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Lynda
Del Sasso previews this month's new films
Insomnia
US 2002, Cert. 15
Director: Christopher Nolan
Star Rating * * * 1/2
 Los
Angeles detectives Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and Hap Eckhart
(Martin Donovan) arrive in the small town of Nightmute,
Alaska to help solve a murder. It is high summer, so the
sun doesn't set and the perpetual daylight causes Dormer
to suffer from insomnia. Young local policewoman Ellie
Burr (Hilary Swank) idolizes the hard-nosed LA detective,
as she studied his work at Police Academy, and together
they set about solving the mystery.
Christopher
Nolan, British director of Memento, has shifted the action
of this mainstream thriller - a remake of the 1997 Norwegian
film of the same name - to Alaska, and the setting works
well. The jagged Alaskan landscape and striking cinematography
elevate this film above its unremarkable storyline and
lacklustre stars. Director of Photography Wally Pfister,
who also worked on Memento, excels at creating an eerie,
sombre mood and skilfully conveys a realistic impression
of fatigue and near collapse as Detective Will Dormer
(insomniac - geddit?) forces himself to work the case
while battling with sleeplessness.
Al
Pacino plays himself in familiar, world-weary detective
mode, while Hilary Swank brings no depth whatsoever to
her unchallenging rookie-cop role. There are implausible
plot devices galore (it's police practice apparently to
carry about evidence in unsealed bags) however these and
other minor defects can be forgiven as the visual strength
of Insomnia is quite remarkable.
Now
on release at Odeon and UGC.
Lantana
Australia 2001, CERT. 15
Director: Ray Lawrence
Star Rating * * * * *
In
a Sydney suburb, a dead body lies rotting. Nearby, police
detective Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) is having sex with
a woman he met at Salsa dancing class. Later he goes home
to his wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) who is secretly seeing
a therapist because she suspects her husband of having
an affair. Meanwhile, the therapist, Valerie Somers (Barbara
Hershey) feels alienated from her own husband John (Geoffrey
Rush) suspecting that he may be gay.
In
an opening reminiscent of David Lynch's Blue Velvet, the
camera steers us down into undergrowth, urging us to look
beneath the neat veneer of suburbia to the horror underneath.
The
Lantana of the title refers to an Australian shrub which
grows like a weed, with beautiful orange and yellow flowers
on the surface but with a tangled mass of spikey thorns
and twisted thicket beneath. This is a murder mystery,
but also, more interestingly, it's an in-depth study of
a group of interconnected characters. In the course of
the film's two hours, we delve deep into the characters'
lives, exposing the dark depths and pain of their tangled
emotions.
Tension
grows as we learn more about each finely-drawn character.
Which is the murderer? All are experiencing mid-life crises
- they are unhappy, frustrated, alienated, dealing with
loss in one way or another. It's a credit to the superb
cast that these characters are all perfectly plausible
and authentic.
Brilliantly
adapted for the screen by Andrew Bovell from his own award-winning
stage play, Lantana is intricate and compelling. Nearly
seventeen years have passed since director Ray Lawrence's
debut feature, Bliss (1985). Let's hope we won't have
to wait so long for his next one.
Duke
of York's from Sept 6.
copyright The Insight 2002
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