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 Dead Man. New York City filmmaker Jim Jarmusch turns his
dry wit on the rough and tumble world of cowboys in this stylish,
idiosyncratic western. Johnny Depp stars as a city slicker who
accidentally becomes a fugitive from the law. He flees into the
black and white, virgin wilderness aided by a dispossessed Indian
named Nobody (Gary Farmer). Jarmusch alternates between making
fun of the whole idea of a western and embracing that idea with
all his heart, resulting in a delightfully complex blend of humor
and horror. One moment the movie seems like a spoof of a Marlboro
ad, while in the next the characters are murdering one another
in serious, cold blood. A blistering (and after 134 minutes, quite
annoying) soundtrack by Neil Young keeps Jarmusch's customary
slow pace rolling along, though by the end of the movie you'll
wish Young knew some new chords. The lack of women in the cast
and a slightly camp tone paired with a fascination for violence
make Dead Man hazily reminiscent of a gay porno flick--which
is quite an achievement. Finally, all that male bonding, buddy
energy is exposed for the psychosexual drama it is!
Emma. What would Jane Austen think of the movie adaptations
of her novels? How would she conduct herself at a Hollywood opening?
Surely she would be appalled at the sudden excess of Jane Austen
movies, as she was appalled at the excess of almost anything else.
But the glut of 19th-century literary adaptations continues with
a new version of Emma, Austen's most lighthearted novel.
Gwyneth Paltrow stars as a young woman with the unfortunate habit
of meddling in other people's affairs. The plot is the same as
in Clueless, except the women in Emma wear nightgowns
and the guys ride horses. Emma is not as good as Sense
and Sensibility, but if you like to see meek girls find husbands,
it's a perfectly solid movie, and Paltrow has such a beautiful
smile that it's a delight to watch her even when she's not quite
in stride.
The Island of Dr. Moreau. Though this movie misses every
opportunity to be good, it still manages to be quite entertaining
due to great acting and the magical world of special effects.
Marlon Brando stars as Dr. Moreau, H.G. Well's latter-day version
of Dr. Frankenstein, a mere man tampering with the life God gave
us on a remote island and creating...monsters! Dog monsters, cat
monsters and hyena monsters. When will we ever learn? Brando is
so great, and his costumes are so bizarre and magnificent, that
he alone is worth the price of admission. Val Kilmer is also very
good as the Doctor's petulant, fuck-it-all assistant, and nobody
can cringe as well as David Thewlis. The filmmakers scrupulously
avoid any "unnecessary" character development, and the
whole man-beast-science theme is left totally untended--making
this flick ultimately seem unfinished and pointless. But the beast-men
are very cool.
LONE STAR. Director John Sayles delivers an offbeat, thoughtful
examination of border life and love in this winding tale of one
lawman searching for his roots. Chris Cooper plays a divorced
Texas sheriff trying to sort out fact from legend, particularly
in regard to his father, who may or may not have been a bad kind
of a guy. His search leads him across the big, dusty state and
into a half-dozen different recollections of a puzzling past.
Though the characters have an annoying propensity for explaining
their motivations in gruesome psychological detail, and though
Sayles (as always) can't resist an opportunity to preach the liberal
cause; and though the production values of this movie are so shoddy
that nearly 20 annoying minutes of it are out of sync, Lone
Star still somehow manages to be an engaging, surprising film.
TRAINSPOTTING. Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh, this
hip, streetwise movie meanders through the underworld of Scottish
drug culture with a cold, steely eye. A group of disillusioned
blokes sneer, shoot-up and slug their way through the stupefying
sludge of middle-class life, hoping drugs or crime or a combination
of the two will help them transcend the boredom and humility of
being young, without ambition and Scottish. The funny, fast-talking
characters don't have enough direction in their lives to allow
this movie to have a plot, but who needs a plot when you have
such a great script?
A VERY BRADY SEQUEL. The characters from the popular TV
series are back, bringing with them our collective nostalgia for
a time when their blandly, happily broken home captured the hearts
of the nation. The Brady's are still stuck in the seventies (though
the world has aged around them), and they're still blithely unaware
of the 20-million dollar price tag on that decorative horse in
the living room. Carol's first husband reappears, coveting her,
the horse, and threatening the stability of a whole generation's
paradigm of what it means to be a family. A loving recreation
and exaggeration of every little nuance of the original TV show
is at the heart of A Very Brady Sequel--if you know the
name of the Brady's dog, you'll probably like the movie.
The White Balloon. The first feature-length film from director
Jafar Panahi and winner of the 1995 Camera D'Or prize, this Iranian
film casts a sweet but sober glimpse into the life of a little
girl in downtown Tehran. Panahi's film has the slow rhythm and
attention to inner life typical of the films of Satyajit Ray or
Ingmar Bergman. The story is about Razieh (Aida Mohammadkhani),
a determined 7-year-old girl who wants nothing more than a certain
beautiful goldfish to decorate her family's house for the New
Year. Partly because the adorable Mohammadkhani, who shouts
all her lines, is so utterly appealing; and partly because the
market of Tehran, where she ventures out to buy the fish with
her mother's money (under strict instructions to bring back change)
seems like no place for a little girl to be wandering by herself,
her quest for the fish is surprisingly moving. Though The White
Balloon is about children, it isn't really a children's movie.
The subtext is probably too dark for younger kids, and there's
a sense of threat, nuance and subtlety better suited to those
with an attention span that extends beyond Xena Warrior Princess.
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