FREEDOMLAND / Joe Roth (2006)

February 8th, 2006 by Scott Marks

Julianne Moore & Samuel L. Jackson held captive in FREEDMOLAND (2006)

Freedomland (2006)

Directed by: Joe Roth

Written by: Richard Price

Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore, Edie Falco, Ron Eldard, William Forsythe, Aunjanue Ellis, Anthony Mackie, LaTanya Richardson, Clarke Peters, Peter Friedman, Domenick Lombardozzi, Aasif Mandvi, Philip Bosco, Fly Williams III, Portia

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

Running Time: 113 min.

Freedomland was written by Richard Price. He’s an old hand at this sort of tough, urban drama (Bloodbrothers, The Wanderers, Clockers), in addition to scripting one-and-a-third-and-a-quarter softer projects (The Color of Money, Life’s Lessons and the Michael Jackson music video Bad) for Mr. Scorsese.

Here is one time you’ll complain about Price reduction.

A disoriented white woman (Julianne Moore) stumbles out of a park and into a poor black neighborhood claiming to be a victim of a car-jacking. (Did someone order a Crash-lite?) Routinely tough-but-tender detective Samuel L. Jackson fields her account of an African American thug forcing her from the vehicle. As almost an afterthought, she informs Jackson that her four-year-old son is still in the car. In the grand tradition of Flight Plan, we spend a good chunk of the film trying to decide whether or not she’s certifiable and what, if anything, happened to the kid.

If only the real police worked as fast as Revolution Studio’s art department. Within minutes of the kid’s disappearance, colorful “Have You Seen This Child” fliers literally litter the streets. Joining Jackson on the hunt is Edie Falco playing a mother who heads up the local missing children’s watchdog group. Given the backstory concerning her character’s tragic loss of a child, I was flabbergasted by her selfish pleas with Moore to confess in order to “put my heart at rest.”

The title refers to an abandoned, and painfully metaphoric, foundling asylum that could not help but work better on the printed page. On screen, it resembles Berlin after the war and offers director Roth countless camera set-ups. Coming from the man who brought us Christmas with the Kranks, there is little surprise that the film attempts to establish suspense through hand-held camerawork and machine-gun edits.

If ever a film cried out for a low budget and a cast of relative newcomers in order to succeed, it’s this one. Instead, let’s once again trot out professional victim-for-hire Julianne Moore to emote her heart out. A superb actress, her patented suffering routine this time becomes insufferable. Even his Jedi affiliation can’t sour me against Sam Jackson. Technically, his line-readings (and cocked porkpie hat) are flawless, but is Sam conscious of the slop he’s spewing or was he struck dumb by all the zeros on his paycheck?

About ten minutes prior to the final fade, numerous false endings, including a prolonged confession scene to explain everything to character and audience alike, kick in. File this as another cobblestone in that well-intentioned road to hell.

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