Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 14th, 2004
Synopsis
William Holden is an artist in Hong Kong. After an inane meet-cute, he falls in love withSusie Wong (Nancy Kwan), who turns out to be a prostitute. After the initial romance, all sorts ofteeth-clenching and agonizing of this and that make up the rest of the film. Pure soap-operatics,in other words. Having Holden fall in love with a forbidden woman in Hong Kong is just a bittoo reminiscent of Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (which itself is prettyunintentionally funny...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 14th, 2004
Synopsis
Maggie Smith is Miss Jean Brodie, history teacher at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls in1930's Edinburgh. Flashy, charismatic, flamboyantly romantic and toweringly arrogant, shegathers around herself a small group of girls who, willing acolytes, follow her everywhere. TheShe is perpetually at war with headmistress Celiea Johnson, has had an affair with married artteacher Robert Stephens (who is still obsessed with her), and is currently dallying with naivemusic teacher Go...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 11th, 2004
Synopsis
In an unnamed Eurpean country, during an unnamed war (vaguely WWII, but not quite), acompletely green recruit (Dexter Fletcher) is so horrified by his first encounter with combat thathe flees his unit after wounding his commanding officer. He runs across a gypsy caravan, and,disguised as a madwoman (the “rawney” of the title) he joins the band. As if things weren’talready difficult with being pursued by his unit, he also falls in love with the daughter of BobHoskins, the ca...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 11th, 2004
Synopsis
Jose Ferrer plays artist Heri de Toulouse-Lautrec. We first see him in full sardonic flight,sketching the denizens of the Moulin Rouge cabaret. He then meets a woman of the streets (whoemphatically does not have a heart of gold) with whom he falls in love, believing she seesbeyond his deformities. She doesn’t. The first half of the film traces this unhappy episode(spending a bit too long in getting to the obvious conclusion), and then we move on to hissuccess as a painter, ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 11th, 2004
Synopsis
Loosely inspired by the Fatty Arbuckle case, The Wild Party tells the tale of JollyGrimm (James Coco), fading silent movie funnyman. It is 1929, and he is making one last bid fora comeback by premiering his new film at a lavish party that he hosts with his mistress (RaquelWelch). His career is over, though he refuses to admit it. At the party, frustrations, jealousies andsexual shenanigans build to a murderous climax.
I never thought I’d see a film that someh...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 10th, 2004
Synopsis
Brian Dennehy, in perhaps his most colossal performance, plays Stourley Kracklite (how’sthat for a monicker?). This American architect, accompanied by much-younger wife (ChloeWebb), arrives in Rome to curate an elaborate exhibit celebrating an 18th-Century architect withwhom he has been obsessed most of his life. What should be the pinnacle of his career turns intoa nightmare. He suspects his wife is not only having an affair, but that she is poisoning him.
Dennehy’...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 10th, 2004
Joe Queenan is one of my favorite writers. He is the author of wonderfully amusing essays and books dealing with the subject of film. In his book Confessions of a Cineplex Heckler, he is bold enough to take on the challenge of watching every Merchant Ivory film, back-to-back. At one point late in the narrative, he has this to say:
As I sat there in my reclining chair with my kids lighting matches to my feet, I realized that God had created Merchant and Ivory for only one reason: because otherwise ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 7th, 2004
Synopsis
This is the story of the tragic arc traced by the relationship of three friends. Kevin Bacon isa cop, Sean Penn is a shady grocery store owner, and Tim Robbins is a hollow man, irreperablydamaged after being kidnapped by paedophiles as a youth. The three had grown apart, but theirlives intersect fatefully when Penn’s daughter is murdered. Bacon investigates the case, andRobbins cannot satisfactorily account for his actions the night of the murder, much to themounting distre...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 4th, 2004
Synopsis
Joe Orton was at least as controversial (if not more) for who he was than for the plays hewrote. Stephen Frears’ film (say its title aloud and fast and you’ll hear the rude pun) begins withthe murder of Orton (Gary Oldman) at the hands of his lover Kenneth Halliwell (Alfred Molina).Then, as biographer Wallace Shawn sets about reconstructing Orton’s life, the tales of friendsand relations (particularly agent Vanessa Redgrave) lead us into extended flashbacks, showingthe move...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 25th, 2004
Synopsis
The Company deals with a fictional season in the life of the Joffrey Ballet ofChicago. In between elaborately filmed ballet numbers, we see the behind the scenes strugglesand preparations, injuries and heartbreaks. The principle characters are Neve Cambell as a dancerwhose moment in the spotlight has finally come. She has attracted the attention of flaky artisticdirector Malcolm McDowell, and finds relief in arms of restaurant chef James Franco.
In some ways,...
