The Canyons

dvd of the week:

In this already infamous film, Lindsay Lohan is perfectly cast as Tara, a failed former model who is with a cruel man only for his money. She knows the dark side of Hollywood, and it seems that her travels through addiction, derision and being the object of creepy fascination have given her quite the ability to perform fear and desperation. There are at least three scenes – two toward the end – that she’s good enough to remind you why she was once thought to have such great potential as an actress. But playing her sinister boyfriend Christian is James Deen, a great actor in porn who is convincingly evil but not convincingly human; his line readings are rote, his timing stunted and his expressions thought through rather than authentically felt. The real problem with the film is Bret Easton Ellis’ screenplay, which feels like the first draft of a mediocre idea. Tara is the only character whose motivations make sense, and Christian just seems like American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman’s less interesting cousin. Lucky for everyone, the great Paul Schrader can shoot a movie, and he does, with one brilliantly framed, gorgeously lit image after another. As he did in the classic American Gigolo, Schrader’s ability to make beautiful what is rotting under the Los Angeles sun is revelatory.