The Gingerbread Man

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Movie
German title The Gingerbread Man
Original title The Gingerbread Man
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1998
length 107 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Robert Altman
script Clyde Hayes
production Todd R. Baker ,
Mark Burg ,
Jeremy Tannenbaum ,
Glen Tobias
music Mark Isham
camera Gu Changwei
cut Geraldine Peroni
occupation

The Gingerbread Man (alternative title: Gingerbread Man - A nocturnal affair and Gingerbread Man - Dangerous dreams , original title: The Gingerbread Man ) is an American thriller from 1998 . Directed by Robert Altman , the screenplay was written by Clyde Hayes based on a story by John Grisham . The main roles are played by Kenneth Branagh and Embeth Davidtz .

action

Divorced attorney Rick Magruder lives and works in Savannah , Georgia . After a party, he meets the waitress Mallory Doss, who claims her car has just been stolen. He drives her home and spends the night with her. The next day he drives to her house again and finds Mallory's house cat hanged there. Back at the office he learns that Mallory is already waiting for him. She asks for legal assistance because her father Dixon Doss threatens her.

The private detective Clyde Pell, who works for Rick, already knows Dixon Doss and thinks he is insane. Doss is admitted to a psychiatric clinic by court order, with the testimony of Mallory's alleged ex-husband, ship's captain Pete Randle, being decisive. Mallory Doss and Rick Magruder begin a relationship. Mallory talks about her childhood, when her father often wanted to scare her. He had her cruel stories told, including one on a gingerbread man (Man Gingerbread), which had been eaten by a fox.

Friends of Dixon free the old man from the clinic. When Mallory and Rick are playing with Rick's children in a park, someone is watching and photographing them. Later, a photo of Mallory with her eyes cut out is thrown into the mail slot in Rick's apartment and her car is set on fire. Magruder turns to the police, but they refuse to help on flimsy excuses, probably also because Magruder had defended numerous criminals in the past.

Soon after, photos of Rick's children with their faces cut out emerge. Rick picks up his kids from school and takes them to a motel. While he is on the phone briefly with his ex-wife, they are kidnapped. The lawyer thinks Dixon is the kidnapper and drives Mallory to his remote farm. Dixon threatens Rick with a shotgun and tells him to leave his property. Both shoot, Rick fatally hits Dixon. A car drives away. Mallory yells that Dixon's friends took Rick's kids in the car. Rick chases the vehicle, and the police, who have now been informed, stop it. The children are not in it. Rick is informed that his children are safe and that they have been taken to the police station. It is like that too. When the children's mother arrives there, she threatens Rick that he will not see his children again, whom she believes he has put in great danger.

When Rick and the cops return to the farm, the farm is on fire. Mallory says Dixon's friends set it on fire. The next day, the police found Dixon's charred will there, of which only the front page was legible. Rick is now facing criminal prosecution and disqualification from the profession for killing Dixon Doss. The attorney, having grown suspicious, then investigates and finds out that the property includes a forest with rare trees, the timber of which is worth several million US dollars. Mallory is judged to be the administrator of the estate. When Rick asked whether she knew the value of the trees, she indignantly replied that she neither needed nor wanted the inheritance. When Rick learns from Clyde Pell that he found out that Mallory and Randle are still married, they both set a trap for Mallory. Pell watches Mallory's house while Rick calls her and tells her they've found a copy of the will that says she won't inherit anything. Mallory hangs up without a word as Pell watches Pete Randle approach Mallory's house.

Rick is informed by a colleague of his law firm that a will has now been found that states that Mallory is the sole heir. Rick then goes to Mallory's house, but meets no one and drives to Pete Randle's boat dock. He finds Pell's body on board the ship. There is a fight between Rick and Randle. Mallory fires a flare gun from the bridge and kills her husband. She assures Rick that she shot to defend him. Rick pretends to reload the gun and then hands it back to her. Mallory raises the gun, aims at Rick, and pulls the trigger. However, Rick was deliberately bluffing.

Rick's attorney, a colleague from his practice, tries to get him to challenge the deal negotiated with the prosecutor, which provides for a suspended sentence and a life-long professional ban, and to lead a lawsuit. After all, it can be proven that he was tricked. However, Rick only thinks it is time for him to lose once after almost only winning trials. He'll accept the punishment. His last glance falls on Mallory, who is just being led away from a room in the courthouse in prison clothes and under guard.

criticism

Jack Mathews wrote in the Los Angeles Times on January 23, 1998 that if there was a film god he would not let Robert Altman make a story of John Grisham. Embeth Davidtz has the most complex role that she plays well.

Jonathan Rosenbaum criticized in the Chicago Reader that the roles of Tom Berenger, Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall were too small. The film is lackluster , the styles of Altman and Grisham don't match. Rosenbaum wrote about the poor results of the test screenings, which would induce the producers to publish the director's original version after a new cut against Altman's will.

In her review of the film in the New York Times , Janet Maslin particularly praised the performance of Kenneth Branagh and the camera work by Gu Changwei , which made the film an "extraordinary and provocative" work.

Stephen Hunter judged the film in his criticism in the Washington Post as an overall rather mediocre film, but which is quite entertaining for the viewer.

backgrounds

The shooting took place in Georgia . The production cost of the film were about 25 million US dollars . It grossed around $ 1.5 million in US cinemas.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Film review by Jack Mathews
  2. ^ Film review by Jonathan Rosenbaum
  3. ↑ Lady-Killer Meets the Wrong Lady . In: New York Times , January 23, 1998. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  4. ↑ Altman's Tasty 'Gingerbread Man' . In: Washington Post , February 20, 1998. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  5. ↑ Filming locations in the IMDb
  6. ↑ IMDb