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‘Lakeview Terrace’

The film’s characters are so caught up in justice and fairness, for themselves and those around them, they can’t seem to compromise to get it.

By Bob Brown
THE cul-de-sac in this Los Angeles suburb is anything but Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood. It’s a place where the tightly packed houses virtually force neighbors to invade each other’s personal space. At the same time, they are ringed in by iron fences and shrubbery, daring anyone to cross the boundaries.
   When Chris and Lisa Mattson (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) move into the house at the apex of the street, they’re not prepared for the unwelcome wagon rolled out by their next-door neighbor, Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson), one of L.A.’s officers in blue. Abel bluntly baits Chris, who is white, about his racial mixing. He calls Lisa, who is black, Chris’ “little chocolate drop,” and he mocks Chris’s choice of hip-hop music. “You can listen to that stuff all night long,” he tells Chris, “but when you wake up in the morning, you’ll still be white.”
   It’s clear Abel has a problem with this mixed-race couple. In no uncertain terms, he wants them out of the place. But then, he has a problem with everyone in the neighborhood, which he treats as his own little kingdom. He makes it his business to know everyone’s dirty secrets. And he runs his own family like a boot camp. He harshly corrects his daughter Celia’s (Regine Nehy) speech, and his son Marcus’ (Jaishon Fisher) choice of clothing. Since he’s a widower, we might expect him to be uptight about having to hold down a demanding job then reining in his kids. But for Abel, everything needs correcting, even if it means he has to bend the law to his will.
   This is, on the one hand, an issue film (and they’re piled on: miscegenation, police brutality, drug gangs, overbuilding in fire-prone areas, family planning, privacy). The script, by the self-described “whitest white guy in America,” David Loughery, was his attempt to create a thriller in the context of a lot of issues that are particularly acute in Los Angeles. “I’d been living in Los Angeles long enough to be aware of the idea of fires encroaching on homes and racial tension and that kind of road rage thing,” says director Neil LaBute in production notes to the movie.
   But, on the other hand, it’s a film about flawed characters with good intentions. They are so caught up in justice and fairness, for themselves and those around them, they can’t seem to compromise to get it. When push comes to shove, the worst comes out in people, with consequences to match. LaBute, a playwright and filmmaker, has made his mark portraying the kinds of cringe-inducing characters and situations that would make us run from the room (In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors). So Abel’s in-your-face approach to neighborliness and policing perfectly suits his style.
   Abel’s obviously got a problem that’s not evident until his war with the Mattsons reaches crisis mode. His contempt for white men who marry black women is grounded in one painful incident from his past.
   Chris and Lisa also have unresolved issues, exacerbated by the move and by Abel’s harassment, which smolder then finally erupt, like the fires in the valley that threaten to consume the neighborhood. She is desperate to start a family, but he is not ready until they’re “established.” That may be a smokescreen for his own uncertainty about how committed he is to having children at all, knowing the trouble he’s had fitting in with Lisa’s family.
   Abel has picked up on Chris’s over-compensation, as Chris tries to be black enough. At one point, Chris is so exasperated with Abel that he blurts out, “Why can’t we all get along?” To which Abel laughs, “Rodney King? Oh, now you’re playing the race card!” The irony is, he’s a white “victim” pleading for mercy from a black cop.
   Casting is key. Jackson is a powerful actor who can be joking one minute and beating up a suspect the next. He’s caring and overbearing, psychically wounded and vicious. You have sympathy for his suffering, but not for his insufferable behavior. His performance dominates the film, which is not to say that Wilson and Washington aren’t as good in their way. It’s just that their domestic problems are almost a side issue to the one big problem: dealing with their neighbor.
   So is this an issue film or a thriller? The “issue” bits aren’t what keep you on your seat. It’s the tension of watching Abel tighten the screws. You never know what he’ll do next or what his limit is. Without Jackson’s nuanced performance, Abel would be merely a cartoon character in a black and white world. And the film would be the lesser for it.
Rated PG-13 for intense thematic material, violence, sexuality.