Friday, October 31, 1997
Screen Scene
"The Red Corner"
Directed by Jon Avnet
Starring Richard Gere and Bai Ling
Those who think that corrupt legal systems in far-off countries
don’t matter need to watch "The Red Corner." They need to see an
American lawyer (Richard Gere) on a business trip to China get
pulverized by a corrupt legal system with a motto of "leniency for
those who confess; severity for those who resist." They need to
watch Gere get framed as a murderer, arrested and thrown into a
Chinese jail with brutal guards and less-than-sanitary conditions.
They need to see him fight for his life in a tainted trial with no
one on his side but a court-appointed lawyer.
Director Avnet ("Fried Green Tomatoes," "Up Close and Personal")
hopes that when audiences walk out of the theater, they will start
to care. He hopes his audience will watch disturbing violations of
human rights and demand changes.
But to incite his audience, he needs them to feel like they have
experienced China. And one of the most powerful ways he shows this
intense social pressure is through the fabricated town that was
built specifically for the movie from actual parts of China.
Taking place in Beijing, the sets used for the film are
excellent because they convey a general feeling of restriction.
Through their narrow, twisted streets and tightly clustered homes
and shops, the sets provide the sense of a cowering community being
crushed by a severe government.
But it is the acting, of course, that really brings this
claustrophobic feeling home. Fear is etched into the faces of the
principle actors as they sit in their tense courtroom, knowing they
are all being monitored by an inescapable government.
Gere shows the frustration of a powerless individual under the
control of vicious jail guards, uncaring judges and a lawyer who
has to be convinced to listen to his side.
But it is Bai Ling ("The Crow," "Nixon") who really shines. As a
quiet follower of Chinese rule, her character starts to grow
frustrated with her own silence against oppression. Ling literally
transforms before the audience’s eyes. Her gentle mannerisms become
stronger and her eyes grow bolder as she begins to speak up for her
client and herself.
The storyline itself is unfortunate in that, in the end, it
takes away from some of the film’s emotion through a couple of
highly unbelievable twists.
Also, while it is based entirely on well-known facts, one has to
wonder how much of it is tainted by the American perspective. It is
essentially an anti-Chinese legal-system story, and backs up its
negative stance with powerful facts, but the film’s American bias
should still be taken into account.
Even if it is mildly corrupted by its lack of objectivity, "Red
Corner" is an interesting story about a man’s struggles for freedom
and independence in a foreign land. If nothing else, it will
certainly make viewers think twice before taking an apathetic
stance the next time a person is victimized by a foreign country’s
violation of human rights.
Emily Forster
Grade: B
"Switchback"
Directed by Jeb Stuart
Starring Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover and Jared Leto
An FBI agent versus a brilliant, psycho serial killer. Who will
win?
Keep in mind this is a typical Hollywood studio film, so who
always wins? In a movie that follows the action-thriller craze,
"Switchback" suffers from inadequate characterizations, a promising
but ultimately disappointing premise and an utter lack of
originality.
Quaid stars as Frank LaCrosse, a very serious FBI agent whose
son has been missing for three months in the hands of a serial
killer. As the audience soon learns, the serial killer could be
either two mysterious drifters: a railroad worker (Glover) or a
wandering hitchhiker (Leto). Too bad you can tell after the first
couple of scenes who the bad guy is.
The movie hurries to the requisite dramatic showdown between
Quaid and the killer, complete with big explosions and railroad
hijinks in the snowy Colorado mountains. While the plot does seem
familiar, it is notable for its convincing acting and excellent
direction.
Glover dominates the film with his half-charming,
half-terrifying character who hides everything he does with a
jovial grin on his face. You’re not sure whether to hug him or hold
a gun to his back. Leto holds his own as a disillusioned med school
dropout in an understated but effective performance.
Quaid, however, is haplessly stuck in a role that requires
little for him to do but look grim and then look even grimmer. For
a character who has just lost his son to a homicidal maniac, Quaid
doesn’t express much emotion, which is disappointing given his
flashy and passionate work in such past films as "The Big Easy" and
"Wyatt Earp." We are supposed to sympathize with LaCrosse the most,
yet we know little about his personal life except for what he tells
the local sheriff (R. Lee Ermey in a warm and scene-stealing
performance). It’s as if the film respects this stoic hero too much
to bother providing him with a soul.
Stuart, who is best known as a screenwriter ("The Fugitive,"
"Die Hard"), is impressive in his directorial debut, seemingly
handling the dramatic and action transitions with ease.
While "Switchback" is your typical action thriller, there are
some significant highlights (there is a great opening scene
reminiscent of "Scream" with the serial killer stalking a
baby-sitter in an empty house late at night) that make this movie
something to see if there’s nothing better to do.
Aimee Phan
Grade: B-
"Eye of God"
Directed by Tim Blake Nelson Starring Martha Plimpton, Hal
Holbrook, Kevin Anderson and Nick Stahl
The devil made me do it. But in Tim Blake Nelson’s low-budget
"Eye of God," the next fashionable defense could very well be "God
made me do it."
Religious fundamentalism breaks loose as Bible-toting parolee
Jack (Kevin Anderson) meets and marries his pen pal Ainsley (Martha
Plimpton), a lonely waitress from Kingfisher, Okla.
With the discovery of a bloodied teenage boy, Tom (Nick Stahl),
the film toys with time from the very beginning. The stream of
seemingly unconnected events resembles the stylistic technique used
in "Pulp Fiction." But Nelson is no Tarantino.
The disjointed and fragmented structure of "Eye of God"
annoyingly dangles the plot like a carrot for about half of the
film. But it’s all too easy to lose interest in the carrot and go
out for something tastier.
Plimpton and Anderson really hit a couple of emotionally intense
scenes. But with monotonous Keanu Reeves-like voices, together they
sound like they’re reading lines from a teleprompter.
Nelson’s direction is provoking at times as particular shots of
the background – devoid of characters and action – reveal a hidden
omnipotent presence looking down from above.
But awkward dialogue betrays his screenwriting clumsiness. For
example, a romantic scene with Jack and Ainsley suffers from
adolescent naivete with corny lines like "Can I kiss you?" and "Can
we do that again?"
As Ainsley attempts to flee from a domineering Jack, the story
of his violent crime and Ainsley and Tom’s tragic friendship does
pull itself together. In a flash of revelation, all the pieces of
the puzzle finally fall into place.
Spouting allusions to Abraham and Isaac, Jack transforms into a
chilling figure of religious zeal. Unfortunately, miserable acting
and writing oddities detract from a compelling theme that questions
God’s role in a cruel world.
William Li
Grade: C+
MGM
Chinese court-appointed defense advocate Shen Yuelin (Bai Ling)
is the only thing standing between Jack Moore (Richard Gere) and a
death sentence in "Red Corner."