by Lynda Del Sasso
Before Night Falls
USA 2000, Cert. 15
Director: Julian Schnabel
Star Rating * * * 1/2
 In 1940s Cuba, poet and
novelist Reinaldo Arenas (Javier Bardem) is born into poverty
and is raised by his single mother and her family. As a
teenager, he runs away to join Castro's revolution but instead
is given a job at Havana's National Library. As his literary
talents begin to attract attention, Reinaldo settles into the
city's gay sub-culture until the 1960s, when Castro's
government clamps down on the 'anti-social elements' of
society and targets him as a subversive. In the 1970s, falsely
accused of molesting a minor, he is imprisoned and forced to
share cramped quarters with violent criminals. After escaping,
he attempts to flee to the USA, but it isn't until Castro
introduces his policy of exporting criminals and homosexuals
to the States, that Reinaldo is given his chance at freedom.
This above average biopic from
the director of Basquiat is as complex and, at times, as
baffling as its subject. Highly visual, it makes use of
multi-textured imagery to convey the suffering of the author,
and succeeds brilliantly but the script has been neglected and
many of the events are never explained. The audience is left
to wonder why Reinaldo is persecuted to such an extent while
most of his artistic chums and fellow gays are left in peace.
The narrative jumps back and forth in time, and cameo
performances by Johnny Depp as an army officer and prison
transvestite and Sean Penn are bizarre and brief. Actor Javier
Bardem's Reinaldo is convincing, but his Spanish accent in
this, his first English speaking role, is so heavy that lines
are often incomprehensible. This imaginative, poetic
impression of a life is still an accomplished work of cinema
and certainly worth catching.
Duke of York's from June 29
Ginger Snaps
US 2001, Cert. 18
Director: John Fawcett
Star Rating * * * 1/2
Teenage sisters Brigitte (Emily
Perkins) and Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) are best friends who
pride themselves on being different. Obsessed with death and
dying, these self-styled social outcasts delight in shocking
their high school teachers and classmates with their unusual
behaviour. The girls' long-suffering mother (Mimi Rogers) is
delighted when Ginger gets her first period, but little does
she know that Ginger has been attacked by a mysterious
supernatural beast, sparking blood-lust in her daughter.
Ginger slowly transforms from a weird teenager into an even
weirder creature. Hair sprouts from unusual places, a tail
forms, and Ginger begins to ache for sex (she thinks!) …
although it turns out to be an ache for something altogether
more sinister.
A fresh take on the werewolf
myth, Ginger Snaps is meticulously styled for the 21st Century
and designed to appeal to Buffy fans. All the essentials are
there - sex, blood, monsters, gore. And of course attractive
teenagers, comedic parents and a thumping soundtrack. Bound to
be a success possibly spawning a TV series. And, like Buffy,
it's well-made harmless fun.
Odeon and UGC from June 29
Together (Tillsammans)
Swed / Den / It 2000, Cert. 15
Director: Lukas Moodysson
Star Rating * * * 1/2
It's Stockholm, 1975, and
conventional housewife and mother Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren)
leaves her husband and moves in Goran, her hippy-pacifist
brother. Goran (Gustaf Hammarsten) resides in the suburban
commune Tillsammens - Together - a chaotic household where the
residents earnestly attempt to live a politically pure
lifestyle, but actually spend hours bickering, obsessing on
sex and drinking wine. Elisabeth and her two young children
gradually settle into this alter-
native world, until her
estranged husband decides to woo her back. This, the second
feature film from 32 year old director and screenwriter Lukas
Moodysson, displays many of the strengths of his 1998 debut
Show Me Love. The comedy is gentle, the characters well-drawn,
the detail perfectly observed. The 1970s social idealism is
tenderly presented in an affectionate, rather than judgemental
manner, and it all makes for a charming piece.
Duke of York's from July 27
copyright New Insight 2001
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