Although Tom Cruise has had opportunities to collaborate with some of the best filmmakers who bring out the non-action, drama-heavy side of him — the best of the actor within him has been brought out, most notably, by Paul Thomas Anderson, Oliver Stone, Ben Stiller, and Michael Mann — he has been, for a while, associated with a certain kind of cinema that, for some, watching anything else with him in it would bring up a sense of awkwardness. “Digger”, the new film with Alejandro G. Iñárritu, is awkward with a capital A.
But your definition of awkward would be different from mine. I'm okay with the most uncomfortable, awkward, patience-testing cinema. With a few exceptions, I have an extremely high tolerance for it. This is why sometimes my opinion of a film is the complete opposite of the majority. Take Nicolas Winding Refn's cinema, for example. Most of what he does is totally my jam. I could get caught up in the hypnotic pacing and atmosphere of his films, and that would suffice. However, I cannot expect everyone else to do the same. It can be frustrating to see someone not sharing your same viewpoint, but then, I take comfort in the knowledge that the world would be a boring place if everyone felt the same way about everything.
There is a reason for saying this. “Digger” has POLARISING written all over it. It's completely the opposite of what Tom Cruise has done in two decades, the last one being the repulsive, loud and foul-mouthed movie producer Les Grossman, from “Tropic Thunder”, and that was only a guest appearance — brilliant to the point of making me wish he had done a full-length movie as that character. “Digger” is, essentially, that wish coming true in a different way. He plays a stubborn, narcissistic billionaire speaking with a Southern drawl. It's a decidedly artificial performance, but that's the point. To reveal the reason would be a spoiler.
There is a reason for not just the performances, but also for many other elements encircling, enveloping, and physically interacting with this man to appear slightly artificial. The character has a bit of showmanship quality that recalls his roles in “Risky Business” (a teenager coming of age), “Magnolia” (toxic motivational guru), and, of course, Les Grossman.
Iñárritu opts for drained colours — greys, grey-greens, beige… a mostly sickly palette. After all, the man behind “Amores Perros” and “Bardo” (vastly underappreciated) depicts a world battling several ills, which include some of its human population, starting with its protagonist. This colour palette, along with suppressed contrast, may seem unappealing, but, again, there's a reason for these choices.
Those familiar with the films of Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson would know that this colour palette is a constant in his work. With pale faces, his characters appear like living corpses. Iñárritu may or may not have used Andersson as a reference point, but the similar creative choices — the reliance on the aforementioned colours, combined with unnatural sets, costumes, makeup and lighting — in “Digger” make complete sense when evaluating the context and themes it discusses.
The most thrown-around comparison I've heard is Stanley Kubrick's iconic 1964 anti-war satire, “Dr Strangelove”. Of course, Cruise channels his inner Peter Sellers quite a bit here, but that comparison, about the movie as a whole, would be slightly inaccurate and unfair. I would say we should consider more of Kubrick's inspiration, Preston Sturges — a filmmaker he famously adored. There is more of Sturges' rapid-fire screwball energy in “Digger” than in "Dr Strangelove".
And, of course, a bit of Howard Hawks — overlapping dialogues, manic body movements, well-timed entries and exits... Comedy happens everywhere — in loudness, in silence... John Goodman is an absolute riot as the President. A performance for the ages. It's his finest, most enjoyable work since Walter Sobchak in “The Big Lebowski”. I had this thought: What if Sobchack became President of the USA?
And Cruise's character, in particular, has this annoying habit of constantly interrupting another character without waiting for them to finish their lines. “His Girl Friday”, anyone? I'm not sure I was fully on board with the emotional and psychological reality of Cruise's character, but this man is without his fascinating qualities. In fact, I wouldn't accuse any of the characters in this film of being boring, especially Riz Ahmed's Nirav Ganesh, who earned the cheers from my fellow Malayali audiences after he tells the American General that he is originally from... Kerala! Ahmed is billed as the second lead in the credits.
There's another reason for thinking of Sturges more than anyone else, though. Although it has nothing to do with “Digger” in terms of storyline, Sturges' 1948 film, “Unfaithfully Yours,” immediately popped into my mind after “Digger” throws in a surprising plot twist that... alters the reality of what we have been watching up until that point.
Suffice to say, the film ventures into, at least, the territories of John Cassavetes, Charlie Kaufman, and even one of Iñárritu's films at this pivotal point, which makes us look at everything through a different lens.
But even when there is reality-shift happens, the film earns my admiration for not breaking the spell. You buy the illusion until it lasts and then you buy it again once it's reactivated, and the cycle is repeated. Even the end credits have us creating a certain narrative in our heads. That's certainly not something I've seen another film do. There is even an apt Cassavetes reference in the form of a poster in the protagonist's room. I use simply 'room' here because even mentioning the nature of this room is a spoiler.
Obviously, this means it's not the kind of movie you should be reading about on Wikipedia or on the page of some critic who gets sadistic pleasure out of revealing every key plot detail. This is absurd comedy at its most unhinged, at its most liberated. It's also the film that puts Iñárritu in proximity, at least in terms of its environment, with fellow Mexican auteur Alfonso Cuarón's “Children of Men”.
Film: Digger
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Cast: Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons
Rating: 3.5/5
