by Lynda Del Sasso
Holy Smoke
USA 1999, Cert. 18
Director: Jane Campion
Star rating * * *
Aussie traveller Ruth (Kate Winslet) joins a sect in India
and becomes the devoted follower of a Guru. Back in Australia,
her alarmed family engage the services of a well-known
American 'exit counsellor' to reclaim their daughter.
The counsellor, PJ Waters (Harvey Keitel), isolates Ruth and,
with the support of her family, begins her spiritual
deprogramming. Very soon, a reversal of power takes place when
the conflict turns from religion to sex.
New Zealand-born director Jane Campion (Angel at My Table, The
Piano) was struck with the idea for this film mid-air on a
long flight back from India. She was interested in exploring
sexual politics and the phenomenon of seduction between a
powerful older man and a young woman. An interesting premise.
Unfortunately, she then hired her sister to write the script.
Holy Smoke is a good film, but it's a film that should have
been so much better. Kate Winslet in the lead role is superb.
The cinematography is impressive - especially the arid
Australian landscape shots - and there are some amusing
special effects (as when the Guru touches Ruth, a third eye
opens in her forehead) - but the script repeatedly misses
dramatic potential and lacks character development. Instead we
are confronted with comic cut-out, ever bickering family
members, and a Harvey Keitel struggling to bring life to an
ageing Evangelist stereotype. Most of the characters seem
highly impressionable and it's difficult to reconcile the
director's original vision with the finished product, even
though in visual terms Holy Smoke is exquisite.
(Duke of York's from April 7)
Lake Placid
USA 1999, Cert. 15
Director: Steve Miner
Star Rating * * *
Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda) is a palaeontologist with a
distaste for the great outdoors. She is despatched for her
first field assignment to Black Lake, known to the locals as
Lake Placid, after a mysterious and gruesome death occurs.
Scott's nature phobia is a constant irritant to Fish and Game
Warden Jack (Bill Pullman), while the local and not terribly
bright Sheriff Hank (Brendan Gleeson) is an irritant to
everyone. Betty (Golden Girls) White plays another scatty
character who lives by the lake and feeds blindfolded cows to
the monster lurking there. In best suspense-horror tradition,
a rich eccentric expert in the shape of Oliver Platt (Bulworth,
Dr Dolittle) arrives, and the hunt for the monster begins in
earnest.
Written and co-produced by Ally McBeal's David E. Kelley, you
wouldn't expect this film to take itself too seriously, and it
doesn't. Indeed, what rescues Lake Placid from being just
another run-of-the-mill monster flick is the film-makers'
decision to play it for laughs. Bill Pullman, Oliver Platt and
Bridget Fonda work well together and the creature effects are
competent, if not exactly breathtaking. Honest, escapist fun
with no pretensions.
(UGC & Odeon from April 1)
Boys Don't Cry
USA 1999, Cert. 18
Director: Kimberly Pierce
Star Rating * * *
Based on a true story, this is an unusual tale of love,
gender identity, rape and murder. Teena Brandon (Hilary
Swank), a male born into a female body, becomes Brandon Teena
and travels to Falls City, Nebraska in search of love,
adventure and freedom. In Falls City, Brandon meets Lana
(Chloe Sevigny) and is accepted into her white trash social
sphere. Lana's family and friends grow fond of Brandon and the
couple embark on a romantic relationship. When Brandon
inadvertently trespasses between his new love and her reckless
friend John (Peter Sarsgaard), Brandon's secret unravels into
violence.
This small indie film, which cost less than $2m to make, came
into being because of the obsession of young first-time
feature director Kimberly Pierce.
Inspired by the life of Brandon Teena, Pierce co-wrote the
script as her graduate thesis. As a short, it was nominated by
the Columbia Faculty for the Princess Grace Award and received
a production grant in 1995.
Hilary Swank was recently awarded a Best Actress Oscar for her
interpretation of Brandon, and while there's no doubt that she
is an impressive actor, her performance as a man is not always
convincing. Boys Don't Cry is a fascinating story, even though
the subject matter seems somehow more suited to a TV movie
than a full-scale cinematic production. If the whole feels
unbalanced, perhaps it's because the director took no
liberties with artistic licence. Or perhaps it's because we
are so used to seeing this sort of subject thrashed out on The
Jerry Springer Show that we have unrealistic expectations of
in-depth examinations and background details.
(Duke of York's from April 21)
|
