Once a stagehand for Mr. Rogers, Michael Keaton has grown into one of the most versatile of movie actors. Now, he makes his full-length directorial debut in "The Merry Gentleman," a seamless step from in front of the camera to behind it. Actually, Keaton is in both places, and he’s equally terrific as actor and director.
Ron Lazzerotti’s low-key, intelligent, moody screenplay involves Keaton as Frank Logan, a hired killer whose day job is as a tailor making custom suits and shirts in a high-end Chicago clothing store.
And then there’s Kate (Kelly Macdonald) the Glasgow-born actress with the soft, charming brogue. She has left a policeman-husband who beats her, and travels to Chicago, where she takes a small job and lives in a small flat, very much alone in both segments of her day. This is a soft side of Chicago, an anonymous city without the glitz or glamor that would make it instantly identifiable.
Frank sees Kate while he’s on a job one night. He’s on a roof-top, a rifle mashed against his face, its scope roaming through the windows of a building across the street when he sees her standing at a window. She leaves work, looks up joyously when she sees snow (we’re in the Christmas season, as the title indicates) and sees him, inexplicably standing and teetering atop a low wall on the edge of the roof. She screams. Someone calls the police.
Detectives Dave Murcheson (Tom Bastournes) and Billy Goldman (Guy van Swearingen) are two more of the multi-layered characters Lazzerotti brings to "The Merry Gentleman." Murcheson is battling a drinking habit and an obviously painful divorce. Goldman, who wears an extremely unauspicious yarmulke, is calm and soft-spoken, but there is depth to both men, even if we never plumb it. Bastounes, by the way, got his part by being a major investor; he’s a Chicago produce dealer who had some experience with a Second City troupe years ago. His stumbling advances to Kate are heart-wrenchingly wonderful, as are Keaton’s, who also would like to woo the shy, frightened girl. And Macdonald offers a superior interpretation of a woman struggling with the after-effects of an abusive relationship, but willing to try again. She’s remarkable.
Their slow circling of their target leads Keaton and Bastounes into a slow dance of realization.
A small, low-budget film,"The Merry Gentleman" is an outstanding piece of work by all hands, and is highly recommended.
At the Plaza Frontenac.
-Joe