Friday, February 27, 1998
Screen Scene
"Dark City"
Directed by Alex Proyas
Starring Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly and
William Hurt
Here’s one for the "X-Files" reject bin. Although "Dark City"
captures the right murky and paranoid atmosphere, Mulder and Scully
would be lost in this world. The pleasure of the film relies
heavily on grandiose visuals, but in regards to a coherent plot
line, "Dark City" leaves the audience in the dark.
"Dark City" claims to be a psychological sci-fi thriller, but
the film doesn’t involve the audience’s minds enough to be
psychologically effective, nor is it that thrilling either. The
plot attempts to be clever, intricate and multi-dimensional
(unfortunately, qualities not extended to the lead characters) but
just ends up muddled and confusing.
John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes up in a bathtub to discover
that he’s wanted for a series of brutal murders. But he can’t
remember if he committed them or not. As Murdoch seeks to unravel
this cliched mystery, he learns that his world is actually created
and controlled by bald supernatural beings, uninspiringly named The
Strangers. Headed by the fearsome Mr. Book (Ian Richardson) these
alien Strangers use their special powers of sheer will to mix and
match the city inhabitants’ memories and, therefore, their
identities. The film trusts the audience to suspend logic and
connect this impractical plan to The Strangers’ quest of unlocking
the secrets of the human soul.
Strap on those wings, folks, because viewers will be doing a lot
of logical leaping throughout this film. For example, the fiendish
characters are powerful enough to eradicate the sun, leaving the
city in perpetual darkness but somehow can’t overpower Murdoch, the
only man who could possibly challenge them.
If the audience ignores the inconsistencies, the eye-capturing
special effects and stylish ’40s-era set designs are dynamic enough
to excite the senses. The expert use of lighting and set
construction give "Dark City" a noir-ish, Gotham-City undertone.
The spectacle of the buildings morphing are also definite
scene-stealers.
British actor Sewell also has a strong screen presence. The rest
of the cast includes Kiefer Sutherland overacting as an excitable
scientist, William Hurt as the good cop and Jennifer Connelly, who
brings sweetness and sensuality to her role as Murdoch’s wife,
Emma.
Optically-fixated filmgoers may delight in the engrossing
visuals. However, while Murdoch desperately strives to recover his
stolen memory, many filmgoers will have to forget about logical
reasoning to enjoy this dim cinematic experience.
Sumyi Khong
Grade: C-
"Kissing a Fool"
Directed by Doug Ellin
Starring David Schwimmer, Jason Lee, Mili Avital and Bonnie
Hunt
For awhile romantic comedies seemed to be doomed to such
brainless pieces of crap like "Addicted to Love" and "She’s the
One." But "Kissing a Fool," set in the beautiful, postcard-perfect
Chicago, makes being cute and corny fun and watchable again. It
revives your faith in the goofiness and joy of falling in love (in
a movie).
Jay (Jason Lee), a sensitive and extremely self-aware writer,
and Max (David Schwimmer), a womanizing television sports reporter,
have been friends for years. But their love lives couldn’t be more
different. While Jay has been pining away for the same bitch
girlfriend who had been cheating on him for years (he even ran away
to Europe and wrote a whole novel on the God-awful experience), Max
goes through women like a child collecting beanie babies.
But all their notions of love change when Jay introduces Max to
his pretty and intelligent book editor, Sam (Mili Avital). Max and
Sam immediately fall for each other, and before you can say
"romantic tension," they’re engaged and moving in together. But
ladies’ man Max is soon getting a little paranoid about the whole
commitment thing and wonders if Sam is truly the last woman he ever
wants to sleep with. So he convinces Jay to test Sam to make sure
she wouldn’t cheat on him. But as Jay begins to spend more time
with Sam, he starts to fall for her and she with him. One of the
funniest and most romantic scenes in the movie is when the romantic
triangle finally comes to a head over dinner at Sam’s house, and
everyone tries to figure out who’s testing who now.
While the commercials might fool cynical people into thinking
this is another dumb romantic comedy, the witty writing and
energetic performances elevate this movie to the level of such
other successful romances like "When Harry Met Sally" and "Jerry
Maguire."
Schwimmer plays the shmarmy bastard role quite well, although at
some points of the movie, you’ll want to shout out, "Stop being so
mean, Ross!" But Lee steals the picture with his completely
adorable performance as the "sensitive guy" who gets so guilty over
deceiving his friends that he can’t eat. While Lee’s previous
performances in the Kevin Smith movies show that he can play a
sarcastic loudmouth, this movie shows how he can play the wide-eyed
romantic quite convincingly. All the women in the audience will
want to take him home with them after this movie.
Aimee Phan
Grade: A-
"O Amor Natural"
Directed by Heddy Honigmann
"The ass, how cute. Always smiling, never tragic. Couldn’t care
less what’s round the front. The ass is self-sufficient. Is there
anything else?"
Actually there is something else to those seemingly crass lines.
In its truest form, sex is a part of love, and in Heddy Honigmann’s
new documentary "O Amor Natural," she’s out to prove it. But not in
the conventional sense. With a book of erotic poetry under her arm,
she has taken to the streets of Rio de Janeiro to find out what the
people think.
The poetry is taken from a collection written by one of Brazil’s
most reknowned poets, Carlos Drummond de Andrade. Drummond’s book,
from which the movie was named, was published posthumously because
Drummond believed that they would have been perceived as
pornographic. With subjects ranging from oral and anal sex to
let’s-do-it-on-the-floor-because-we-can’t-wait sex, Drummond’s
poems certainly come under the category of erotic. As for
pornographic, Honigmann leaves it for others to decide.
After reciting the poems, most of the participants, in their
60s, 70s and 80s, don’t think the verse is pornographic at all, but
highly erotic and sensual. At first, many of them read Drummond’s
verses enthusiastically and comment on the beauty of the poems.
But instead of simply having the elderly analyzing poetry, "O
Amor Natural" that lets the older generation remember their past
sexual escapades, and the results are quite often hilarious and
touching.
To most, the words "elderly" and "sex" don’t really go together.
They were doing it back then. The interviewees casually recollect
fond memories of their more virile past. A man in his 80s
surrounded by members of his family talks about how throughout his
50-year marriage, he had many infidelities. But his wife tolerated
him because she loved him.
In one of the funniest scenes, an older woman discusses how
after finding pleasure in sex, she needed to be taken violently
because, in her words, "I am violent." "None of that softy crap,"
she says. Then an elderly couple reads a poem about making love on
the floor, having a good laugh. Feeling the filmmaker’s
embarrassment, the lady says, "We’re old. We’re not dead."
"O Amor Natural" doesn’t just document poetry analysis by our
older citizens. Nor does it try to make fun of them by showing them
say words like vulva and penis on camera. It shows how love,
happiness and passion is felt through sex. And though once we get
older, it becomes harder to maintain the sensuality the memories
and feelings still remain.
Warren Tessler
Grade: B
"An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn"
Directed by Alan Smithee
Starring Ryan O’Neal, Eric Idle, Coolio, Chuck D and Richard
Jeni
Leave it to Hollywood’s most outspoken screenwriter to write a
film speaking out against Hollywood.
And further leave it to Joe Ezsterhas to make a movie you
weren’t expecting him to make. Let’s face it, after "Basic
Instinct" (1992), "Sliver" (1993), "Showgirls" (1995), and "Jade"
(1995), we all sort of figured that we knew what was coming
next.
But it wasn’t "Burn Hollywood Burn," a film about a disgruntled
director whose been used and abused by his producer, his studio
president and even his actors. Shot almost entirely with actors
talking directly into the camera, this mockumentary-style film
tells the story of film editor Alan Smithee (Eric Idle) who is
hired to direct a big-budget action film because he is viewed by
studio executives as controllable.
When the action film, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Sylvester
Stallone and Jackie Chan as three bad-ass cops, is finished,
Smithee finds that not only isn’t it his work, but that it is
terrible.
Most directors who find themselves in this position have the
option of using a pseudonym specified in 1969 by the Directors
Guild of America. Unfortunately for Smithee, the preselected
pseudonym is "Alan Smithee." Unable to remove his name from the
film, he steals the movie and threatens to burn it if he cannot
have final editing rights. In the meantime, he hides out with his
new negotiators, independent film makers Coolio and Chuck D.
"Parking in South Central is worse than in Westwood," Smithee
observes.
Unfortunately, the story line turns out to be more interesting
than the movie.
Despite several dialogues which Hollywood insiders and movie
buffs are sure to find amusing, and several more which residents of
the West Side will undoubtedly appreciate, the mockumentary style
ultimately serves to bog the film down with a tedious and
sleep-inducing pace.
And just as a reminder that this truly is an Ezsterhas film, all
of the women in the movie play objects, and all of the African
Americans play "black people." It is occasionally moderately funny,
usually offensive and almost never redeeming.
This movie is a definite rental.
Matthew Schmid
Grade: B-
Kiefer Sutherland (right) and Richard O’Brien (left) star in
"Dark City."