by Lynda Del Sasso
Open Your Eyes (Abre Los
Ojos)
Spain 1999, Cert. 15
Director: Alejandro Amenabar
(Duke of York's from March 10)
Star Rating * * *
Confident,
handsome, rich Cesar (Eduardo Noriega) is a 25-year-old who
has it all. A string of beautiful girlfriends, a loyal best
friend, the means to do exactly as he pleases with his life.
Then one day he has an accident and his life changes. Or does
it? This complex psychological thriller mixes reality with
illusion and presents a disjointed narrative, but in such a
way that we can't help but be intrigued to discover the truth.
We see Cesar interviewed by his psychiatrist - is he insane?
We are presented with events from different points of view.
Which, if any, really happened? Open Your Eyes throws up some
interesting issues: the importance of physical beauty, the
subjective nature of reality, death, even cryogenics. The
ending is rather disappointing and yes, perhaps the narrative
drive has fizzled out by then, but the film is engaging and
thought-provoking. More so because it was written by young
director Amenabar in only six months and shot on location in
Madrid in seven and a half weeks.
Definitely a new director to watch.
The Hurricane
USA 1999, Cert. 15
Director: Norman Jewison
(Odeon & Virgin from March 24)
Star rating * * *
Denzel
Washington stars as Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter in this biopic
based on the true story of a middleweight boxer who was
arrested for murder one evening in 1966. Based on Carter's
autobiography The Sixteenth Round, this is the story of a man
convicted on purely circumstantial evidence to spend three
life terms in prison. Despite impassioned pleas by various
individuals over the years, including Muhammed Ali and Bob
Dylan (who wrote the song Hurricane to draw attention to the
boxer's plight), Carter remained behind bars for 22 years.
Denzel Washington has been nominated for an Academy Award for
his excellent portrayal of Carter, but sadly the film suffers
from the American tendency to paint characters in flat black
and white. The bad guys are evil villains, the good guys
willingly sacrifice themselves for the cause, and there isn't
much in-between.
Being John Malkovich
USA 1999, Cert. 15
Director: Spike Jonze
(Duke of York's from March 17)
Star Rating * * * *
A
fresh movie is something we don't come across too often. That
is, a film which is original and surprising, which has a
unusual story to tell and which is a delight because for a
change we don't feel that we've seen it all before. Being John
Malkovich is such a film - a comedy fantasy with weird
surprises at every turn. Without giving too much away, the
plot revolves around Craig Schwartz (John Cusack), a jobless
puppeteer, and his wife Lotte (a barely recognisable Cameron
Diaz), a pet-shop employee who likes to bring her work home
with her. The hard-up couple are trapped in a routine marriage
until Craig takes a job as a filing clerk with LesterCorp, an
unusual company on the seventh-and-a-half floor of a Manhattan
office block. Craig falls in love with beautiful but cruel
colleague Maxine (Catherine Keener) and discovers a hidden
tunnel - a portal to another world. Soon Craig and Maxine are
selling tickets to this other world, while Lotte experiences
something of an identity crisis.
The feature debut of Spike Jonze, a pop video director, and
the screenwriting debut of Charlie Kaufman, the film has
elements of the Coen brother's quirkiness spiced up with an
Alice-in-Wonderland surrealism, yet despite its fantastical
storyline, the plot is firmly anchored in a classic love
triangle. It all gels together well, and the lead actors put
in first class performances - especially John Cusack,
Catherine Keener and John Malkovich. It's all rather bizarre,
but it's hugely entertaining and certainly deserves its double
Academy Award nominations (for director and screenplay).
A Clockwork Orange
(re-issue)
UK 1971, Cert. 18
Director: Stanley Kubrick
(Odeon, from March 17)
Star rating * * * *
Long-awaited cinematic
re-release of the film Kubrick himself banned in the UK after
receiving personal death threats and being accused by the
press of inciting 70s youth to violence. Based on the Anthony
Burgess novel about a futuristic gang of teenage delinquents,
led by Alex (Malcolm McDowell), who routinely go on nightly
rape-and-beating excursions.
Though visually fascinating with its fast and slow motion
sequences, witty space-age set design and great soundtrack,
Kubrick's film fails to engage emotionally and is very much a
product of the 70s. Tame by today's standards but a powerful
piece of cinema nonetheless.
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