EWORMS"Bhaji on the Beach" (First Look Pictures) This
sickeningly
melodramatic film centers around a daylong trip to the beach for
an Asian
women’s group. A lot happens in one day. The film explores the
generational
changes and conflicts between Indian women living in England.
One of the
daughters gets pregnant, another is a "wild" alcohol-drinking,
boy-chasing
pre-teen. To top off the problems, yet another woman struggles
to raise a
child alone after she leaves her abusive husband. This is a lot
to deal
with, right? Miraculously, the director manages to wrap up all
of these
problems in the last 10 minutes of the film. Some accomplishment
– too bad
it doesn’t work. Parts of "Bhaji" move very slowly, and Meera
Syal’s
screenplay at times seems ridiculous (the grandmother lets a
g-stringed
male stripper run his hands all over her as her relatives
laugh
hysterically), and cliched (basically, everything else).
Syal and director Gurinder Chada explore the emotions and
complexities
of women searching for an identity amid two cultures – a story
that is
rarely told on screen (big surprise). Unfortunately, as a film,
"Bhaji"
fails. It’s like watching a soap opera with a European dance
music score,
and lines that sound so forced it hurts to watch. If you do rent
this film,
you’re in for a painful 100 minutes. D.G. D-
"The Indian in the Cupboard" (Columbia/Tristar) This movie
didn’t
get much attention because it’s not full of computer animation,
and more
importantly, it’s not based on a video game. "The Indian in the
Cupboard"
is, instead, a refreshingly simple and creative story for kids.
Hal
Scardino plays Omri, a boy who gets a magical cupboard that
makes his toys
come to tiny life. The screenplay, which is adapted from the
children’s
book of the same title, lacks some of the emotion and insight
into
children’s imaginations seen in movies like "Time Bandits" and
"E.T.."
Still, Frank Oz’s direction makes this an entertaining journey
into
children’s fantasies. Oz successfully creates a fantasy world
without
relying on excessive special effects, and instead stresses the
story, which
is carried by Scardino’s charmingly awkward Omri. The lame
acting of the
parents is tolerable only because they are barely in the movie.
Omri and
his toys are what’s important, and Oz concentrates the action on
and around
their adventure. "The Indian in the Cupboard" may not become a
classic, but
it is a creative and entertaining movie. D.G. A-"Belle De Jour"
(Miramax) Why would a wealthy, upper class woman
who is married to a doting husband and seems frigid towards sex
become a
high-class prostitute? This is the question at the center of
Luis Bunuel’s
"Belle De Jour," and though the director never provides a clear
answer, the
1967 film is nonetheless an intriguing exploration of one
woman’s dual
identity and impulses that fuel her actions. The narrative
unfolds in an
almost hypnotic fashion. An idyllic opening scene in the country
suddenly
descends into torture and terror, and when the horror seems
complete,
director Bunuel suddenly reveals that the entire sequence is one
of several
nightmares that plagues Severine Sevigny (Catherine Deneuve).
Severine is
married to a successful doctor who appears to adore her, yet
their
relationship is oddly chaste. The frigid partner in the marriage
seems to
be Severine, who, as it is later revealed in flashback, was
molested as a
child. But is the flashback a genuine memory, or just another
nightmare?
Bunuel’s style – he cuts back and forth between reality and
dream without
providing clues to distinguish the transitions – makes it
impossible to be
sure. And when Severine finds herself inexplicably drawn to a
brothel run
by Madame Anais (Genevieve Page), the reasons for her
fascination are again
murky. Severine takes the name Belle De Jour (which means Beauty
of the
Day) and begins working as a prostitute by day. Severine does
not know the
reasons for her actions, and Bunuel refuses to provide viewers
with any
easy answers. "Belle De Jour" demands more from its viewers than
the
average film and will keep audiences completely engrossed from
beginning to
end. C.T. A"First Knight" (Columbia/TriStar) Camelot purists
will probably
hate this movie, but those with an appetite for adventure,
romance and
Richard Gere will find "First Knight" a first-rate piece of
entertainment.
Screenwriter William Nicholson has retooled the Arthurian legend
with a
distinct ’90s bent. Lancelot (Richard Gere) is cast as an
archetypal 20th
century rebel, a brooding loner with no family, no friends and
a
devil-may-care charisma that just oozes from his every pore.
Lancelot still
falls for Lady Guinevere (Julia Ormond), the wife of King Arthur
(Sean
Connery) and the result is still the downfall of Camelot. More
surprising
than the Star Trek-like knight outfits and the curiously modern
democratic
ideals of Camelot is Sean Connery’s ineffectiveness as the King.
Connery is
given little to do but mope about being melodramatic or
helpless, and his
role only functions as a reminder of how dashing young Lancelot
is. Despite
these missteps, however, "First Knight" is still a raucous good
time.
C.T. BReviews by Dina Gashman and Colburn Tseng.