Shade (2003)

I’m surprised that this film has not received any kudos, or even any slings and arrows, but the time is well past to right that oversight: Shade is a phenomenal movie, an excellent con/caper/gambling film that deserves a much larger audience than its direct-to-video release would seem to warrant.

First time director/screenwriter Damian Nieman did a masterful job of setting up the scenes and used his ensemble cast with a sure hand in this compelling drama of high stakes poker and players who are not always what they seem. To his credit, Nieman kept the subject light, with only a few hints of the darkness that always exists in the twilight world inhabited by the characters.

As people that live outside the pale of respectability, grifters, con artists, illegal gamblers and other scammers make for interesting characters almost guaranteed to rope an audience into watching a film about their shenanigans. In this case, a superb cast was assembled, not always from the top box office draws, but nonetheless, very accomplished character actors that managed to put a few over on each other and the viewer before they were through. Sylvester Stallone (Tango & Cash), Gabriel Byrne (Assault on Precinct 13), Stuart Townsend (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), Jamie Foxx (Collateral), with such sterling support as Bo Hopkins (The Wild Bunch, The Killer Elite), Hal Holbrook (Wall Street), Thandie Newton (Mission Impossible II), Roger G. Smith (Deep Cover), and Melanie Griffith (Bonfire of the Vanities), as well as several more familiar faces. All of the characters do excellent work and are memorable in their performances.

The plot is similar to The Hustler or The Gunfighter, where a young buck wants to knock off the leader of the pack, in this case played by Sly Stallone as “The Dean,” the smartest card mechanic in history. The young guy is well played by Stuart Townsend, who plays his part with a nice amount of depth, backed by his two “stakehorses” Gabriel Byrne and Thandie Newton.

Townsend, a phenomenal card sharp, is going to beat Stallone, the old master, at his own game. Leading up to this big game we have an interesting inside view of some con jobs and swindles and are fooled a few times ourselves. Jamie Foxx plays a red hot poker player who realizes too late that it’s not wise to gamble with the boss’s money, while Byrne, Newton, and Townsend are on the receiving end of the boss’s ire. In order to pay the big guy back, they have to pull off the swindle of their career or disappear before he catches them – or they will really disappear. I want to leave the rest of the story to your viewing pleasure so you will be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

Director Damian Nieman shot the film with assurance and performed the card manipulations shown in the opening credits. He also taught actors Stallone and Townsend how to convincingly manipulate cards for their own performances. The production design by Gregory Van Holm (Vanilla Sky) was well thought out. The cinematography, by Anthony B. Richmond (Men of Honor), is rich, well done, and stylish and the music, by a duo of composers enhanced the viewing experience. The stutter editing was a little disconcerting until I realized it was intentional, then it was all right, although I like old fashioned techniques just fine.

The Warner Bros. DVD is presented in 2.35:1 aspect and runs 102 minutes. There are a couple of very informative and quite lengthy featurettes, a full-length commentary with the director, Damian Nieman and actor Stuart Townsend, and interviews with the actors included as extras, as well as French subtitles - altogether a very good DVD package. For you poker players, Nieman did acknowledge he broke some of the conventions of high stakes poker but did it to keep the dramatic tension going, so if you are a purist you may not like the poker scenes.

Despite the fact that Shade did not get a lot of press when it was first released to the public, this is an underrated film that will appeal to most viewers, especially those interested in confidence games, criminal activity, gambling, and drama. I found it a welcome surprise and one of the best DVDs I’ve seen this year.

For more information about confidence games, I recommend viewing -

House of Games

Matchstick Men

The Sting

The Grifters

Paper Moon

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening