The Treatment
The Treatment *1/2
Directed by Oren Rudavsky
Written by Oren Rudavsky and Daniel Saul Housman, based on the novel by Daniel Menaker
Starring:
Chris Eigeman as Jake Singer
Ian Holm as Dr. Ernesto Morales
Famke Janssen as Allegra Marshall
Stephanie March as Julia
Peter Vack as Ted
Roger Rees as Leighton Proctor
Stephen Lang as Coach Galgano
Lindsay Johnson as Walter Cooper
86 Minutes(Not Rated-Sexual Content/References, Language, Brief Violence).
------------------------------------------
"The Treatment" is a pointless and tedious indie comedy that made it's appearance at last years Tribeca Film Festival, and managed to win the "Best Filmed In New York City Award." How it got away with that is a mystery, as the words "Treatment" and "Best' should not even be in the same paragraph let along a sentence. Complete with pretty awful acting and a script that doesn't know if it is a love story or a Freudian satire, this is an indie comedy tried and true. With not a large budget to boast, and no real big names to splash on the adverts, this is the type of film that could be a success only through the script and through characters, and Oren Rudavsky manages to tell a muddled story that does not need to be told at all, with very one dimensional characters that have no room to breathe in the short short running time. There is perhaps on decent thing about this film and that is Ian Holm, who single handily saves "The Treatment" was being a complete waste of my time.
"The Treatment" stars Chris Eigeman as Jake Singer, an English teacher living in New York City. Jake has recently lost his girlfriend Julia, and after a chance meeting in the city he is horrified to discover that she is getting married. He had somewhat hoped that one day they could get back together. He tells his shrink, the Argentinian Dr. Ernesto Morales who never seems to help Jake, but instead wants to constantly talk about his dead mother, or the positions of sexual intercourse that he wishes he were having. Everything changes when Jake meets Allegra, a young mother whose husband has just died leaving her plans to legally adopt her "daughter" Emily difficult to sought out. Jake is instantly attracted to Allegra, only to find that his doctor soon makes his life into a walking therapy session. He can't go anywhere without his doctor popping up somewhere (all in his mind, of course) and analysing every single move he makes, making this new found relationship and happiness for Jake very difficult.
It's hard not to notice the sitcom feel that "The Treatment" has, and the script is easily padded into the short 86 minute running time. The film is probably a love story at heart, but the scenes with the doctor popping up everywhere seemed pointless and did not really work, which is a problem when that is the entire gimmick to the film. The relationship between Jake and Allegra seems forced and there is little chemistry between the two actors, and even more little for the actors to work with. Everyone is just so stale and wooden. Chris Eigeman makes it easy to see why he has basically done nothing in the past, and Famke Jannson, although she does have this quiet beauty constantly surrounding her, seems disinterested and in another world. Even the character of the doctor is one dimensional and not fleshed out enough, although Ian Holm manages to make the best out of a badly written character. Holm is hilarious, and manages to just sit there in a certain manner with his glasses on a certain way, pressing his head into his body to give off the appearance that he has no neck-almost impish. Holm made me laugh whenever he was on the screen, but its clear that none of the humor from his character came from Rudavsky's pen.
One factor that I could admire from the film, aside from Holm's performance, is a scene involving an orphanage. A side premise is that Jannson's character wishes to adopt a young girl, Emily. The problem is that Emily needs two parents to adopt her and the fact that the husband half died a few months ago, Allegra is too scared to admit that to the adoption people. She just lies about him being alive. One scene has Jake in the house with the maid having misunderstood and telling the adoption agent that he is the husband. What could have been a one joke scene taken directly from a sitcom (and I could think of about five off the top of my head that have done such a conflict), turns into something more emotional and real. At the start of the scene I did roll my eyes, but by the end I was secretly impressed by how that little bit was handled. At least something good came from this. "The Treatment" is a useless exercise in indie film making-a somewhat quirky love story that feels forced from the animated opening credits. Perhaps if you're an Ian Holm fan it is worth seeing, but not until there is a video-this has no big screen value whatsoever.
Directed by Oren Rudavsky
Written by Oren Rudavsky and Daniel Saul Housman, based on the novel by Daniel Menaker
Starring:
Chris Eigeman as Jake Singer
Ian Holm as Dr. Ernesto Morales
Famke Janssen as Allegra Marshall
Stephanie March as Julia
Peter Vack as Ted
Roger Rees as Leighton Proctor
Stephen Lang as Coach Galgano
Lindsay Johnson as Walter Cooper
86 Minutes(Not Rated-Sexual Content/References, Language, Brief Violence).
------------------------------------------
"The Treatment" is a pointless and tedious indie comedy that made it's appearance at last years Tribeca Film Festival, and managed to win the "Best Filmed In New York City Award." How it got away with that is a mystery, as the words "Treatment" and "Best' should not even be in the same paragraph let along a sentence. Complete with pretty awful acting and a script that doesn't know if it is a love story or a Freudian satire, this is an indie comedy tried and true. With not a large budget to boast, and no real big names to splash on the adverts, this is the type of film that could be a success only through the script and through characters, and Oren Rudavsky manages to tell a muddled story that does not need to be told at all, with very one dimensional characters that have no room to breathe in the short short running time. There is perhaps on decent thing about this film and that is Ian Holm, who single handily saves "The Treatment" was being a complete waste of my time.
"The Treatment" stars Chris Eigeman as Jake Singer, an English teacher living in New York City. Jake has recently lost his girlfriend Julia, and after a chance meeting in the city he is horrified to discover that she is getting married. He had somewhat hoped that one day they could get back together. He tells his shrink, the Argentinian Dr. Ernesto Morales who never seems to help Jake, but instead wants to constantly talk about his dead mother, or the positions of sexual intercourse that he wishes he were having. Everything changes when Jake meets Allegra, a young mother whose husband has just died leaving her plans to legally adopt her "daughter" Emily difficult to sought out. Jake is instantly attracted to Allegra, only to find that his doctor soon makes his life into a walking therapy session. He can't go anywhere without his doctor popping up somewhere (all in his mind, of course) and analysing every single move he makes, making this new found relationship and happiness for Jake very difficult.
It's hard not to notice the sitcom feel that "The Treatment" has, and the script is easily padded into the short 86 minute running time. The film is probably a love story at heart, but the scenes with the doctor popping up everywhere seemed pointless and did not really work, which is a problem when that is the entire gimmick to the film. The relationship between Jake and Allegra seems forced and there is little chemistry between the two actors, and even more little for the actors to work with. Everyone is just so stale and wooden. Chris Eigeman makes it easy to see why he has basically done nothing in the past, and Famke Jannson, although she does have this quiet beauty constantly surrounding her, seems disinterested and in another world. Even the character of the doctor is one dimensional and not fleshed out enough, although Ian Holm manages to make the best out of a badly written character. Holm is hilarious, and manages to just sit there in a certain manner with his glasses on a certain way, pressing his head into his body to give off the appearance that he has no neck-almost impish. Holm made me laugh whenever he was on the screen, but its clear that none of the humor from his character came from Rudavsky's pen.
One factor that I could admire from the film, aside from Holm's performance, is a scene involving an orphanage. A side premise is that Jannson's character wishes to adopt a young girl, Emily. The problem is that Emily needs two parents to adopt her and the fact that the husband half died a few months ago, Allegra is too scared to admit that to the adoption people. She just lies about him being alive. One scene has Jake in the house with the maid having misunderstood and telling the adoption agent that he is the husband. What could have been a one joke scene taken directly from a sitcom (and I could think of about five off the top of my head that have done such a conflict), turns into something more emotional and real. At the start of the scene I did roll my eyes, but by the end I was secretly impressed by how that little bit was handled. At least something good came from this. "The Treatment" is a useless exercise in indie film making-a somewhat quirky love story that feels forced from the animated opening credits. Perhaps if you're an Ian Holm fan it is worth seeing, but not until there is a video-this has no big screen value whatsoever.
posted by Eric at
11:57 PM
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