Friday, 5/23/97 SCREENSCENE FILM: "La Promesse," "The Lost
World" and "Addicted to Love"
"La Promesse" Directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne Starring
Jeremie Renier, Olivier Gourmet Even those usually scared off by
movies with subtitles will warm to "La Promesse," an emotionally
charged film by Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne.
Focusing on the search for morality and responsibility, "La
Promesse" is about a teenager in a difficult situation faced with
choices that will shape the man he becomes. "La Promesse" is the
story of Igor, a 15-year-old boy struggling to grow and break away
from his morally lax and often abusive father. Roger, the father,
is an unemployed factory worker who now operates a boarding house
where he exploits the illegal immigrants he sneaks into Belgium.
Igor himself seems ready to follow in his father’s footsteps, now
adept at petty theft and in the process of learning his father’s
trade, until the death of an immigrant worker changes his life
forever. Hamidou, an immigrant from the West-African nation of
Burkina Faso, has just brought his wife and baby to live with him
in Roger’s building when he is killed in a construction accident
while working illegally for Roger. To avoid the law, Roger refuses
to take Hamidou to a hospital and instead buries his body in cement
at the construction site. Before dying, however, Hamidou secretly
extracts a promise from Igor to care for his family. What results
is a bitter conflict between father and son, as Roger attempts
unscrupulously to get rid of Hamidou’s wife, while Igor struggles
to protect her and her baby. As Igor becomes more and more involved
with the woman and child, he is increasingly torn between his
loyalty to his father and the need to assert his own morality and
personal responsibility. "La Promesse" wisely steers clear of
over-dramatization in both imagery and acting. The filming has a
documentary-like quality that gives a sharp realism to the film. In
the past, the Dardenne brothers have produced several documentaries
on Belgium labor movements. They bring this experience with them in
both the cinematography and subject matter of "La Promesse." The
fallout of post-industrialism and economic collapse in the setting
is apparent, and yet does not detract from the characters and human
emotions that are the focus of the film. The dialogue in "La
Promesse" is minimal, and the emphasis is on showing, rather than
telling, the characters’ thoughts. The choices that Igor makes
throughout the film speak for themselves and are not given
excessive explanation. What is impressive is that this minimal
dialogue is accomplished without reducing the characters in "La
Promesse" to mere caricatures. Though the subtitles that flash
across the screen remind the audience that this film is a product
of the little-known Belgian film industry, the issues addressed in
the film are universal in their importance. Grade: A- By Dayna
Michaelsen "The Lost World" Directed by Steven Spielberg Starring
Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore The basic challenge of creating a
sequel is to satisfy audience expectations, and at the same time,
make it a fresh cinematic experience. Some filmmakers attempt this
through changes in setting, characters or plot variations.
Spielberg decided to do it through violence. For those who found
"Jurassic Park" a little too tame, particularly in terms of the
amount of casualties that take place in this
people-and-genetically-engineered-dinosaurs-interact story, "The
Lost World" is giving the audience what it wants. Set on an island
where dinosaurs are left over from the original mess entitled
"Jurassic Park," wealthy and eccentric John Hammond (Richard
Attenborough, "Seance on a Wet Afternoon," "Jurassic Park") wants
to keep people from discovering the prehistoric creatures on the
isle. Bringing in angsty mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum,
"Jurassic Park," "Independence Day"), overzealous paleontologist
and girlfriend of Malcolm, Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore, "Nine
Months," "Short Cuts") and movie documentarian Nick Van Owen
("Swinger’s" star Vince Vaughn), the small crew has more than
dinosaurs to contend with. Sharing the island with them are wealthy
investors and obsessive hunters, and Malcolm and friends have to
team up with them in an attempt to get off the island in one piece.
"The Lost World" does have the same incredibly slick dinosaur
images and the same mushy morals about people leaving those poor
dinosaurs alone. The difference is that where the first film
devotes a big chunk of its story to showing how well everything
runs before complete chaos erupts, the sequel is chaotic from the
get-go. The characters are a step from death most of the movie and
reach an impressive level of hysteria. But the tension and anxiety
ebbs and flows, depending on the predictability and unoriginality
of the scene. Overall, the violence far exceeds "Jurassic Park’s,"
particularly when the film takes a delightfully surprising twist
and a T-rex ends up wandering around San Diego. Watching a
prehistoric creature roam around a residential area provides a type
of entertainment that is right on key with the film’s feel, but is
quite unoriginal. It is the high point of the film, however.
Unfortunately, "The Lost World" has a low point as well. The ending
is the very paragon of cheesiness, so unsatisfying and
anti-climactic that audiences would be happier if projectionists
simply closed the curtains for the last 10 minutes. Overall the
highly anticipated film is a fun ride for special effects fans,
dinosaur freaks and anyone in the mood for a predictable but
suspenseful film. But due to its choppy pace, formless plot and the
fact that the dinosaurs are more well-rounded than the characters,
"The Lost World" is a far cry from a quality disaster film. Grade:
B By Emily Forster "Addicted to Love" Directed by Griffin Dunne
Starring Meg Ryan, Matthew Broderick The romantic comedy is alive
and well, as proven by this extremely likable Meg Ryan movie. After
finding success playing quirky, repressed love sick characters in
hits like "When Harry Met Sally," "Sleepless in Seattle" and
"French Kiss," Ryan takes on an entirely new persona for this
classically funny, charismatic film. As the obsessive and psychotic
Maggie, Ryan shows that she can snag an audience’s sympathies
without resorting to her typically cutesy mannerisms. She even
makes the unoriginal role of costar Matthew Broderick, who plays
the small-town, lovesick Sam, interesting with her bizarrely
belligerent character. And although she adds a lot to the film’s
storyline of two estranged lovers teaming up to break up their
ex-lovers’ mutual affair, it could function even without Ryan’s
unrelenting charisma. It is charismatic enough with its two
protagonists plotting to destroy a seemingly indestructible love
affair. The physical comedy is a little over-the-top. In fact there
are moments when it reaches ludicrously unrealistic extremes,
occasionally lending the film an overexaggerated "Home Alone" feel.
But for the most part, the slapstick comedy is right on. Its
increasingly elaborate violent choreography makes for an
ever-growing tension between all of the characters and strengthens
the viewer’s anticipation of the film’s final outcome. It is a
charming movie that provides entertainment for fans of Ryan’s works
and fans of the romantic comedy genre. Grade: A- By Emily Forster
New Yorker Films Igor (Jeremie Renier) and Roger (Olivier Gourmet)
star in an impressive example of Belgium cinema, "La Promesse."