Friday, January 30, 1998
Screenscene
FILM:
"Four Days in September"
Directed by Bruno Barreto
Starring Alan Arkin, Pedro Cardoso and Fernanda Torres
It’s rare when an audience sympathizes with the kidnappers, the
victim and the government’s secret agent/torturer all in one
film.
But director Bruno Barreto’s Brazilian film, "Four Days in
September," inspired by the 1969 kidnapping of American ambassador
Charles Burke Elbrick, gives its characters enough depth to
accomplish just this.
In a time of oppression, an eager and inexperienced Fernando
(Pedro Cardoso) who is later renamed Paulo, joins a small
resistance group called the MR-8. To publicly bring the Brazilian
government to its knees, the band of zealots strategize to kidnap
the American ambassador (Alan Arkin) unless their demands are
met.
The MR-8 threaten to kill the American in four days unless 15
political prisoners are released and the group’s manifesto is
broadcasted. Holed up in a country villa, the young resisters dread
the ticking of time when one of them may be forced to take an
innocent man’s life.
Barreto successfully recreates the heat and intensity of this
four-day standoff. He takes what could potentially be fodder for a
tired political thriller and transforms it into a character- and
relationship-driven piece.
However, about two-thirds of the way into the translation, the
film falls into the same trappings that most big studio films fall
into, complete with an obligatory sex scene between Paulo and Maria
(Fernanda Torres), the MR-8 group leader.
The solid cast and talented actors draw the audience into the
revolutionaries’ inward battles: their need to fight the military
regime and remain humane. Arkin is equally impressive as the
frightened yet strong and understanding ambassador who develops
touching but not maudlin connections with his captors.
Despite its cliche stint toward the end of the film, "Four Days
in September" takes a true event and turns it into an intriguing
story with a dynamic characters.
Stephanie Sheh
Grade: B+
"Deep Rising"
Directed by Stephen Sommers
Starring Treat Williams and Famke Janssen
Oh no! A big, giant, supernatural monster is gonna eat us!
Haven’t we seen this before? Like just last week? It was called
"Phantoms."
Anyway, this week’s great scary monster is a sea dweller so
hungry that he’s decided to eat an entire ship full of people. But
unlike "Phantoms," which had no character development, "Deep
Rising" actually takes time to cultivate an intriguing situation
for those stranded on the Argonautica.
Treat Williams is a scrappy mercenary who is taking a boatful of
mysterious militia men into the middle of the South China Sea. But
when they stumble upon a deserted luxury liner dripping with blood
and filled with skeletons, they realize something is amiss. The few
survivors on the cruise ship include a jewel thief (Famke Janssen)
and the ship’s suspicious owner (Anthony Heald) who looks
remarkably like Nick Nolte.
What’s interesting about this movie is that the disgusting sea
creature is not the passengers’ only enemy. Everyone has a secret
agenda and distrusts one another. It’s survival of the fittest.
"Deep Rising" tries hard to be as funny as possible,
interspersing one-liners with horrible mangling death scenes every
couple of minutes. But while the characters do say the darndest
things, their personalities, as in most horror movies, are sadly
underdeveloped. The filmmakers probably figured the audience
shouldn’t get too attached to characters who are just
lunchmeat.
Williams, who is better known for supporting roles in "The
Devil’s Own" and HBO’s "The Late Shift," handles the gruff leading
hero part with zest. He’s not exactly Harrison Ford, but in a movie
of this quality, he’ll do. But his contrived romance with leading
lady Janssen is silly, completely forced and very unnecessary.
The movie’s comic relief comes in Kevin J. O’Connor’s character,
Pantucci, whose initially witty one-liners may come off as amusing
in the beginning. But by the end of the movie, his annoying
Peter-Brady-adolescent voice will just grate everyone’s ears.
While "Deep Rising" is far from a good movie or even a good
sci-fi horror movie, it is taking a step in the right direction:
giving the human characters something else to do and think about
besides getting away from the scary beast.
Aimee Phan
Grade: C-
"Great Expectations"
Directed by Alfonso Cuaron
Starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft and Robert
DeNiro
The Dickens classic, "Great Expectations" is a love story for
the truly pathetic. An earnest and impoverished boy falls in love
with a haughty, bitchy rich girl. He professes his love and
devotion to her. She ridicules and spurns him. Then they grow up.
And guess what? He still loves her and she’s still pretending she
hates him.
In the latest rock n’ roll version of this famous 19th-century
novel, it’s Ethan Hawke as Finn (originally named Pip) and Gwyneth
Paltrow as Estella dancing to the familiar tunes of unrequited
love. Set in South Florida, Finn is a poor orphan who dreams of
being an artist. He is introduced to the wealthy and demented Ms.
Dinsmoor (originally named Ms. Havisham, and wonderfully overacted
by a vampy Bancroft) and her beautiful, conceited niece, Estella.
After years of being spurned by the prissy little princess, Finn
gets the chance to become a famous artist in the new aristocracy,
the Manhattan art scene. The arrival of fame and fortune also
brings Estella back into his life, making Finn even hungrier to
become worthy of the object of his affection.
While the movie is gorgeously shot in the primary shades of
green and black, the modern soundtrack complements the emotions of
the characters, and the actors do their best with their paltry
lines, the movie can’t hold up with its weak and pretentious
script. The characters talk like they belong in some artsy-fartsy
indie film. They pose and pout for the camera in all their
well-tailored glory. Several of the novel’s most important plot
twists are also ignored, making such unforgettable characters, like
DeNiro’s mysterious prisoner, seem like skeletons of their original
fabulous selves.
The novel’s original lesson of social understanding and
acceptance of one’s character is lost in the movie version. But
Hawke and Paltrow do have a remarkable chemistry and the love story
between their characters was tweaked up a little so it’s not as
one-sided as it was in the novel. Hawke portrays the complexities
of his character impressively, from the cockiness he uses when
schmoozing with art dealers to the vulnerability that always comes
out whenever he’s with Estella. Paltrow beings a sensitive frailty
to the otherwise manipulative Estella, helping the audience to
understand why Hawke’s character is so obsessed with her. But
despite the stellar performances, the movie still can’t live up to
any decent moviegoer’s standard expectations.
Aimee Phan
Grade: B-
"Desperate Measures"
Directed by Barbet Schroeder
Starring Michael Keaton and Andy Garcia
Studios tend to save their sure-fire hits for either the summer
or fall box office seasons, leaving January a month to release the
leftovers. "Desperate Measures," due out on Friday, is one of those
winter releases, and it shows.
While "Desperate Measures" falls under the overdone
action/suspense genre, Michael Keaton’s performance drives the
storyline, making it a film that his fans won’t want to miss.
"Desperate Measures" features Keaton in the role of convicted
homicidal sociopath Peter McCabe who holds the survival of police
officer Frank Connor’s (Andy Garcia) son, Matt (Joseph Cross) in
his hands. Matt has a rare bone marrow disorder and needs a
transplant from a perfect match, which happens to be that of
McCabe’s. McCabe, who is serving a life sentence in a
maximum-security prison is thus given the ability to do a heroic
act with no real-world benefit for himself.
From Keaton’s first scene, his enthusiasm for playing the killer
is apparent. The prison cell shot of a shirtless Keaton doing arm
curls with water-filled bags is absolutely chilling. When he meets
Garcia for the first time, his look and demeanor morphs to that of
an evil Batman, but with a voice a little like that of Billy Bob
Thornton in "Sling Blade." Playing the part beautifully, Keaton
never deviates from the crazy-genius killer that his role demands
of him.
After a little haggling Connor gets McCabe to agree to the
operation. And guess what? McCabe manages a cunning escape and
tries to elude capture, knowing full well that he is no good to
Connor if he dies, which forces Connor to put his son above the
law.
Andy Garcia is decent as the concerned father. But it seems as
if he’s just cruising through the role, just saying lines in his
trademark style with a few tears here and a few tears there. The
cat-and-mouse game gets old pretty quickly even though director
Barbet Schroeder, through fast-paced sequences,does a fine job of
creating harrowing scenes.
What the film lacks is originality. Keaton’s homicidal maniac is
reminiscent of Anthony Hopkins’ role in "Silence of the Lambs" and
the Nicolas Cage/John Travolta villain in "Face Off." "Desperate
Measures" finds its mark when Keaton is in front of the camera, but
seems to reach a bit when he’s off.
Michael Nazarinia
Grade: B
"Gonin"
Directed by Takashi Ishii
Starring Koichi Sato, Naoto Takenaka and Takeshi "Beat"
Kitano
The Japanese gangster film has long been one of the more
interesting genres to come out of Japanese cinema. Though far from
perfect, "Gonin," translated as "The Five," which begins its
week-long engagement at the Nuart today, continues this successful
legacy by serving as a hybrid of gangster themes intermingled with
gay romanticism while being shot in a style that conjures up images
of the surrealistic Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali film, "Un Chien
Andalou."
Former erotic manga (Japanese comic book style) artist Takashi
Ishii weaves together a plot involving a gang of five men, down on
their luck, who decide to rob the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia. After
the robbers succeed, the Yakuza vow revenge and enlist the hit-men
to track down the intrepid quintet.
Though the premise comes off as awfully unoriginal, "Gonin"
distinguishes itself from more customary gangster pictures with a
lack of a noticeable hero or anti-hero. Instead, Ishii gives the
audience an intriguing portrait of a wide assortment of characters.
The five Yakuza robbers include a homosexual disco owner, an
androgynous street hustler, a macho ex-cop, a blond pimp and a
sociopathic corporate salary-man played by Takenaka (the hilarious
Mr. Aoki in "Shall We Dance?").
Legendary Japanese actor "Beat" Kitano gives an amusing
tongue-in-cheek performance as a sadistic, gay hit-man who
constantly picks on his masochistic lover. Even though the quirks
and oddities of these characters go over-the-top to the point of
silly caricature, they come off as twistedly engaging.
"Gonin" is often disjointed and contains confusing bits of
dialogue that might perplex some viewers. These things are
compensated for however, with eye-popping visuals that make urban
decay look romantic. Ishii’s background as an artist helps create a
bizarre comic book feel. "Gonin" is full of gaudy colors,
flashbacks, split-screen images and beautifully choreographed
action sequences that should no doubt please the Luc Besson/John
Woo contingent.
Tristan Thai
Grade: B