• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Thursday, March 19, 1998

Screen Scene

FILM:

"Niagara Niagara"

Directed by Bob Gosse

Starring Henry Thomas and Robin Tunney

If ever there was a more depressing movie, the audience would just commit a mass suicide. Luckily, "Niagara Niagara" does not quite cross that line, and the result is a beautifully moving yet disturbing love story.

It's the tale of a troubled young couple's unusual road trip, as they travel to Canada in search of a rare doll. Seth (Thomas), an emotionally-starved loner who spends his free time shoplifting, meets Marcy (Tunney) in a department store where they collide in a pile of stolen merchandise that they both had taken. She expresses her strange desire for an African American version of a popular make-up doll. After a second chance meeting, Marcy impulsively suggests that they hit the road to find the object of her obsession. Eventually it's obvious that Marcy is an unusual young woman who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome, an obsessive-compulsive disorder that produces vocal and physical tics and outbursts.

Throughout the movie, the two must deal with Marcy's deteriorating condition after pharmacies deny her feeble requests for medication; the problems they encounter with people who do not understand her strange behavior; and their growing love for one another.

There are no particularly lovable characters in "Niagara Niagara," although the premise initially suggests that the audience should cheer for Marcy. But that's until her violent outbursts cause the audience to develop an ambivalent feeling toward her. The audience soon develops an ambivalent feeling toward each of the miserable characters, and ultimately the story seems better watched objectively.

Tunney gives an outstanding performance in a physically and emotionally demanding role. While playing such a volatile character could easily lead to overacting, Tunney balances the range of emotions well and allows the audience to truly understand, and sometimes empathize with, Marcy. Playing with much subtlety and strength, Thomas is also noteworthy as the more grounded and practical of the two, although his performance in the beginning of the movie is a little weak, delivering his lines in a somewhat unnatural manner that luckily disappears once the film gets going.

The opening scenes of the film are generally the weakest, not only because of Thomas' dull performance, but also because of an unrealistic plot, in which Marcy and Seth meet under somewhat forced circumstances. Their friendship seems to be established so quickly that the audience wonders if they had already known each other beforehand.

Later in the movie, the couple also goes on a continuous alcohol and prescription drug binge to which they feel no apparent negative effects. It is hard to believe that this lethal combination taken in such large doses would not at least render them slightly lethargic.

However, "Niagara Niagara's" dramatic climax and resolution more than make up for its earlier inadequacies. The intoxicating blend of music and striking cinematography and interesting dialogue draws the audience into their sad world and provides for an emotionally intense, if draining, experience.

Louise Chu

Grade: A-

"Wide Awake"

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Starring Joseph Cross, Robert Loggia and Rosie O'Donnell

This movie is about kids. This movie is about God. This movie is about single-sex prep schools. But believe it or not, this movie is about everybody.

While "Wide Awake's" premise may appeal to a limited audience, its story is universal. Ten-year-old Cross stars as Joshua A. Beal, a prep school kid on his first day of the fifth grade, several months after the death of his beloved grandfather (Loggia). Joshua has a hard time adjusting to life without his grandpa, although his yuppie parents (Denis Leary and Dana Delaney) and nun schoolteacher (O'Donnell) tirelessly try to comfort him with the typical "you're-just-a-little-kid" answers. Unsatisfied by their well-meaning condescensions, feelings of uncertainty and loss prompt him to embark on a search for God, which takes him on an adventurous journey characterized by the wide-eyed innocence of a precocious young boy.

The movie is laced with flashback scenes between Joshua and his Grandpa that would surely touch anyone who has ever suffered the loss of a loved one in their childhood.

Each actor gives a strong, heart-felt performance, particularly Loggia, who is extremely endearing as the sweet, ailing grandpa. Cross, in his feature film debut, is cute and talented, although his acting inexperience is evident in scenes when he must show emotional extremes, such as laughing uncontrollably or crying.

Writer and director Shyamalan's loosely autobiographical work has a refreshing blend of humor and poignancy that surprisingly does not come off sappy until the very end. There are some hilarious moments in the film that are funny, not necessarily because it is comic genius, but because they capture the essence of childhood. Anyone who has been a kid (that would be almost everybody, right?) is instantly taken back to the moment they first noticed the opposite sex or the experience of knowing, or even being, the kid everyone picked on.

"Wide Awake," admittedly, is much more meaningful to those who can identify to being raised in an upper-middle class, Catholic, single-sex environment. But its beautifully entertaining story inspires even the most cynical, world-weary wretch out there. "Wide Awake" teaches you how to appreciate life, which is something to which everyone can identify.

The majority of the movie is tolerably sweet, but the end reminds you why you stay away from kids' movies. The final 15 minutes are a bit overdone and overly sentimental, and many will leave the theater puking from the fairy dust. But when the dust settles, you'll be glad that you took this much-needed break from "U.S. Marshals" and "Dark City."

Louise Chu

Grade: A-

"Primary Colors"

Directed by Mike Nichols

Starring John Travolta and Emma Thompson

It really is amazing that we live in a country that allows a movie like "Primary Colors" to be made. The very premise of the film, a fictionalized but all-too realistic depiction of the electoral campaign of the current U.S. president, would rule out its conception in most other nations.

While it is a testament to the First Amendment that "Primary Colors" opens Friday in a theater near you, the film itself just isn't bold enough to deliver what its first half promises. Instead of being a harsh satire of American politics and the presidential rise of Bill Clinton, it opts to play it safe as a genial comedy and, in its final half-hour, a saccharine melodrama. A film that could have been as smart and funny as "Wag the Dog" becomes as slow and mushy as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

The somewhat disappointing final product really can't be blamed on any one party. The performances are all very good, the writing is clever and the direction is solid. The real difficulty arises in the film's total lack of conviction in itself and its own ideas. Whereas films like "Wag the Dog" and other political satires have real messages about the way the political game is played, "Primary Colors" just wants to have a good laugh at the president and maybe remind us of just what a great country we live in.

The movie is short on plot. (After all, everyone pretty much knows the outcome before the opening credits.) Basically, an incredibly naive and idealistic bureaucrat and campaign worker (Adrian Lester) joins the campaign of Arkansas Governor Jack Stanton (Travolta, doing an impressive Clinton impersonation). In a mad attempt to win the Democratic Primaries, Stanton and his staff face off against accusations of adultery, drug use and draft-dodging, as well as a thousand other obstacles.

Perhaps the best thing about "Primary Colors" is the hilarious performance of Billy Bob Thornton, whose turn as the back-woods, redneck, good-ol'-boy campaign advisor provides far and away the most laughs in the entire film. Thornton, who proved his acting abilities in 1996's "Sling Blade" now shows that he is capable of being extremely funny as well. Also giving a winning performance is Kathy Bates as an old friend of the Stantons enlisted to dig up dirt on any and all opponents for the Democratic nomination.

Unfortunately, these good performances are wasted in the film's final half-hour, which pulls a complete turn-around in tone and theme from the rest of the film. Whereas the first 90 minutes are witty and maybe even brutal, the film's conclusion is sappy, manipulative and smarmy. The film changes immediately from fun and enjoyable comedy into silly and condescending melodrama. A potentially engaging diatribe about politics becomes more like a "God Bless America" rally.

Lonnie Harris

Grade: B-Henry Thomas and Robin Tunney star as unconventional lovers Seth and Marcy in Bob Gosse's "Niagara Niagara."

Comments

Post a comment