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Last summer, director Randall Miller’s .php>Bottle Shock made its way to our local indie theater. It was a light and refreshing underdog story—nothing spectacular, but I enjoyed it anyway. And when I sat down to watch Miller’s earlier film, Nobel Son, on DVD, I was expecting more of the same—something light and fluffy and entertaining. But I was in for a big surprise.
Thanks to a rather disturbing opening scene, it took approximately 30 seconds for me to realize that Nobel Son isn’t another Bottle Shock. It’s darker and stranger and a grittier—and it’s a whole lot of twisted fun.
Bryan Greenberg stars as Barkley Michaelson, a starving student who’s struggling to finish his doctoral dissertation on cannibalism. But as Barkley toils day and night (with no end in sight), his pretentious, egotistical, womanizing father, Eli (Alan Rickman), is at the top of his game—and he’s just days away from receiving the Nobel Prize for chemistry.
After a wild night with eccentric poet City Hall (Eliza Dushku), Barkley rushes home to try to catch the flight to Stockholm with his parents. But instead of grabbing his bags and hurrying off to the airport, he’s attacked in the living room and kidnapped by Thaddeus James (Shawn Hatosy), a young man who has a serious grudge against Eli.
At first, Eli thinks it’s all a joke—and he ignores the so-called kidnapper’s demands for $2 million in ransom money. But when Barkley’s thumb arrives at their hotel in Stockholm, Eli and his wife, Sarah (Mary Steenburgen), decide to cut their trip short.
Nobel Son isn’t a light and fluffy film. It’s dark and twisted. It’s violent and irreverent. And, as such, it’s certainly not for everyone. Anyone with a weak stomach should probably stay away—as should anyone who doesn’t see the humor in a bunch of angsty poets sitting around reading poems with titles like “Death by Drano.” But it’s also wonderfully, devilishly clever—a pitch-black caper comedy that speeds along from one carefully-concocted scheme to the next until, in the end, everyone gets exactly what he or she deserves. It may not be a flawless story—and there are a few holes in the plot—but it’s definitely a gripping adventure.
As always, Rickman steals the show as the painfully pompous Eli. In fact, no one else could play the character with quite the same panache. In the hands of a lesser actor, such a self-centered, egotistical character—one who, for instance, is completely put out by his son’s kidnapping—would be completely despicable. Rickman, however, makes him absolutely vile and loathsome—in the most delightful and entertaining of ways. You’ll hate him, but you’ll love watching him, too. At the same time, though, Nobel Son isn’t all about Rickman. The rest of the cast is just as entertaining—from Mary Steenburgen as the sweet but highly protective Sarah to Danny DeVito, who plays the Michaelsons’ recovering obsessive-compulsive tenant, George.
Still, despite its wicked sense of humor and its stellar cast, Nobel Son wouldn’t have been the same movie without its brilliant Paul Oakenfold score. The driving, pounding dance beats set the atmosphere and build the tension, turning an entertaining caper into a dark, dynamic thrill-ride.
So while Nobel Son definitely isn’t a wide-release kind of film, it’s a deliciously devious little gem that’s well worth tracking down on DVD.
