Crossing Over Review
Posted by Chad Webb on 03.11.2009
Required viewing for anyone thinking of entering the US illegally.
Harrison Ford: Max Brogan
Ray Liotta: Cole Frankel
Ashley Judd: Denise Frankel
Jim Sturgess: Gavin Kossef
Cliff Curtis: Hamid Baraheri
Alice Eve: Claire Shepard
Summer Bishil: Taslima Jahangir
Written/Directed By: Wayne Kramer
Release Date: February 27, 2009
Running Time: 1 hour and 54 minutes
Rated R for pervasive language, some strong violence and sexuality/nudity.
Award-winning and critically acclaimed efforts like Crash, Babel and Syriana have now set the bar very high for all future hyperlink offerings. Those films have covered a lot of ground in regard to controversial themes, enthralling storylines, and opposing cultures. More and more, these films will have trouble with distribution, box office gross, or will simply go straight to DVD unless they strive for creativity. Crossing Over is the latest interweaving character drama, and while it packs a strong emotional punch, it suffers mainly because of its timing. Had it been made 2 years ago, the reception might have been different.
The film focuses on four central stories and the various tangents which are connected to them. The main one is on Max Brogan (Harrison Ford), an immigrant police officer, who tends to be more sympathetic to those he arrests. One woman’s plight gets to him. She wants her son to be escorted to Mexico so he won’t be alone in Los Angeles. He initially refuses, but ends up returning to pick the child up. After the mother is deported however, she disappears. Max’s partner, Hamid (Cliff Curtis), has a problem in his traditional Iranian family. His father is about obtain citizenship, but his sister is embarrassing the family by the way she dresses. Claire Shepard (Alice Eve) is an Australian girl who is willing to do just about anything to stay in the United States. This includes buying fake documentation, and conceding sex to Cole Frankel (Ray Liotta), an immigration processor. Cole’s wife, Denise (Ashley Judd), is a lawyer representing Taslima Jahangir, a 15 year old facing deportation because she is a security risk. She wrote a school paper that was misunderstood as an approval for the actions of the 9/11 terrorists. Smaller plots include a Korean gang member and a young Jew attempting to find a job using a faith he does not believe in.
The tale of how Crossing Over eventually made it into theaters is almost as intriguing as the film itself. It is based on a short film Writer/Director Wayne Kramer made early in his career because he is an immigrant from South Africa. The movie was shot in 2007, but ended up enduring extensive re-editing for two reasons. The first was objections from some its actors, specifically Harrison Ford and Sean Penn, and the latter’s sub-plot was re-written and deleted completely. This was due to anger over the Iranian related segment, which then had to be altered. In addition, Kramer’s cut was 140 minutes long, which is obviously over the 2 hour mark, catching the attention of Harvey Weinstein, who forced Kramer to shorten it, or the film would be going Direct-to-DVD.
Although Crossing Over deals with immigration and not racism, it seems to touch on the exact same areas as Crash, and because of this it strikes one as its red-headed stepchild, and much of the material is rendered heavy-handed and contrived. The Iranian family saga is the primary example. The manner with which that pathway converges and concludes is a bit labored, and could seriously induce eye-rolls. Despite an admirable performance from Cliff Curtis as Hamid, his entire involvement in the film is weak and vague. In one scene he confronts a young Korean robber, and gives him an overly long spiel on the importance of taking the citizenship oath, while sirens can clearly be heard in the background.
Harrison Ford is given the most screen time, but the strength of his portrayal does not match the feebleness of the character. Max Brogan is an immigration cop that spends nearly all of his waking hours, even those off-duty, checking in on certain people he has arrested or helped detain. While this is certainly an honorable persona, accepting Brogan as even close to realistic is a bit of a stretch. Still, his selfless acts, convincing or not, were acutely played by Ford. Ray Liotta is a typical sleaze-bag as Cole Frankel, a man who cheats on his wife and commits fraud just for the endless access to a hot blonde. Liotta is average at best here, and the scummy part reminds viewers of the majority of his recent work. That blonde is Alice Eve, and her scenes will undoubtedly please the male audience. She gives a healthy turn as the aspiring actress Claire.
Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) shows the world he can sing once again as a Jewish man who is atheist, but wants to use the religion as a means to find permanent employment and a green card. Sturgess is a commendable talent despite his Casanova like gazes, and his storyline was thought-provoking and gripping. Summer Bishil is outstanding as Taslima Jahangir, a strenuous part to depict, but it displays the young girl’s guts. The character’s honesty in front of the classroom brings firm consequences, yet expresses the undeniable fear of this society. Another small digression includes a sweet African toddler who cannot seem to find any adopted parents. This served solely as a way to introduce Denise Frankel, but it was kind-hearted nonetheless.
What separates this from Wayne Kramer’s previous work is the lack of style and individuality. The Cooler and the vastly underrated Running Scared exposed Kramer’s sense of brilliantly exaggerated pacing and visual power. Crossing Over is dealt deep blows that revolve around the script, which uses coincidence and irony to communicate its message, but does so with a lack of subtlety and distinctiveness. The fact that Kramer does not limit the connecting storylines to only the obvious ethnicities such as those of Middle Eastern and Hispanic descents does augment its universal impact however. A fine line exists between compelling storytelling and ham-fisted intentions. At times, Crossing Over locates that balance deftly, but it forgets proper character development in a few of the longer sections. The problem lies in the fact that The Visitor accomplished the basic moral of Crossing Over, but did so in a more authentic fashion.
Kramer's film broadens the scope of the immigration system, and covers the border patrols, document fraud, the asylum and green card process, work-site enforcement, naturalization, the office of counter terrorism, and the clash of cultures. That is a tall order, and perhaps confining those topics to just two or three, instead of trying to reach all of them, would have been wiser. Unfortunately the message overshadows the character and story thoroughness, and while I generally enjoy what hyperlink cinema brings to the table, one cannot deny that Crossing Over is clumsy. Wayne Kramer is a fine filmmaker, but this is not an effort he should be proud of, and while its journey to the big screen was arduous, and the absence of Sean Penn hurt, the fault rests with a distracted screenplay.
The 411: Amazingly, this was given a limited release, mostly due to the inclusion of Harrison Ford, whose efforts usually do not go DTV. Writer/Director Wayne Kramer achieves some poignant sequences in Crossing Over, but the screenplay suffers from echoing Crash, yet lacking its character development. Despite an overall strong group of performances, Crossing Over enters the hyperlink genre much too late in the game and without anything overly fresh to offer. While its glimpse at the broken qualities of the immigration system was eye-opening, other films achieved similar messages using subtler methods. I respect this movie, but would not recommend it for anything above a rental fee.
