Blu-Ray Review - Manglehorn (2015)

David Gordon Green made a splash when he directed his debut George Washington which was compared favourably to the early work of the master filmmaker Terrence Malick. Green ended up in the late ’00s directing stoner films like Pineapple Express and Your Highness. Recent years however have seen a partial return to his early independent films with the fantastic Joe with Nicholas Cage from a couple of years ago and the newer Manglehorn.

Al Pacino who in recent years has to be honest not done his best work stars in the title role. Manglehorn is a locksmith in small-town Texas who is still heartbroken by a woman named Clara who he lost years ago and continues to write to her despite never getting a response. He has turned his attention to his work and caring for his big fluffy cat Fanny. His very insular world becomes invaded when Dawn (Holly Hunter) expresses interest in this idiosyncratic old man.

Green builds on the critical success of Joe but as a follow-up to one of the best films of that year but it ends up being a marginal disappointment. It’s full of symbolism and it doesn’t quite work all the time and at times feels like film school symbolism. It also feels almost like a fairy tale but for me it doesn’t quite go far enough into that direction to be completely satisfying.

The film certainly exceeds with its performances and easily the best performance Pacino has given in well over a decade. Pacino is super low-key and really captures the loneliness of the role. Holly Hunter who has been sorely missed on screens gives one of her trademark performances with being ridiculously sweet but never overly sentimental. Former indie film Enfant terrible Harmony Korine has a hilarious supporting role as a one of the former players Manglehorn coached in little league who is now a pimp. Chris Messina plays Manglehorn’s rich asshole son and the relationship between the two of them is very believable.

Overall Manglehorn is nice character study of an older man but it doesn’t quite provide the punch it ended to become a great film and certainly Pacino and Green have it in them. It might be down to the script by first-timer Paul Logan but you could certainly do worse for a small indie film this year. The disc is fairly barebones like the previous Blu-Ray of Joe with only a short featurette on the disc.