Hopefully this will be the end of the capsule reviews:
Toto the Hero (1991): A Belgian film this one telling of a man who is convinced that he has been raised by the wrong set of parents and that this caused him to miss out on all of the good things in life, including his love for his sister who wasn't really his sister as far as he was concerned. If this makes it sound like some sordid sex drama, it's definitely not. Rather the film amusingly traces his resentment and his fantasies at various stages in his life -- as a boy, as a young man and as an old one; the irony comes at the end when he is mistaken for the man he always thought he was.
Chasing Liberty (2004): Watchable but utterly forgettable story of the President's daughter looking for freedom and "lurve" on a European escape. Mandy Moore, one of the more acceptable singers turned actress of the younger set, falls for an English photographer without knowing that he is really a secret service agent who is meant to be guarding her.
Lady in White (1988): An intriguing ghost story as a well-known writer looks back on the events of his childhood which changed him forever. Lukas Haas (the Amish lad from "Witness") gives a terrific performance as a 10-year old locked in a school cloakroom after hours and how his experience leads to solving a series of child murders going back over ten years. It mixes scares with warmer moments, especially in his relationship with his close-knit Italian-American family. Seek it out if you can.
Trust (1991): Another Hal Hartley film (his second) which stars Martin Donovan, his archetypal leading man, as an awkward and anti-social type who befriends a teenaged pregnant girl, whose father keeled over dead when he heard the news and whose mother reckons that she is therefore beholden to do her bidding forever. There's not a great deal more to the story, but one keeps watching absorbed.
The Passion of Darkly Noon (1996): With a really super cast of Brendan Fraser, Ashley Judd, and Viggo Mortensen, it is surprising that this film is not better known. Perhaps the fact that it is extremely weird in its details and violent in its development explains its anonymity. The writer-director, Philip Ridley, also made the very strange "Reflecting Skin" (which again few people have seen). Both of these have been shown on UK television, so there is hope that they will pop up again.
Back to normal soon says Pretty Pink Patty.
1 comment:
Reflecting skin was one of those films that changed my concept of film, if I'm thinking of the right one. It was part of a BBC2 season, 1994, back in the days when they used to show stuff worth seeing. Also with Viggo Mortensen. A film based on image and the thoughts of the characters, and the mystery of their life rather an idea of plot. Such deep colours of the country too, built up pain from years past, which just kept rolling over into its inevitable conclusion, yet seen from the child's eyes it was confusing (like you had 2 viewpoints). Seeing something else of his would be good too.
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