her ‘by mistake’. As Fiona lies dying Jerry decides to put her out of her misery. Back at his apartment Bosco the dog implores Jerry to go to the police and report the incident. Bosco believes that Jerry killed Fiona by mistake and that the police will look favourably upon him. Mr Whiskers, however, disagrees and thinks Jerry should retrieve Fiona’s body and dispose of it. Jerry decides to follow Mr Whiskers’ advice. Back at his apartment with the body, Jerry dismembers Fiona’s body and puts the parts neatly into containers. Jerry keeps Fiona’s head in the refrigerator. Fiona’s head now starts talking to Jerry and implores him to start taking his medication. This Jerry does but to his horror he now starts to see the World as ‘normal’ people do including the dripping mess of Fiona’s body in cartons all around his apartment and a severed, rotting head in his fridge. To make matters worse neither Bosco nor Mr Whiskers are talking to him anymore. Frightened, Jerry dumps his medication down the sink and soon Jerry’s version of normality is resumed. Back at work, Jerry has attracted the attention of Lisa, who also works in the accounts department. She asks him out on a date. Whilst out Jerry takes Lisa to his former childhood home and tells her of how his Mother, who was about to be committed to an insane asylum, attempts to commit suicide but cannot manage it in her weakened state. She pleads with the young Jerry to put her out of her misery, which he does, just as the nurses from the asylum burst in. Lisa is moved by his story. Later, Lisa looks up Jerry’s address with the intention of surprising him. Jerry is surprised to see Lisa at him home and does not want her to come inside, mainly due to the parts of Fiona still scattered around the house. But Lisa is not that easily put off. Directed by Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian author and filmmaker, best known for the Academy Award nominated film Persepolis (2007), this film will divide opinions. Some will see it as uneven and unfunny, whilst others will see it as a clever, dark comedy with an excellent ensemble cast. I fall in the latter category. The film is undeniably uneven, but this is deliberate. Jerry is a schizophrenic and our eyes into the film. Consequently it is unbalanced and the film works brilliantly because of it. The view of the World we see through Jerry’s eyes are distorted by his illness. Satrapi brilliant demonstrates this by having jarring scenes played out when Jerry takes his medication and we see the World as it really is, which is a dirty, drab, horrible mess. Jerry is a shy person and his only real companions are his talking pets. When Jerry is on his medication those companions stop talking to him and his is all alone again. No wonder Jerry prefers the World without the pills even if it does mean the occasional accident from time to time. The cast are all superb. Reynolds is on top form as Jerry and even when he is performing unspeakable horrors the viewer feels pity, rather than revulsion, for him. Arterton plays Fiona as spoilt and self involved, until she gets her head cut off, and then she becomes much more personable, and Kendrick as Lisa is fantastic as the sweet office girl who just wants romance. Jacki Weaver plays Dr Warren, Jerry’s court appointed psychiatrist, as does a fantastic job. The script by Michael R Perry is sweet, romantic, horrific and funny and, on occasions, all at the same time. If there is one complaint it’s that it’s slightly overlong. The film takes awhile to get going and the first twenty five minutes are slow as the characters are introduced but once we get past that mark the film takes off and soars.
Video
Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The colours and blacks are excellent, as you would expect for a modern film. When we are in Jerry’s unmedicated World everything is brighter. The overalls Jerry wears to work are a lovely pink and the fork lift trucks at the factory are also pink and the colours pop off the screen. Once Jerry is back on the pills everything turns a dirty beige or brown and these colours are rich. The white background in the musical number at the finale of the film dazzles.
Audio
English Dolby Digital 5.1 is the only sound choice. It serves the film well with most sound coming from the centre and front speakers. The sub woofer does not get much of a work out but ‘The Voices’ is not that type of film. There are subtitles available and these are of the English HoH variety.
Extras
The Interviews (20:25) - A series of 'talking head' interviews. First up is Ryan Reynolds who tells us what attracted him to the project, about the character Jerry, on his animal co-stars Bosco and Mr Whiskers, on Jerry's different perspectives and what the audience can expect. Gemma Arterton is up next and she discusses her character Fiona, filming the scenes inside the fridge, on what attracted her to the project, her preparation for the role, the challenges of playing Fiona and on the director Marjane Satrapi. Anna Kendrick then talks about what attracted her to the project, the interesting parts of her role and about the director. Marjane Satrapi, the director, discusses the uniqueness of the script, the importance of the colours of the film, and working with her cinematographer Maxime Alexandre. Script writer Michael Perry talks about where he got the idea for the story, on the unique visual style of Satrapi and what, if any, the genre of the movie is. Producer Matthew Rhodes then talks about what attracted him to the project and the two different sides to Jerry. He also discusses the concept of the film, the casting of Ryan Reynolds, the visual effects of the film and what an audience can expect. Roy Lee, a producer of 'The Voices', talks about, among others things, Jerry's two pet room mates, Jacki Weaver as Dr Warren, and the main challenges of the movie. Finally, Adi Shankar, another producer, talks about the film and why it cannot be pigeon holed into one particular genre. Scare prank (1:14) - A fridge is placed in a public place with a sign saying ‘free drinks inside’, but, of course, that isn’t all that is inside the fridge. Watch as unsuspecting members of the public go in search of a free drink and find something completely different. Deleted scenes (11:02) - A total of eight deleted scenes. Most of these scenes impact upon one another, hence why they were all omitted from the final cut. The first concerns a scene between Jerry and Fiona and would appear to be their first encounter. There are also scenes set in the forest around the discovery of some parts of Fiona and the police's suspicions. The final scene is with Jerry's dead Father who has come to ask for forgiveness and with a personal note for Jerry from Jesus himself. Extended scenes (4:02) - Two scenes (a factory scene and Fiona’s death). Pet Voice Recording (4:18) - Ryan Reynolds’s records the voices for several characters including Mr Whiskers and Bosco. Reynolds is filmed going through several different interpretations of the lines spoken by animals until he and the director, Marjane Satrapi are happy.
Overall
This film has every chance of being the next cult film. A difficult film to pigeonhole, it’s quite unique which is very refreshing in these days of sequels and re-boots. The first twenty five minutes are a tad slow but this is the only fault I can find and even that is a very minor one. The cast are superb, the direction imaginative, the script witty and horrifying and the overall production top notch. I highly recommend ‘The Voices’ from Jerry’s almost day-glo schizophrenia induced world all the way to the superb musical rendition of ‘A Happy Song’ performed by the cast (originally recorded by The O’Jays back in 1979) at the finale of the movie. Where else will you find a loveable serial killer, a pair of talking pets, heads in fridges and that’s not to mention the dancing, bowling Jesus. Original and very, very entertaining.
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