I’ve only sampled this black-and-white fantasythe first live-action feature by the Brothers Quay, the London-based American twins best known for their music videos and Prague-influenced puppet animationand I wasn’t terribly engaged, though if you’re looking for something more recent in the Eraserhead/Guy Maddin school of creepiness, this may be the only noteworthy candidate. Inspired by the novella Jakob von Gunten and other works by Swiss writer Robert Walser and cowritten by Alan Passes, this dark, obscure parable about a moldering absurdist boarding school for the training of servants, seen from the vantage point of a recently enrolled student, may strike you as vaguely Kafkaesque, but only if you haven’t read much Kafka. With Mark Rylance, Gottfried John, Daniel Smith, and Alice Krige. (JR) Read more
Robert Duvall plays an Arkansas cracker in his 60s who discovers that his biological mother was black and drives to Chicago to meet his half-brothera policeman played by James Earl Jonesand other newly discovered relatives. Directed by Richard Pearce from an original script by Tom Epperson and Billy Bob Thornton (who also collaborated on One False Move), this picture is an obvious labor of love that glimmers with feeling and insights at every turn, above all in its performances. Duvall is wonderful and Jones is, quite simply, magnificent (the manner in which he assigns his character a slight stammer is only one example of the perfection of his playing), while Irma P. Hall as one of the relatives isn’t far behind. With Michael Beach, Regina Taylor, and David Keith. (JR) Read more
A moving, informative, and consistently absorbing two-hour documentary by Jon Blair about the famous Jewish teenager who kept a diary while hiding with her family in Amsterdam during World War II and died in a concentration camp at the age of 15. Offering a less mythological view of her than the highly successful play and film based in part on her diary, this also tells us about the rest of her family and the other people who hid in the apartment, as well as what happened to them afterward. The most memorable character is the unassuming Miep Gies, the non-Jewish Austrian employee of Anne’s father, who risked her life daily to protect the Frank family and who is interviewed at length. Kenneth Branagh serves as narrator, and Glenn Close reads aloud passages from the diary. (JR) Read more
Apparently deciding that there still isn’t enough murderous hatred in the world against Middle Eastern Muslimsespecially the kind that’s milked for the purposes of light entertainmentproducer Joel Silver thoughtfully decided to add to the pool. One more evil Islamic terrorist hijacks one more 747, and it’s Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal to the rescue; they actually manage to sneak on board while the planeloaded with enough nerve gas to wipe out half the eastern seaboardis halfway across the Atlantic. The mechanics of what the commandos must do before mounting their attack keep this fairly absorbing as a routine thriller; it’s the concept of what this movie is doing to us that makes me want to throw up. Directed by Stuart Baird from a script by Jim and John Thomas. With Halle Berry, John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt, Joe Morton, and David Suchet. (JR) Read more
Peter Greenaway’s most controversial feature (1993, 122 min.), in part because it’s so unrelievedly unpleasant without ever actually seeming atypical of his work. Set in France during the mid-17th century, it centers on the birth of a baby boy that’s mythologized for various ends, initially because it marks the end of childlessness in a city. The child’s older sister (Julia Ormond), a virgin, claims to be his mother; when she attempts to seduce the bishop’s son (Ralph Fiennes), he’s gored to death by a cow. Ultimately the baby is dismembered, and the sister is raped to death by 217 soldiers, each one pardoned in advance by the church. This being a Greenaway film, no character is shown sympathetically, the action is lushly and rather beautifully filmed (by Sacha Vierny) on a single set, and the whole thing is staged as a play within the film. I watched it to the end out of a sense of duty, not with pleasure or any hope of edification. (JR) Read more
The most popular non-American movie shown at the 1995 Cannes film festival, this fresh and unpredictable comic thriller from Iran is a first feature by Jafar Panahi, a former assistant to the great Abbas Kiarostami (Through the Olive Trees), who’s credited, with Panahi and Parviz Shahbazi, with the screenplay. The film describes in real time the adventures of a seven-year-old girl and her older brother in the streets of Tehran during the 85 minutes that elapse just before the celebration of the Iranian New Year. After convincing her mother she needs another goldfish for the celebration, the girl sets off to buy one, but twice en route to the store loses the banknote she’s been given; most of the remainder of the film is devoted to her efforts to get the money back. If the plot sounds slender, the movie is both gripping and charming, with well-sketched characters and expert storytellingand Panahi’s efforts to redefine our sense of time along the way are remarkable. A masterpiece, one that grows in impact and subtlety over repeated viewings.84 min. (JR) Read more
