3.5/5 Match For those of you who have forgotten in the last decade or so that Patrick Stewart is not actually a handicapped X-Man and is, in fact, an actor, Match is the movie you need to be renting. Stewart is not just an actor, he is a fantastic actor. There may be no greater proof than this simple little film by Stephen Belber. His story is one that seems tailor made for a stage production - only a few locations, about three characters, and a wide emotional range - or a short. Having it expanded into a full feature creates some narrative stretch marks, but the story’s core purpose remains intact. Before I get ahead of myself, let me go over the premise. Tobi (Stewart) is a dance professor at Juilliard, a man who is both gleefully eccentric and purposefully isolated. He is a fine character to dig into, and that is exactly what Stewart does as an actor and Lisa (Carla Gugino) and Mike (Matthew Lillard) do as characters. We are introduced to Lisa as a student interviewing Tobi for her dissertation - Mike, her husband, is just a “tagalong.” They are interested in his early career in the sixties and what it was like building a reputation in that summer of love. Tobi, a lover of this kind of subject (liberation, friends, lovers, and above all, dance), answers their questions with gusto. However, after Lisa begins circling back to one particular question, even after Tobi’s story has obviously moved on, things begin to get suspicious. It does not help that Mike all of a sudden becomes an impassioned participant in the interrogation… I mean, interview. I will stop there, but just know that the couples motives are murky and they are not who they seem. | Director: Stephen Belber Starring: Patrick Stewart, Carla Gugino, Matthew Lillard Writer: Stephen Belber |
Stories based on this kind of gimmick may work well onstage or in a short, as I have said, but a single narrative stunt like the one here is not enough to anchor ninety minutes of action. What works for one medium may not work for another. For instance, the characters of Lisa and Mike become increasingly hard to be around the longer this thing runs. Whether it be the scheming nature of their characters, a couple middling performances, or a combination of both, I am not sure. The performances are not laughably bad by any means, but you can not help but compare them to what Stewart is doing. And when you do that, you simply become unimpressed.
Narrative and character stresses aside, Stewart is the gravity that holds this film in orbit. Without him, I may have missed out on some of Belber’s themes that are actually quite poignant and emotionally resonant. Luckily, the director found the right leading man to steer. In his aged, sensitive persona we see a kind of power that is far greater than anything Prof. X does with his mutant abilities. But that is what makes Match the delicate joy that it is. Tobi is not a mutant; he is human, with all of the successes and tragedies that come along with it. (Available now on iTunes)
Narrative and character stresses aside, Stewart is the gravity that holds this film in orbit. Without him, I may have missed out on some of Belber’s themes that are actually quite poignant and emotionally resonant. Luckily, the director found the right leading man to steer. In his aged, sensitive persona we see a kind of power that is far greater than anything Prof. X does with his mutant abilities. But that is what makes Match the delicate joy that it is. Tobi is not a mutant; he is human, with all of the successes and tragedies that come along with it. (Available now on iTunes)