Hierarchy (2009)

Director:

Michael Fredianelli

Writer:

Michael Fredianelli (written by)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

When life gets tough just give up

Plot Keywords:

Cameo Appearance | Singing | Lawyer | Bum | Female Nudity

Cast

Anthony Spears	...	Roy Hudgins
Maggie VandenBerghe	...	Jill Hudgins
Brian Gallegos	...	Greg Hudgins
Ronald Kaplan	...	Huntington Hudgins
Michael Fredianelli	...	Jeff Carrow
Lillie Morrisson	...	Faye Carrow
Eric Andersen	...	Sean Ireland
Monika Mercedes	...	Pam Russell
Yong-Sung Leal	...	Nick Williams
Catherine David	...	Cathy Hudgins
James Soderborg	...	Rick
Tim Jahn	...	Homeless Man
Brett Halsey	...	Father Mulligan (as Montgomery Ford)
Rusty Meyers	...	Martin Page
Molinee Green	...	Starla

Runtime:

USA:125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Costa Mesa, California, USA

Company:

Wild Dogs Productions

Quotes:

Martin Page: Tom Hanks, man... Tom Hanks.

Movie Connections:

References Twilight (2008/I)

Hierarchy

Mr. Fredianelli surprised me with this unexpected work, which I liked a lot. There's none of the usual material that made former Fredianelli's works a success among his selected audience (no crazy car chases, no physical violence, no final shootouts…) and this is really brave. Besides, the film is not even a comedy (see: "Bird in a bush) but it is a serious attempt to look inside the lives and hearts of a small group of people. And it achieves most of it. The use of professional or semi professional actors made a big difference, to begin with: I really liked most of them, starting with Mr Spear who plays a troubled young man. They all give realistic performances, and most of the characters were complex too. Mr Fredianelli wears the clothes of a young executive producer who little by little turns from your average John Cusack rom-com dude to a three-dimensional bastard. The different stories are all equally interesting and you find yourself involved in the daily struggle of most of the characters, even the unpleasant ones. I like how the movie starts with a very dramatic note (a visit to a prostitute) and then turns into almost a comedy (the young, good looking writer and her debut in cinema) to leave all the predictable developments (read: romantic subplots) and follow the single persons' stories. Fredianelli tries to make the story (or should I say the stories?) "exemplar" by introducing the character of a hobo whose pathetic figure comes out here and there as a symbolic commentary. At some point our hobo (who, by the way, is not performed by Mr Stielstra) meets with Fredianelli's character: a brilliant idea. The most detestable character of the film is … but I don't want to spoil the film now so let's go to the small list of complaints. I would have done without the graphic sex scenes because they were not really useful: or maybe it's just because I'm an old woman, or maybe both. The catholic priest scene is very funny, well written and performed but, unfortunately, it's not at all realistic: I fear that Catholic Church has more complicated and subtle ways to explicate its power. The stories don't develop at the same pace: at some point we miss our hero for a long time. Technically the film is an incredible improvement on both sound and visuals: and also the musical selection is very accurate and intelligent (those romantic, old fashioned song at the end are just perfect). Too bad for the close ups and some conversation scenes that sometimes aren't as skillful and as "artistic" as one would expect, also considering the good acting. And… "Hierarchy" is a very good title: only I couldn't understand what it's got to do with the film. What I really liked in Mr Fredianelli's film was that, after watching it, I kept thinking about it and going back to certain scenes and dialogs. There's a lot of philosophical material, and I'm a sucker for that stuff as long as it's sincere and not pretentious. And this is another plus for this film: it's not pretentious at all. Just think about all the criticism against creative or supposedly creative people that comes out in the end: that was very brave too, considering that Mr. Fredianelli is a creative person himself. I really hope that Mr Fredianelli will make more films in this direction: more personal but also with an interesting look at some part of society. Bravo Mike!