BOULEVARD – The Review

I miss Robin Williams, Lord I how I miss that man.  I will never forget hearing that he had not only died but apparently by his own hand.  This comic genius who brought so much laughter and love to so many people suffered from severe depression.  And we lost him because of it, we lost so much.

Now here at last is the final piece of work on his resume, the final movie of Robin Williams. Is it a great movie?  Yes, absolutely!  Is it easy to watch? No, not at all. BOULEVARD is a movie with a deep well of sadness, a great epic sadness and loneliness that hangs over this movie and fills every frame like nothing I have ever seen.

Director Dito Montiel’s BOULEVARD is the kind of movie where every shot, every edit, camera angle and especially, every line of dialog and movement by every actor is important. Everything we witness is crucial to the story, there is no wasted time or space in BOULEVARD. Every actor in the story is on the same page and it shows.

Robin Williams is Nolan, an office drone in a bank who approves loans to home buyers.  A loan approved for a gay couple gets him thinking.  Nolan is married you see, to a lovely woman named Joy, brilliantly played by Kathy Baker (well, she is always brilliant!)  They don’t seem to have much of a marriage.  They sleep, not just in separate beds, but in separate bed rooms, they have no children.  They live in a huge house with hard wood floors, the kind of rooms that echo if there is any sound, rooms that stand empty and free of dust and are tastefully and elegantly furnished, but never seem to be lived in.

Joy does not seem to work, Nolan brings her coffee in her bedroom as she watches daytime television and reads current novels.  Nolan even cooks dinner for their best friend, Winston and his girlfriend, and takes care of the dishes afterwards.  Joy has one task, get a bottle of wine for dinner and she forgets that.   We find out that Joy does teach, three nights a week, English as a second language, but mostly she is home, alone.

Nolan and Joy seem to love each other but they don’t even sit on the same couch to watch television.  Nolan’s Father is dying and his Mother died some time ago. Nolan is obviously distressed about his Father but never talks to Joy, or anyone about the pain he is experiencing.

Coming home from the hospital, late one night, more or less by “accident”, Nolan stops to talk to a young male hustler, on the Boulevard where all the working girls and boys hustle for tricks to turn.

Nolan has a secret you see, like many people (it seems) Nolan is secretly, painfully gay, and has never done anything about it.  At first he only wants company from Leo (Roberto Aguire) the stud hustler he picks up.  He is free with his money and Leo is at first puzzled that sex doesn’t come into the equation, at least not right away.

Nolan gets between Leo and his pimp, a black eye that he has trouble explaining is the result. His wife Joy starts to notice changes in his routine, little lies, time away from home that doesn’t quite add up.  His friend Winston notices these changes too.  And, as it must, the truth comes out; there are many painful, hard to watch scenes among all the characters before the end credits roll.

Written by Douglas Soesbe, BOULEVARD ends on a hopeful note but is such a sad movie, I recommend it highly, but with a word of warning, this is not a good date movie.  This is not the Robin Williams of stand up fame.  This is the Robin Williams of AWAKENINGS, ONE HOUR PHOTO and WHAT DREAMS MAY COME.

Watching BOULEVARD you have to wonder how much of William’s performance is acting, and how much is real, the real, profound pain of someone suffering from severe, clinical depression.

I wish Robin Williams could have gone out on a comedic note, I wish he could have brought us laughter one more time instead of tears of loneliness and regret.  But as a last performance, a valedictory and a summing up and a farewell from a tremendously talented man who gave us all so much, few actors could have given us what we are witness to in BOULEVARD.  Farewell to Robin Williams, you were and are loved and will always be missed.

Four and a half out of five stars.

BOULEVARD is playing in NY at the Landmark Sunshine and will expand to Los Angeles and additional major markets in the following weeks.

Images Courtesy of Starz Digital