THAI SHTICK
Movies to get you high this August
HEARTBREAKERS
USA 2001, Cert. 15
Director: David Mirkin
Star Rating * * * *
Maxine Conners (Sigourney
Weaver) and her daughter Page (Jennifer Love Hewitt) are
successful con artists, but an increasing sexual rivalry is
tearing them apart. Although Page longs for independence, her
mother persuades her that they should pull one last big job as
a team, after which they'll go their separate ways. The women
travel to Miami Beach and target repulsive, heavy-smoking
billionaire William B. Tensy (Gene Hackman) but unknown to
them Maxine's previous stooge Dean (Ray Liotta) is on their
trail. Directed by David Mirkin (Romy & Michelle's High
School Reunion) Heartbreakers is a pacy and fast-moving comedy
of the old style, packed full of cleverly constructed scenes
and an abundance of one-liners. Sigourney Weaver, in superb
physical condition for a woman in her Fifties, once again
proves her acting talent by shining in a comedy role. Ray
Liotta and Gene Hackman too put in first class performances as
a greasy gangster and a smelly, obnoxious old man
respectively. Its all held together by a sparkling script
which not only has us believing in these characters, but
making us care about them too.
OK, so the humour is not
earth-shatteringly original, but nor is it the gross-out bad
taste shockfest that cinema audiences have been offered all
too often recently. Heartbreakers is reminiscent of the
lovingly-crafted screwball comedies of old - played for
laughs, with gag following gag in quick succession. And this,
surely, is no bad thing for a film designed to make people
laugh.
Odeon and UGC from August 24
TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER
Thailand 2000, Cert. 18
Director: Wisit Sasanatieng
Star Rating * * *
 Rumpoey (Stella Malucchi) and
Dum (Chartchai Ngamsan) have been in love since they were
children. Back then, Dum saved Rumpoey from drowning and
acquired a crescent scar on his forehead while defending her
from rednecks. As students in Bangkok, Dum again rescued
Rumpoey's honour, and was expelled from college for fighting.
Their romance blossomed. Dum promised to work hard and save
enough to marry, while Rumpoey promised to be there for him
regardless of her father's reaction. If she was forbidden to
marry him, she promised to wait for him in the sala by the
river. But fate interceded and Dum joined a cowboy gang and
became a gunslinger nicknamed Black Tiger.
Rumpoey, whose father has
engaged her to another man, keeps her appointment to meet her
sweetheart by the river. But Dum, held up by a gunfight,
arrives too late. Rumpoey contemplates suicide…. A pastiche
of Thai melodramatic cinema of the Fifties and Sixties,
Wisit's highly stylised film is shot in saturated colours,
abounds with screen-wipes and trick camera-work, and concerns
itself with vanished themes, styles and characters. Although
the romantic scenes drag to the point of stagnation - perhaps
deliberately, who knows? - there are some amusing gunfight
sequences and the costumes and colour are a kitsch treat. But
at close to two hours long, the whole joke wears very thin
indeed.
Tears of the Black Tiger marks
Wisit Sasanatieng's feature debut as a director and
screenwriter, and the actors too are all relative newcomers
with little or no previous feature film experience. It's no
surprise that the film-maker comes from a solid advertising
background. The film was heavily marketed in Thailand by
serialising a novelisation of the screenplay in a popular
magazine before its release. When the film entered
distribution, Wisit released the story as drama serial for
radio, so by the time it reached cinemas, his work was very
well known.
So will Tears of The Black
Tiger become a worldwide cult hit as predicted? Well, in true
nostalgic style, the audience must decide.
Duke of York's from August 24
copyright New Insight 2001
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