moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (05/24/85)
Various Seattle Film Festival Snapshots:
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THE YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN (Poland, 1984)
Director/Screenwriter: Krzysztof Szczerbjec
Cast: Maja Kororowski, Scott Wilson, Hanna Skarzanka, Ewa
Dalkowska, Daniel Webb, Vadim Glowna.
The paragraph describing _The_Year_of_the_Quiet_Sun_ in the
Seattle Film Festival's program ends with the statement, "This film
is so beautiful it hurts." Well, they're half right...
This film has many of the elements I find most annoying in foreign
films. This film has many of the elements I find most annoying in
DOMESTIC films. Well, it's one of those romance movies where
Polish widow is courted by an American G.I. when the Iron Curtain
is being raised. Multiple hardships are borne by both, and it ends
with the American's attempts to get his love out of Poland.
Gosh, a nice standard romance film. What do I dislike about it?
Well, how about a heroine who makes Sister Theresa look like Joan
Collins? A hero who sounds like he's a lost son of the Jed
Clampett? A romance which is NEVER believable? A Polish
criminal who runs around looking like Rocky Rococco? I'll admit
that this is beautifully shot, and that there are enjoyable moments;
but it purports to be the story of two people in love, and these two
are definitely unable to get this impression across to the audience.
Write it off.
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THE HIT (Britain, 1984)
Director: Stephen Frears
Screenwriter: Peter Prince
Cast: John Hurt, Laura del Sol, Terence Stamp, Tim Roth, Fernando
Rey
_The_Hit_ can be consider a well-done, competent crime drama
with a few comic overtones. It will definitely be coming to A
Theatre Near You in the next year; and while it is contains neither
great drama or outstanding entertainment, it is a
"good-to-middlin'" effort which you can hardly fault. The story
dwells on two hit men's (Hurt & Roth) attempt to kidnap from
Spain a man (Stamp) who informed on several criminal compatriots
years before; they plan to bring him to Paris for execution before
Stamp's old cronies. However, things begin to go awry early in the
picture: A witness is left alive to the kidnapping; a beautiful
woman is brought along for the ride; and, most annoyingly, Stamp
seems perfectly happy to be lead to his own funeral, an attitude
which distresses the hired killers a great deal. The odd humor
derived from the latter situation is what gave me the most
enjoyment from _The_Hit_, that and the Miami Vice photography
and direction style. This reminds me of one of those "crooks on the
run" movies of the early 60s, strained a bit through 70's stylish
violence. Not a movie to see on first run, but at budget theatres or
on cable, a definite possibility. Especially if Miami Vice is a repeat.
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A TEST OF LOVE (Australia, 1984)
Director: Gil Breally
Screenwriter: Chris Borthwick and John Patterson, from the true
story _Annie's_Coming_Out.
Cast: Angela Punch McGregor, Drew Forsythe, Tina Arhondis,
Monica Maughan, Mark Butler, Charles Tingwell
How's this for a screenplay: A child, brain-damaged at birth, is
assumed to be hopelessly retarded and placed in a state institution
for the rest of her life. In fact, she is not mentally retarded; her
nerve centers have been crippled so that she cannot control her
movements. But her mind, trapped inside of her twisted body,
cannot make contact with those attending her, and she grows up in
one of the most horrifying situations imaginable. However, a new
hospital worker enters the scene, realizes the girl's intelligence, and
helps her through a remarkable series of battles (some physical
and emotional, some legal) to free her from the institution. Now,
how about the fact that the whole thing is based on a true account
(written by the handicapped girl herself)? I mean, how could you
ruin that as a basis for a movie?
First, you could turn it into one of those sugary-sweet Australian
tear-jerkers which seem to be coming up from Down Under over
the last few years. You can get a leading actress (Angela Punch
McGregor) who overacts to such a degree that her portrayl of the
crusading psychologist makes the character appear to be a
hysterical, self-righteous prima donna. You can ignore the plight of
the main character to dwell on the soap-opera aspects of
McGregor's character's relationship with her boyfriend. You can
make the rest of the hospital out to be stereotypes of blackhearted
fiends and/or idiot bureaucrats (the head doctor at the hospital
would be twisting his mustache if he had one). You could add
photography so uninspired that it looks like it was done to
resemble an ABC after-school special. You could add a soundtrack
sappy enough to make the music from Lassie Come Home sound
like Wagner. In general, you could lose this excellent story in a
soggy mess of pity and _Rocky_-emulation. That is not to say that
this is a total failure -- this is a story that should be told, and it is
good enough to break through Pee Wee Herman directing it. But I
becomes so annoyed at the poorly thought-out and slapdash nature
of this film, and the condescending theme it casts, to make me
condemn it as one of the worst docu-dramas to come across in
years. It strikes me as an insult to use the story of these
determined young women as a low-budget morality play, designed
to evoke pity instead of the credit that Annie (the handicapped
girl) truly deserves.
In other words, a thumbs down.
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And an addition to Peter Reiher's comments on SEX MISSION: From
the previous review, and comments made in the Film Festival
program, I had supposed that this would be an extremely sexist
movie, something I would be uncomfortable with as a comedy.
However, I found this negated in that all the characters, both male
and female, are such buffoons as to totally negate comments about
men and/or women in power. Both sexes are equally lampooned,
and this makes for one of the nicest surprises I've encountered yet
at the festival. The humor is so universal (and so well-done) that
this movie might catch on rather widely. At the very least, it could
be re-made with Bill Murray in the title role....
"And that was the end of Grogan, the man who killed my father,
raped and murdered my sister, burned my ranch, shot my dog, and
stole my Bible!"
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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