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Martin Paule's Micro
Movie Reviews
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Martin Paule's Micro Movie Reviews:
A--B--C--D--E--F--G--H--I--J--K--L--M--N--O--P--Q--R--S--T--U--V--W--X--Y--Z--
Badlands
The Bad Lieutenant
Baghdad Cafe/Rosalie Goes Shopping
Baraka/Koyanisqatsi/ Powaqqatsi
Barbarians at the Gate
Barfly
Barry Lyndon
Bartleby
Barton Fink
Baxter (1991)
Beautiful Girls
Beautiful Thing
Before The Rain
Being There
Belle de Jour
Benny and Joon
Betty Blue
Best Boy
The Big Lebowski
The Big One (1997)
Big Night
The Big Sleep (1946)
Billy Budd
Billy Liar
Bird
Bitter Moon
Black and White in Color
Black Rainbow
Blade Runner
Blind Trust
Blood and Wine
Blood Simple
Blowup
Blue
The Blue Kite
Blue Sky
Blue Velvet
The Boat
Bob Roberts
Bottle Rocket
Boogie Nights
Bowfinger
A Boy and His Dog
Brassed Off
Brazil
A Brief Vacation
Bringing Out the Dead
Broken English
Brother From Another Planet
Brother of Sleep
Brother's Keeper
The Browning Version (1951)
Bugsy
Bullets Over Broadway
Burden of Dreams
Burnt by the Sun
Bustin' Loose
Butley
Bye Bye
Brother of Sleep AKA Schlafes Bruder
This not entirely successful story of a music prodigy who is born a
bastard
in a remote Bavarian Alps village has daring visuals and multifaceted
themes that tend to miss as much as hit their marks. Following a
breathtaking opening credit sequence in which we soar over a mountainous
landscape, we are dropped into a dank 1800s hamlet where Elias is born
into
the hands of a bitter midwife. The village is riddled with inbreeding,
the
priest is a drunkard and the schoolmaster a sadist. Accompanied by
supernatural events, Elias' life unfolds as he displays an early genius
at
the church organ and later is caught up in a love triangle involving
a
village girl and a boy who has homosexual longings for him. Flawed
as it
is, this German movie has some genuinely stirring moments of unusual
visual
splendor.
Beautiful Thing
Two teenage British boys come out of the closet and come of age in
this
feel-good look at homosexuality between adolescents. During a hot East
London summer these two neighbors in a depressing apartment complex
grapple
with their inclinations and try to deal with the non-comprehension
of their
families and friends. Sensitively handled and tightly directed, I have
just
two quibbles. A neighbor girl is convinced that she is Mama Cass Elliot
reincarnate, and the soundtrack is thus larded with the late singer's
schmalzy numbers. I also had trouble with the final scene, audacious
as it
is, which seems to belong to another film; perhaps, if you'll pardon
the
expression, a fairy tale mounted as a musical.
Blind Trust AKA Pouvoir Intime
This taut Canadian heist flick commingles inventive camera work with
an
involving script to raise it a notch or two above most caper genre
films.
An aging con is commissioned by a shadowy government operative to hijack
an
armored car. The con can keep all the loot, the spook just wants one
satchel. A gang is recruited including the con's son. The job is botched
when one of the armored car guards is unwittingly kidnapped along with
the
truck. And things just keep getting messier. The truck is taken to
a
scenery warehouse (a terrific setting) where the gang attempts to flush
the
armed guard out. With a fine twist at the end, solid performances all
round and a passing resemblance to "Reservoir Dogs", this is a rewarding
sit for cops and robbers addicts.
Bringing Out the Dead
Superficially, Martin Scorcese's '99 film shares a hellish vision of
Manhattan with his earlier "Taxi Driver". But where cabby Travis Bickel's
demons were internal, paranoid creations, ambulance driver Frank Pierce
(NicolasCage) is tormented by horror that is external and very real.
Shattered by stress and broken down by chronic insomnia, Pierce's life
is
punctuated by one crisis after another. Through it all he struggles
to
reach some sort of state of grace. The film grows repetitive after
a time,
and the horrific scenes slowly become enervated and circular. As always,
Scorcese has enriched his story with well chosen music including some
obscure R&B and soul material. Not the best Scorcese, but even
this
director's second-tier work offers rewards in its mordant humor and
horrific perspectives.
Bowfinger
OK, so the story's preposterous and the jokes are largely cheap shots,
but
I found this a very likeable Hollywood fable based on the premise that
everyone wants to be in pictures. Film producer Bobby Bowfinger (Steve
Martin-who also wrote the script) is at the very bottom of the Hollywood
feeding chain. He assembles a crew of incompetent wannabes to make
a sci-fi
flick (penned by his Iranian accountant) called "Chubby Rain" about
aliens
coming to earth in raindrops. His plan is to use Kit Ramsey (a paranoiac
Wesley Snipes-styled action star played to the hilt by Eddie Murphy)
without the star's knowledge. He tells his witless crew that Ramsey
insists
on not seeing the camera and then sets up ludicruous sitations in which
the
already mentally unstable star is caught up and filmed in absurd
situations. Murphy also plays Jiff, a dopey but loveable Ramsey lookalike
used as stand-in for the star. Heather Graham is amusing as Bowfinger's
leading lady. Fresh off the bus from the hinterlands, she knows she
has to
sleep around to get on in pictures and does so with alacrity. This
ain't
great art, but in the tradition of "Blazing Saddles" and"The Producers"
it
should elicit plenty of chortles.
In the wake of such lurid lovers-on-the-run
movies as "Natural Born
Killers", "True Romance" and "Wild
at Heart", this story of a couple of
kids on a killing spree might seem
tame. But in bringing his adaptation of
an actual 50s case to the screen,
director Terrence Malick creates such a
stark landscape and intensity of
mood that we become drawn into the story
of these cold-blooded killers. Rarely
has the sweep of the upper midwest's
land and sky been so completely
captured on film. Sissy Spaceck and Martin
Sheen are both very strong as the
pathological pair.
What casting: Jack Nicholson, Michael
Caine and Judy Davis! Though this
story about high-end jewel thieves
is only so-so, the performers raise it
several notches with great chemistry.
Everyone gets truly nasty when the
big job starts to come undone.
I just caught this release in video.
It was produced and directed by the
same folks who did "Once Were Warriors",
recommended earlier. Like its
forerunner, "Broken English" deals
with cultures in collision in Aukland,
New Zealand. This time the story
revolves around an emigrant Croatian
family whose daughter, over the
objections of her father, becomes involved
with a Maori cook at the restaurant
where she works. This is a superb
retelling of the Romeo and Juliet
story full of fascinating characters and
details. There's a subplot in which
the Croatian girl agrees to marry a
Chinese immigrant to help him get
residency. In one scene, the Croatian
family holds an immense cookout
in their back yard, while their neighbors
from Fiji put on their own shindig
next door. It's an unforgettable
juxtaposition with polka-esque Croatian
ditties competing for airspace with
the Polynesian tunes next door.
This film aside from its comedic strengths
features lots of violence and eroticism.
It earned an NC-17 rating on
account of, as the director was
told during his appeal to the MPAA,
"pronounced buttock thrusting"!
You'll recognize some of the Maori actors
from "Once Were Warriors", again
turning in superb, natural performances.
It deserves to be seen for Harvey
Keitel's bravura performance. Delving
into the life of a rogue cop who
mines the deepest depths of perversion and
moral bankruptcy, it is an unpleasant
but compelling character study.
Baghdad Cafe/Rosalie Goes Shopping
Percy Adlon is a German director
who makes terrific little comedies in the
U.S. including the two above. They
both star Marianne Sagebrecht, a
heavyset German actress who brings
a curious persona to her roles. The
first title is about a German tourist
who leaves her husband in the middle
of the desert and begins living
at a motel/truck stop with a strange
collection of permanent residents
including Jack Pallance in a very unusual
role as a retired Hollywood production
designer/artist. The latter movie is
about a spendthrift German woman
married to a crop duster pilot who goes
through incredible changes to prevent
her debt-ridden household from
crashing down around her. She may
be the movies' ultimate consumer with the
possible exception of Welles' Charles
Foster Kane.
Baraka/Koyanisqatsi/Powaqqatsi
These three films share a certain
vision and style in that they all attempt
to paint a picture of the history
of the earth and humankind through a
series of startling images and striking
soundtracks with virtually no
narration. Unfortunately none of
them fare so well on a TV screen-they
deserve to be seen in a theatre-so
keep your eyes peeled for screenings.
Based on the autobiographical writings
of L.A. Beat poet Charles Bukowski,
this is a mean, grungy and funny
movie. Faye Dunaway who plays a boozy,
washed-up love interest is terrific.
Herman Melville's compelling story
of an accounting clerk who refuses to
leave his job after being given
the sack has been updated with a modern
London setting. This is an odd little
film with minimal plot but a lovely
portrayal of a failure trying to
survive in a cruelly demanding world.
Another Turturro movie made by the
Coen ("Fargo" etc.) brothers. This is a
very wicked view of Hollywood with
tons of style, fabulous production
values and superb acting by Turturro
and John Goodman. Be forewarned though
that after setting you up with a
rather conventional narrative style, the
Coen boys take an abrupt left turn
and head for bizarreville.
The dog of the title is the dark
side of Spuds Mc Kenzie - the bull terrier
used to flog oceans of beer some
seasons ago. This terrier is a real terror
through whose eyes this French film
discloses some of the more disturbing
aspects of human nature. He is passed
on through a series of masters and
mistresses until he finds the perfect
match: a young boy who is fascinated
by Hitler and Nazism.
An offbeat psycho drama about a phony
medium (Rosanna Arquette) and her
alcoholic father (Jason Robards)
who travel the South putting on revival
shows in which she demonstrates
her ESP. Things get weird when she
describes a murder during one of
her performances only to have the event
actually occur nearly immediately
thereafter.
Maybe my favorite Coen Bros. flick.
It's a tossup with "Fargo". At first a
seemingly routine murder for hire
plot, it get progressively more
labyrinthian as the movie unfolds
with tons of very noirish humor.
Blue/White/Red aka Tricoleur Bleu/Tricoleur Blanc/Tricoleur Rouge
This trilogy of films by Polish director
Krysztofv Kieslowski is subtitled
Liberty, Equality and Fraternity
referring to the French flag and national
motto. Each deals with a different
aspect of modern life in Europe. I think
the series got progressively better
with the release of each film. "Blue"
deals with a woman whose family
is killed in an accident causing her to
make dramatic changes in her life.
Despite a great performance by Juliette
Binoche, this is the least successful
of the three films. "White" is about
revenge. A Polish shnook is divorced
by his lovely wife because he can't
satisfy her in the erotic department.
He gets the last laugh in this
cynical comedy/drama. The final
installment is the best. In "Red", a woman
discovers that a respected, retired
judge is electronically eavesdropping
on his neighbors. They form a very
strange relationship. If possible, see
all three over a short space of
time as certain characters and events carry
over from one film to the next.
In some cases, pivotal characters in one
film appear in the background of
the others. Overall, quite an achievement.
My favorite David Lynch movie-though
"Eraserhead" , reviewed later, runs a
close second. An exploration of
the underbelly of a seemingly Ozzie and
Harriet-type townscape. This defines
the term weird!
Michael Moore is an unrepentent lefty
filmmaker who during the 80s made the
ripping exposé of GM's abandonment
of Flint, Michigan, "Roger and Me". This
one tracks Moore's book signing
tour promoting his book "Downsize This!",
an indictment of American companies
that have gone off shore for cheap
labor leaving millions of U.S. workers
in the lurch. Moore loves to pull
stunts to spice up his work and
here he delivers an outsized cardboard
check to Johnson Controls for 80
cents-to cover the first hour of Mexican
labor in that corporation's new
plant south of the border. Moore also gets
a lot of press by setting up several
phony special interest group checking
accounts, like Satan Worshipers
for (Pat) Robertson which he uses to
embarrass presidential contenders
in the '96 elections when they cash his
checks. The ultimate question posed
here is why are corporation sanguinely
purging employment rolls in this
era of unprecedented profits. Like most
polemecists, he tends to oversimplify
the issues, but if you don't think
too critically about his political
agenda nor the ways in which Moore
manipulates his subject matter,
the documentary offers loads of funny
encounters.
Clint Eastwood proved his directorial
chops with this moving biopic of
legendary alto saxman, Charlie "Yardbird"
Parker. Though somewhat
overlong, the story of this genius
of jazz and his many personal problems
is involving. Bird's actual playing
was stripped out of historic recordings
and modern backing bands were added.
Essential viewing for the jazz fan.
A fairly recent Polanski movie about
a very proper British chap played by
Hugh Grant of Hollywood Blvd. blowjob
infamy, who while traveling with his
wife on a luxury liner becomes ensnared
by a kinky couple who play endless
mind games with him. A bit long
but full of vicious humor.
A nicely off-kilter indie production
about a trio of friends who are
serious screw-ups attempting to
pull off a robbery. It's all been done
before, but rarely with this level
of creativity and freshness.
Seeing this claustrophobic story
of a hunted German U-Boat in a theatre
really helps to put across its intense,
atmospheric energy. But a newly
released video version with some
additional footage offers a reasonable,
second-best option.
Tim Robbins plays a calculating right-wing
politician who uses his folksy
charm and populist songs to mount
a campaign for the U.S. Senate. Wickedly
satirical, we see Roberts cynically
manipulate the press and populace with
his boyish wiles. Robbins directed
and wrote the songs that charge his
campaign. Peppered with a number
of cameos by big-name stars playing
air-head TV journalists.
When an ill-educated Italian woman
is diagnosed with TB, she is sent off to
a sanitarium that offers a wonderful
respite from her bastard of a husband,
mean-spirited in-laws and a grueling
job. Sure handed direction by
Vittoria de Sica and a fine performance
by Florinda Bolkan in the lead
create a credible, bittersweet ambience.
A handyman falls in love with a free
spirited young woman who, it turns
out, is quite disturbed. After she
sets fire to their seaside cottage, the
couple hits the road seeking home
and happiness. They settle down in a
southwestern French town where he
manages a piano store for a friend and,
for a time, it appears they will
live on in happiness. But her madness
reasserts itself with tragic consequences.
Beautifully photographed with
several erotic scenes that push
the envelope in non-exploitive films.
A technically demanding film uses
color and setting to create tension and
mood in this study of swinging 60s
London. A photographer becomes obsessed
with a picture he has taken that
may - or may not - have captured a murder.
Directed by the Italian master,
Michelangelo Antonioni.
Though I'm not usually fond of sci-fi
movies, this adaptation of a Harlan
Ellison story is something very
different. In a post apocalyptic landscape,
a guy assisted by his telepathic
dog hunt for women and food and eventually
are drawn into a nightmarish underground
civilization.
This is Les Blank's documentary recording
the filming of "Fitzcarraldo",
Werner Herzog's apocalyptic story
of a madman who hauls a steamboat through
the Peruvian Amazon. We see the
director confronting enormous natural and
cultural obstacles in trying to
get his movie made. This documentary is
very nearly as enthralling as the
subject film and is best seen immediately
following the viewing of "Fitzcarraldo".
For all its sunny lighting. picturesque
settings and madcap characters,
"Burnt" trembles with a sense of
impending doom which, in the end, proves
itself out. Set in 1936 Russia,
a revolutionary hero enjoys his retirement
in a comfortable cottage surrounded
by a loving family. But these halcyon
days are threatened when his wife's
former lover shows up. He is now a
member of Stalin's state police
and has a hidden agenda. You may recall
that when the film's director, Nikita
Mikhalkov received a well-deserved
Best Foreign Picture Oscar for this
movie a few years back, he brought his
little daughter who plays the protagonist's
daughter on stage on his
shoulders. As well he should have-she's
a delightful and fresh presence in
the film.
A feel-good movie with balls. Cicely
Tyson is the teacher of a group of
troubled and handicapped children
who are forced to relocate from Philly to
the Northwest. She enlists the reluctant
help of Richard Pryor, a
streetwise ex-con to serve as bus
driver and mechanic. In a particularly
effective scene, Pryor buffaloes
a KKK chapter when things look their most
dire. Esentially a series of episodes
along the way, the film is buoyed by
the terrific chemistry between the
two adult stars. (Though production was
suspended for over a year while
Pryor recovered from the explosion in his
home chemistry lab, the final result
is quite seamless.)
A young man uncertain about his impending
marriage returns home to his
Massachusetts neighborhood where
he finds things virtually unchanged among
his high school circle of friends.
A first-rate ensemble cast including
Rosie O'Donnell, Timothy Hutton,
Matt Dillon, Mira Sorvino, et. al. do a
smashing job of depicting how people
fall into ruts. They're helped along
by a wittily perceptive script.
Under the aegis of Martin Scorcese
a new video print with enhanced
subtitles is now available of this
Buñuel classic. Catherine Deneuve is the
frigid, virginal new bride of a
physician who is unable to perform her
conjugal duties. She takes an afternoon
job at a toney Paris brothel where
she readily overcomes her hangups.
A charming story about a mechanic
and his dysfunctional sister for whom he
casts about for a caretaker. The
perfect candidate turns up in the form of
a peculiar young man who thinks
himself the reincarnation of Buster Keaton
and who forges a special bond with
the sister. All three leads, Johnny
Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson and
Aidan Quinn are excellent in this modern
fable.
Ira Wohl lovingly crafted this documentary
about his 50-something cousin
Philly who's mentally retarded and
his ongoing struggle to make his way in
the real world. Very moving and
very real without any pandering by a
scrupulous avoidance of cheap emotional
shots.
The Coen Brothers' return to the
full-tilt comedy style of "Raising
Arizona" is a triumph coming on
the heels of the more ironic "Fargo". Jeff
Bridges plays a disarmingly loopy
doper approaching middle age who becomes
involved in a complex (and somewhat
contrived- but who cares) plot that
involves a seeming blueblood from
the other side of the L.A. tracks who
shares his name. John Goodman plays
his conspiracy-obsessed Vietnam vet
buddy together with Steve Buscemi
as the dumb third in their bowling night
confrership. John Turturro is a
standout as a bowling ball-licking,
pimped-out pederast named Jesus
who gives one of the most luminous and
remarkable walkons in recent memory.
There's also a hilarious band of
so-called nihilists wielding an
attack marmot (don't ask) and dozens of
references to all sorts of Coen
preoccupations.
I defy anyone to explain exactly
whodunit or more precisely, who did which
murder. But that hardly matters.
This is perhaps the preeminent film noir
of the 40s. Humphrey Bogart as Philip
Marlow becomes enmeshed in a
labyrinthian plot involving all
sorts of decadent and deadly characters
spouting terrifically hard-boiled
and cynical dialogue.
Don't attempt to watch this hungry.
Full of involved food preparation and a
lavish feast as a finale, it is
the story of two immigrant Italian brothers
who struggle to make a go of their
New Jersey restaurant offering epicurean
fare in the face of competition
from a pretentious spaghetti and meatballs
joint nearby. Wonderfully human
and lovingly crafted it might have been
titled "Waiting for Louis Prima".
The rise and fall (sorry, couldn't
help myself) of a 70s porn star, this
film is as much a portrait of swinging
L.A. as it is a cautionary coming of
age story. Mark Wahlberg of the
Beastie Boys is vacuously convincing as
Dirk Diggler, the protagonist, Burt
Reynolds in a comeback role is fine as
as skin flick director as is Julianne
Moore playing his coke snorting, yet
nurturing lover. Painted in the
same vivid tones as the city it portrays,
like "The People vs. Larry Flynt",
the movie rises above its tawdry subject
matter.
Based on Melville's novella, this
is the story of an innocent and naive
seaman in the 18th century English
navy who is court-martialled for the
murder of his sadistic master-at-arms.
Terrence Stamp is superb in the
title role standing as an emblem
of good in a wicked world.
A young British man escapes his humdrum
middle class existence and boring
job through flights of fancy. Tom
Courtenay is appealing as Billy, backed
by a cast of English stalwarts including
Julie Christie, Wilfred Pickles
and Mona Washington.
Over time Ridley Scott's sci-fi gem
has become the progenitor of several
lookalike productions, but none
has the sheer originality and cohesiveness
of the original. Harrison Ford is
a cop in 21st century L.A. who tries
to round up a gang of mutant androids
who have developed minds of their own.
Get the director's cut released
in '93 which clears up some plot muddles
from the theatrically released version.
The story of a Chinese family struggling
through the upheaval of the 50s
and 60s, the film is highly critical
of many aspects of the Revolution
causing its censorship at home.
While the story line at times verges on the
melodramatic, the compelling history
it tells coupled with fine
cinematography compensates fully.
A truly novel premise: an alien arrives
on earth looking like a black man
who then hits the ghetto with unexpected
and hilarious results. Made on a
tiny budget the movie relies on
smart situations rather than big effects to
make its points. Like Chance in
"Being There", the alien creates a powerful
impression as a tyro by keeping
his mouth shut.
A middle-aged teacher at an English
boy's school comes to the realizations
that he is both a failure and a
cuckold. Based on a play by Terrence
Rattigan, the entire cast turns
in superlative performances with Michael
Redgrave especially touching in
the lead. This story was remade in '94 but
I have not seen it. It's hard to
imagine what reasons may have prompted the
remake given the quality of the
original.
Past, present and future constantly
shift in this compelling story about a
burned out Macedonian photojournalist,
a Greek Orthodox monk, a career
woman in London, and a young girl
caught between the combatants in
Yugoslavia. Each arrives at a pivotal
point in their lives, and as they do,
the fates of these people intersect
in unpredictable ways. You need to stay
with this one for a while; at first
things appear to be a bit of a muddle,
but as the film progresses the stories
come into sharp resolution. Highly
recommended. (The photojournalist
is played by Rade Serbedijza who
possesses a very commanding screen
presence and plays the Croatian father
in "Broken English" recommended
earlier.)
This sardonic French film is set
in Africa on the eve of WWI and tracks a
group of smug colonialists who,
overcome with patriotic fervor, decide to
launch an attack on a neighboring
German garrison.
A deliciously cynical comedy about
an innocent, child-like gardener who,
following the death of his wealthy
master, falls in with the high and the
mighty who, through his bewildered
silence, mistake him for a savant. Lots
of terrific jabs at the television
age. One of Peter Seller's great roles
made that much more challenging
by the tiny amount of dialogue given his
character.
The life and times of one of the
more notorious gangsters of the modern era
is played to the hilt by Warren
Beatty. Intelligently scripted this
biography of a sociopathic crook
manages to avoid most of the cliches of
the mobster biopic. There's great
chemistry between Beatty and his
real-life main squeeze, Annette
Bening.
Someone said that just about any
frame in this film could be extracted and
hung on a gallery wall. Though perhaps
a bit of an exaggeration, this is a
gorgeously mounted production with
lush color photography and lighting to
die for. Kubrick shot one scene
using only candlelight. Sadly, the story
about the life and times of an Irish
rogue, taken from a Thackeray novel,
plods a bit in spots, but the meticulous
period reconstruction and superb
production values more than offset
that drawback. I believe there's a
letterboxed version now available
which should compensate a bit for the
lack of impact on the small screen.
This showed up on American screens
just after "The Full Monty" but failed
to register. Which is a shame as
it offers many of the same serio-comic
rewards. A brass band made up of
English coal miners faces dissolution when
the mine they work at is scheduled
to shut down. Thanks to the infusion of
some fresh blood (and some cash)
from a sexy flugelhornist played by Tara
Fitzgerald whose grandfather formerly
played in the band, they go to the
Royal Albert Hall to compete in
a national contest. Though much of what
happens is predictable, the wonderful
ensemble acting and powerful
socioeconomic metamessage make points
on all levels. The only weak spot's a
somewhat contrived romance between
Fitzgerald and a poorly fleshed-out horn
player portrayed by Ewan McGregor
(of "Trainspotting and "Shallow Grave"
fame).
This too has a Pythonesque stamp
all over it, not surprising since it was
directed by Terry Gilliam. A sort
of loopy take on "1984" it has
sensational visuals and production
values but tends to go on a bit too
much. A clerk caught up in a nightmarish
paper factory tries to hold onto
his humanity in the face of a monolithic,
authoritarian society.
A fine companion piece to the documentary
"Roger and Me", this is a
high-octane fictional account of
corporate greed based closely on the
leveraged RJR-Nabisco buyout. Though
this hardly seems to be the stuff of
great comedy, the scintillating
script and on the money performances
produce just that-a heady look at
late 80s mega-greed running rampant.
Produced by the team that did "Paradise
Lost: The Robin Hood Hills Murders"
reviewed earlier, this is an involving
documentary that examines a case of
fratricide in upstate New York.
A group of four dull-witted and reclusive
brothers live on a ramshackle farm
and are largely unknown to their
neighbors until one brother is charged
with the murder of another. The
prosecutor claims it is a case of
misguided euthanasia. As in their earlier
film, the producers demonstrate
an amazing ability to earn the trust of all
parties concerned and thus record
highly candid interviews from all
perspectives of the case. Though
at the end we come away with no clear
insight into the truth, the very
ambiguity of the case proves to be this
documentary's strength.
Jessica Lange won a richly-deserved
Oscar for her portrayal of a sexy and
somewhat troubled woman married
to an army career guy played winningly by
Tommy Lee Jones. Despite tremendous
disturbances, their unshakeable love
for each other survives an avalanche
of problems including a slightly lame
subplot involving nuclear secrets.
A very entertaining Woody Allen trifle
about a 20s era playwright with a
burning social conscience who readily
sells out when he's offered a job
directing a play that will star
the gangster-producer's girlfriend. The
four key roles are handled expertly
by John Cusack, Jennifer Tilly, Chazz
Palminteri and Dianne Wiest. Palminteri
is particularly good as the hood
assigned by the producer to keep
an eye on the former's girlfriend. He
turns out to have a gift for the
theatre that would hardly be suspected
from outward appearances.
An off-kilter British comedy about
a teacher with a host of emotional and
sexual problems. Brilliantly directed
by Harold Pinter and featuring a
fine performance by Alan Bates as
the neurotic pedagogue.
Two adolescent French-born Arab boys
go to live with relatives following a
tragedy that befalls their Parisien
family. Tunisian director Karim Dridi
has created a non-sentimental, closely
observed work in which the lives of
second-class citizens in modern
France are scrutinized. There are a handful
of weak narrative points that cause
the film to fall short of masterpiece
status, but it is nonetheless well
worth seeing. Go Top
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