Charlie Countryman

Charlie Countryman (originally titled The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman) is a 2013 American-Romanian romantic drama film directed by Fredrik Bond in his directorial debut, written by Matt Drake, and starring Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood and Mads Mikkelsen.

Charlie Countryman
Theatrical release poster
Directed byFredrik Bond
Produced byAlbert Berger
Ron Yerxa
Craig J. Flores
William Horberg
Written byMatt Drake
StarringShia LaBeouf
Evan Rachel Wood
Mads Mikkelsen
Rupert Grint
Vincent D'Onofrio
Melissa Leo
Music byChristophe Beck
Deadmono
CinematographyRoman Vasyanov
Edited byHughes Winborne
Production
company
Voltage Pictures
Picture Perfect Corporation
Bona Fide Production
Distributed byMillennium Entertainment
Release date
  • January 21, 2013 (2013-01-21) (Sundance)
  • November 15, 2013 (2013-11-15) (United States)
Running time
103 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
Romania
LanguageEnglish
Romanian
Box office$424,404[2]

The film premiered on January 21, 2013 at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and was screened in competition at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.[3] The film was released November 15, 2013 in the United States[4] was released on October 31, 2014 in the United Kingdom.[5]

Plot

Charlie Countryman, a man living in Chicago, is grieving over the death of his mother, Kate, at the hospital. While out in the hallway, he sees her ghost and asks her what he should do with his life. She tells him to go to Bucharest because she believes it seems right to do. Taking her advice, he complies. During the flight, he meets Victor, an elderly man sitting next to him, who is returning home to Bucharest after seeing a Cubbies game. Sometime during the plane ride, Victor dies, and Charlie interacts with his spirit, who asks him to deliver a gift intended for his daughter once he arrives in Bucharest.

At the airport, Charlie meets Victor's daughter, Gabi, with whom he falls instantly in love. After he gives her Victor's gift, they part. While in a taxi, he finds Gabi in her car on the side of the road. She tells him she can't keep up with the speeding ambulance containing her father's body, and he offers to help catch up to them. They nearly collide with the ambulance truck and it crashes, with Victor's body flying out of it. Gabi leaves with another ambulance to the hospital, leaving her car with Charlie. Charlie drives to the Bucharest opera house where Gabi performs as a cellist to deliver her instrument. Gabi calls her cell phone and instructs Charlie to look for a man named Bela, who has Charlie wait in an empty opera box. After later performing with the orchestra for a play, Gabi is confronted by her husband, Nigel. Gabi suddenly spots Charlie walking by, and Nigel notices and angrily questions him. Gabi lies that Charlie is a gay tuba player, after which Nigel leaves.

Charlie arrives at a hostel and meets his roommates, Karl and Luc. Charlie enters a bathroom while partying and encounters Nigel, who was waiting inside to seemingly apologize for his earlier behavior. After departing, Charlie goes outside and finds Gabi leaving the hostel after dropping off his belongings left in her car. They spend the night out, sharing memories of each others' parents. Before parting, Gabi tells him that she will kiss him if he finds her the following day. However, Charlie spends the morning at a club with Karl and Luc due to the former's overdose of Viagra. The trio is shocked to find that Karl's transgression has caused the manager, Darko, to overcharge them. Charlie realizes that Darko is an associate of Nigel's.

After finding him waiting at the opera house for Gabi, Bela reluctantly takes Charlie to Gabi's house, where a memorial is being held for Victor. After sharing the kiss that Gabi promised him, Charlie tells Gabi about his encounter with Darko, leaving Gabi concerned for Charlie's safety. Nigel unexpectedly shows up and finds Charlie, threatening him for being around Gabi, who successfully forces Nigel to leave. Afterward, Gabi tells Charlie how she met Nigel, and that although Gabi loved Nigel, she knew that marrying him was a mistake, and realized too late that Nigel was an active criminal. Earlier, Victor found an incriminating tape to use against Nigel to force him to leave the country, but Nigel now seeks the tape following Victor's death. Charlie then confesses that he is in love with Gabi, and they have sex.

Charlie awakens the next morning with Gabi absent from her house. He discovers a room filled with tapes, noticing one labeled "Cubbies". The tape turns out to be the footage Victor found, graphically showing Nigel and Darko killing a group of people at a restaurant. An unnerved Charlie leaves the house and finds Gabi and Nigel at a nearby restaurant. He reveals that he "saw the tape," prompting Nigel to violently interrogate Charlie until the police arrive. Nigel escapes but Charlie is taken into custody. At the police station, Bela makes a deal to have all charges dropped as long as Charlie be transferred to Budapest. After being dropped off at the hostel to retrieve his belongings, he is chased by more of Nigel's henchmen but eventually escapes them. He returns to Gabi's house to find the tape missing.

Charlie waits for Gabi at the Opera House, where she tells him that she doesn't want to see him again and goes to her car with Nigel waiting. A saddened Charlie once again sees the ghost of his mother, who says that she is proud of him and hopes he doesn't die. Charlie openly accepts his possible death in that it's for the sake of love, and he runs to Gabi's car and attempts to stop Nigel, only to be knocked unconscious. He wakes, hanging from a rope by his ankle held by a crane hoist above a large body of water. Nigel burns the tape and prepares to shoot Charlie, but decides to let Gabi do it. She ends up sparing Charlie just as the police arrive, but Charlie is dropped into the water by the fleeing henchmen. Nigel commits suicide by cop after realizing that Gabi is in love with Charlie, and Charlie emerges from the water, alive. As morning arrives, Charlie and Gabi finally end up together.

Cast

John Hurt was a brief narrator for the film's original version released at Sundance, but his narration was edited out and is included on its Blu-ray release as an extra.

Production

In early development, LaBeouf dropped out of the project and the title role was briefly given to Zac Efron before LaBeouf returned to the project in August 2010.

Filming took place between May and June 2012 and filmed on location in Romania.

LaBeouf reportedly tripped on acid while filming acid scenes. According to LaBeouf, he had to trip on the acid to really get into the head of his character and to emulate some of his acting heroes. "There's a way to do an acid trip like Harold & Kumar and there's a way to be on acid. What I know of acting, Sean Penn actually strapped up to that electric chair in Dead Man Walking. These are the guys that I look up to."[6]

Release

Wood criticised[7][8] the American censors[9] for insisting that a scene be cut in which her character receives oral sex from LaBeouf, while taking no issue with the many violent scenes:[10]

The scene where the two main characters make 'love' was altered because someone felt that seeing a man give a woman oral sex[11][12][13] made people 'uncomfortable', but the scenes in which people are murdered by having their heads blown off remained intact and unaltered... [Society] wants to shame women and put them down for enjoying sex, especially when (gasp) the man isn't getting off as well... Accept that women are sexual beings, accept that some men like pleasuring women. Accept that women don't just have to be fucked and say thank you. We are allowed and entitled to enjoy ourselves. It's time we put our foot down."[14]

Music

The official soundtrack album was released digitally on Feb 11, 2014, by Psychedelic Records. The soundtrack album featured 14 songs of score music composed by Christophe Beck and Deadmono.

No. Title Artist Length
1. "Charlie Countryman" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 2:07
2. "What Makes a Life" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 2:09
3. "Stealing the Funny Hat" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 2:11
4. "I Promise" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 2:18
5. "Victor Ibanescu" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 1:23
6. "Bucharest Taxi Ride" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 2:22
7. "Puppy Feet Girl" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 2:02
8. "Nigel" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 1:51
9. "Walking with Gabi" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 3:48
10. "Find Me Tomorrow" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 3:20
11. "Gabi's Story" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 2:18
12. "Videotape" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 3:28
13. "The Pearl and the Oyster" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 4:38
14. "The End" Christophe Beck and Deadmono 6:24

Reception

Charlie Countryman received negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 27% approval rating, based on 66 reviews with an average rating of 3.93/10; the site's consensus reads: "Shia LaBeouf clearly relishes his role in Charlie Countryman, but his efforts can't salvage the movie's shallow script and overstuffed direction."[15] Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score, rated it 31/100 based on 20 reviews.[16]

John Anderson of Variety called it "a profoundly unnecessary film" with "strained attempts at magic realism".[17] Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter describe it as "an atmospheric feature that sets out to tackle big questions of love and destiny."[18] Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote, "this catastrophe of a movie zigzags drunkenly between action-adventure and surreal comedy with some magical realism slopped over it like ketchup."[19] Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Pulpy dross of surpassing dumbness, Charlie Countryman takes the blender approach to mixing dark adventure, doofus comedy and pie-eyed romance, but forgets to put the lid on when pulsed."[20] Damon Wise of Empire gave a positive review, stating "Bond's use of music is excellent and his vision of eastern Europe both hellish and magical." [21]

References
  1. "THE NECESSARY DEATH OF CHARLIE COUNTRYMAN (15)". British Board of Film Classification. October 15, 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  2. "Charlie Countryman (2013) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. September 14, 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  3. "Berlinale Competition 2013: Another Nine Films Confirmed". berlinale. Retrieved 2013-01-11.
  4. https://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=65620
  5. http://www.filmdates.co.uk/films/5610-the-necessary-death-of-charlie-countryman
  6. Mandell, Andrea (August 27, 2012). "Shia LaBeouf gets a little 'Lawless' in indie movies". USA Today. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  7. https://variety.com/2013/film/news/evan-rachel-wood-slams-mpaa-over-deleted-sex-scene-in-charlie-countryman-1200892631/
  8. https://deadline.com/2013/11/evan-rachel-wood-rants-against-mpaa-over-deleted-charlie-countryman-sex-scene-644824/
  9. https://jezebel.com/the-mpaa-censored-this-sex-scene-starring-evan-rachel-1476312299
  10. The Big Issue no.1080, December 2nd-8th 2013.
  11. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/12/shia-labeouf-evan-rachel-wood-oral-sex-scene-mpaa-charlie-countryman/
  12. http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/847693/charlie-c-sex-scene.pdf
  13. http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/847693/charlie-c-sex-scene.txt
  14. Denham, Jess (November 28, 2013). "Evan Rachel Wood attacks ratings body for cutting cunnilingus scene from new film". The Independent. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  15. "Charlie Countryman (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  16. "Charlie Countryman". Metacritic. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  17. Anderson, John (January 22, 2013). "Review: 'The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman'". Variety. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  18. Lowe, Justin (January 22, 2013). "The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman: Sundance Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  19. Holden, Stephen (November 14, 2013). "Bad Deathbed Advice, Indeed". The New York Times. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  20. Abele, Robert (November 14, 2013). "Review: 'Charlie Countryman' leaves you dizzy and disoriented". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  21. Wise, Damon (January 23, 2013). "Sundance 2013: The Round Up Part One". Empire Magazine. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
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