Domino (2005)

"A Tony Scott Film", by Nathan Vass

With his last two films, Man on Fire and Domino, Mr. Scott has changed the meaning of the above phrase. It used to signify the presence of a capable action-thriller. Now, it means a film that is so creative, exhilarating, and utterly original that almost no contemporary critic has been able to comprehend it.

My feeling while watching Tony Scott's new film about his good friend Domino Harvey was that Scott, now 61, has finally come into his own, after years of making good-to-average thrillers, has finally discovered a style that no one has ever even thought about doing. I remember reading interviews with him years ago, talking to Mike Figgis- he'd be musing, "I'm always trying to find new ways to shoot action. Action's been done to death, you know." Well, he more than succeeded in his goal: he's found a new way of seeing. His enthusiasm for the medium is infectious; watching his new work, one can feel him thinking, "why the hell not? no one else has ever done this!" Before Man on Fire, I didn't think there was a way to incorporate non-stop hand-cranking and multiple exposures into narrrative film. And on top of that, we have bleach bypass, black-and-white, wild changes of film speed, aperture, and shutter speed, often within the same shot, 16mm, reversal stock, underfixing film, supersaturation, and more match action than Oliver Stone and Michael Bay combined. Tony Scott has created what is arguably the most high-impact visual and aural style in cinema, ever. I was waiting for the film reel to simply explode. And the fact that he accomplishes all this by hand, with no digital sprucing (aside from the subtitles) at all, is extremely impressive. This is a serious development in film, and is nothing to sneeze at.

Scott's only applied this technique to two scripts, both of which are suited very well to the approach. The sprawling, massively unfocused plot of Domino matches well with its go-for-broke visuals. In interviews and commentaries Scott is quick to say that the style emerges out of the story ("I'll look at a scene and ask, 'This is the emotional center of the scene; how can we best amplify that?'"), and is not used simply to be hip, or cover up script problems. I actually thought Richard "Donnie Darko" Kelly's script had a fair amount to say about the breakdown (and possible reaffirmation) of the nuclear family system and what would/could replace it, the inescapable and pervasive qualities of American popular culture, as well the choosing of fringe/outcast culture as the one thread that holds the myriad characters together; these are characters that never get their proper screentime in hollywood movies. This is a film about those on the edge, those misunderstood individuals who exist on the fringes of society (that the film itself is so misunderstood underlines this idea in a fascinating way). It is interesting to note that just about all the current stereotypes are represented in the film- white trash, middle-eastern terrorists, foreigners who don't speak english, gay people, sex offenders, mobsters, prophets in the desert, and more; the very last scene, which shows a convergence of two such subgroups, gives the film an optimistic outlook.

Although there is subtext here, Domino functions primarily as visceral entertainment. This is a film that must be seen twice- once for its sheer visual audacity, and once to comprehend its sprawling, convoluted story. The acting by all present is good, with the performances and sense of camaraderie between the three leads being excellent. Knightley in particular is superb, perfectly embodying a character quite different from her typical dainty self.

I can certainly see how Tony Scott's new style might be disagreeable; he makes Baz Luhrmann look like Todd Field. He goes so far past mainstream that he practically comes out the other side; Domino is almost an avant-garde picture. And although it supports the content, it's so interesting in it's own right that it's impossible to keep up with the content or the style, especially with this film, which has both a complex form and complex content. Nevertheless, I urge all those interested in cinematography and the advancement of film as art to check this film out. If ever there was a movie that warranted repeat viewings, it was this one. The amount of visual information conveyed here cannot possibly be expressed in words. If you blink, or look down even once while watching Domino, you're liable to miss something.