Posted: 09/22/2011

The Ledge

(2011)

by Joe Sanders

Available on DVD and Blu-Ray from IFC Films on September 27th

The Ledge opens with Gavin (Charlie Hunnam), a hotel manager, climbing the stairs to the roof of a tall building before making his way out onto the ledge as if he’s going to jump. Soon, the police are notified and Hollis (Terrence Howard), who specializes in talking jumpers down, is put on the case. It doesn’t take long for Hollis to discover that Gavin isn’t about to commit suicide because he wants to; someone is forcing him to do this against his will. This is the “Terrific, High Concept Set-up” the front of the DVD case promises before we go back in time to see how Gavin got to this point in his life. Of course, there’s a woman (Shana, played by Liv Tyler), who has just moved into Gavin’s building with her husband Joe (Patrick Wilson). Shana gets a job working at Gavin’s hotel and the two begin to grow closer as a heated affair develops between them.

Now, the hook for this movie is great. The whole beginning sequence does a lot to grab the audience’s attention, but the movie doesn’t keep any secrets from its viewer. The trailer gives away practically every plot point of the movie, and is way more spoiler-filled than the above paragraph. Keeping the audience in the loop, and telling them secrets, and playing with that dramatic irony is one thing. But the movie has a deeper problem in that it doesn’t effectively keep secrets from the other characters. Hollis very quickly figures out that Gavin’s on the ledge against his will. Joe very quickly figures out that his wife is planning to have an affair. And yet, no one in the movie seems to be able to figure out that Joe is the one forcing Gavin to kill himself; even though it’s apparent to the audience from very early on.

Joe is an archetype, whose dedication to his faith goes to an extreme and near unbelievable level. We’re meant to view him as the villain of the film very early on, which doesn’t help create a very interesting on-screen dynamic between him and Gavin. Gavin helps by not being charming and likeable all the time. As an atheist, he is a very cynical and arrogant atheist, who delights in arguing the ridiculousness of Joe’s faith. So, the film manages to cast atheism and Christianity in equally negative lights.

Beyond these confrontational debate scenes with Joe, Gavin remains a fairly likeable character throughout the film. And even the moments where he gets manipulative (the way he tries to subliminally seduce Shana comes to mind) serve to humanize him and complicate his character wants in some effective ways. However, while the character is good, Charlie Hunnam’s performance has some distinct high and low points. The scenes at his hotel, the scenes between him and Hollis, and even the scenes where he’s debating with Joe feel very fluid and genuine, but when he has a one-on-one scene with Liv Tyler, it almost feels like he has never experienced the range of emotions necessary to make these moments believable.

Liv Tyler, unfortunately, doesn’t help much either. The role is about as perfect a Liv Tyler role as one might imagine (for the most part). She strives to not display any emotion in order to avoid standing out, or in any way upset her eccentric husband. But, in the scenes where she’s supposed to open up and have her free-spirited affair with Gavin, we’re reminded that we’re still watching a typically bland Liv Tyler performance.

The best performance here definitely goes to Terrence Howard, whose portrayal of Hollis is fantastic. Hollis has a lot going on in his own life when he gets the call about Gavin’s jump. He’s not in the mindset to try to talk someone off a ledge when he feels ready to jump right behind him, but he sucks it up and tries his best to help Gavin. Howard doesn’t get nearly enough screen time, which is a serious detriment to how effective the character is in the film. There are long periods of time where we’re getting Gavin and Shana’s story and we don’t see Hollis. Occasionally, these gaps between the ledge scenes are so long that when we come back to Gavin and Hollis on the roof, we have forgotten what’s going on with Hollis’ character arc. This could have been easily fixed with just a couple of more Hollis scenes in the film.

It’s interesting how the film feels like a play. It has a small cast, and is basically comprised completely of small, intimate scenes between two or three characters. The only thing that would keep this from working well on stage is the number of scenes. So, the juxtaposition between the theatrical and the cinematic creates a nice tone and a relaxed pace for this story.

Special features are limited to some interviews with the cast and crew, and while there are some visually enticing settings here, spending the extra money on a Blu-ray copy of The Ledge is probably unnecessary.

Joe Sanders is a playwright and college instructor in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He has a Master’s degree in playwriting and a Bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Western Michigan University, where he currently teaches Thought and Writing.

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