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Tuesday, November 25, 1997

Screen scene

"Never Met Picasso"

Directed by Stephen Kijak

Starring Margot Kidder and Alexis Arquette

The feeling one gets when watching "Never Met Picasso" is that it could be a very polished made-for-TV-movie. There is nothing extraordinary or compelling about the film, but like movies made for television, it has a strong narrative form that never bores.

Funny thing, because the film was born out of a script that Kijak wrote for the Lifetime cable network. The script was sent back to the director/writer/producer by the cable network saying that it was "too cinematic for television. The realized script is a cross breed between cable drama and film, something one might be reluctant to pay $7 for at the theater, but love to watch on TV.

The story has been dealt with often, in one strain or another. A young male artist, Andrew Magnus (Alexis Arquette) has a creative block. All around him are friends and family artists who are leading intertwined lives full of love, craziness and growing pains.

Some might argue that the fact that the majority of the characters are gay, lesbian or bisexual is a reason the film could be thought of as atypical. But the film sets itself apart from gay films whose storylines always need to be centered around "gayness" by likening itself to standard drama fare. It ends up more like a light comedy/drama whose characters just happen to be gay.

In fact, the film does reach a mild level of triteness seen in light drama in the message it sends across: "Look at these artists. Look at the artsy lives they lead full of wine, culture and norm-threatening sex." The film does try to make a point on the way gay artists have not been included in history. This lends a superficial twist to the mediocrity of the storyline.

But the simplicity and easiness of the script can be easily overlooked by the strong narrative, which is simply entertaining and enjoyable.

The film's strength lies in the acting and character interaction. The relationship between the tortured Magnus and his older, gay uncle Alfred (Alvin Epstein) who is a painter himself, are sweet, sad and full of kicks. Alfred's mother (Margot Kidder) is brash, limelight-loving and gets involved with Andrew's lesbian friend, Lucy. That's only part of the complicated relationships.

At times, the film seems too conscious of its desire to show these art people living in their non-mainstream world. However, "Never Met Picasso" makes for a simply amusing film with colorful characters.

Michelle Nguyen

Grade: B

"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Starring Kevin Spacey and John Cusack

When Hollywood decides to make a movie based on a beloved best-selling book, devoted fans of the novel are often disappointed by the film translation. Characters are changed and important plot twists are eliminated to fit a several hundred-page book into a two-hour movie.

The makers of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" must have been aware of this when translating John Berendt's phenomenally popular novel into a film. The two-and-a-half hour film (which feels like 100 hours) consequently takes on a very slow pace, often wasting precious screen time to show off the lazy Southern hospitality of Savannah, the celebrated city where the movie is set.

And while the acting is excellent, the premise is intriguing and the characters are suitably colorful, the film is flawed with long, unnecessary scenes that drag a once interesting story into a blandly appealing tale that could have been told in half the time.

Journalist John Kelso (Cusack) arrives in Georgia to cover an elite Christmas party hosted by society gentleman Jim Williams (Spacey). From his first day, John quickly realizes that there is something disturbingly quirky about this genteel town: a man walks an imaginary dog in the park; another man walks around with fruit flies tied to him; a voodoo priestess hangs out in the cemetery at midnight to conduct "business."

When, at the end of the party, Williams is arrested for murdering his lover (Jude Law), John suspects that these events could provide great material for a new book. Befriending Williams, who confidently claims that the murder was in self-defense, John begins to interview and investigate the town, whose odd citizens prove to be much more unusual and eerie than he originally thought.

While the movie does have some dramatic and comic highlights, these scenes are often interspersed with incredibly dull and slow ones. For every hilarious moment with John and his flirtatious transvestite source (The Lady Chablis, portraying herself), there's a boring scene with John and his bland love interest (Alison Eastwood. Hmm, how'd she get that job?).

"Midnight," however, is saved by the excellent acting by several of its cast members. Spacey is electrifying as the rich and charming millionaire who still oozes Southern charm even in his prison clothes. Jack Thompson delivers an impressive performance as Williams' lawyer whose mood depends on the winning streak of the University of Georgia's football team. Because of these exuberant performances and director Eastwood's lovingly elaborate images of the beautiful Savannah landscape, the movie can almost be forgiven for some of its drawn out scenes. Almost.

Aimee Phan

Grade: B+

"My Mother's Courage"

Directed by Michael Verhoeven

Starring Pauline Collins

If the title's simplicity is any indication - and it must be, or else how can we forgive such a drippy title - surely "My Mother's Courage" could have been that tenderly observed homage it wanted to be, if only director Verhoeven had given some basic form to an obviously basic story.

As it stands, the movie is a muddled hodgepodge of documentary, production notes, public service announcement, play-acting fantasia and (almost incidentally) narrative cinema, all of which create a stylistic fuss that would better serve a rock opera, not a sweet biography of an old woman.

Adapted from a play by George Tabori, the film recollects one miraculous day in the life of Tabori's mother, Elsa (Pauline Collins), a Hungarian Jew who escapes deportation to Auschwitz simply by walking out the doors of her confines. Her strides toward freedom last for about 10 minutes, and yet the scene is apparently the namesake of the entire movie.

The scene has power, no doubt, but in its emergence we come to realize how dispensable the rest of the movie is. Sure, the filmmakers are adamant about the uniqueness of their project; the movie examines Jewish deportation as seen in Hungary, not in Germany or Poland. But a change in geography means nothing unless there is a change in dramatic discourse. And "My Mother's Courage" is too recognizable in its intentions to be compelling along these lines.

Verhoeven opens the movie with real documentary footage of an Nazi officer denying atrocities and ends the movie with the inevitable body count of the dead. By choosing these strategic bookends, Verhoeven directly takes on the Holocaust as a subject matter.

The problem is, the movie's tone is flippant at the same time: we see the real George Tabori meeting the actors of the movie, stopping action to explain a scene and narrating whenever convenient. These gimmicks sever all ties to what is real, and the foremost obligation of any film tackling the Holocaust is to say "this is real."

Verhoeven could have easily stayed on the periphery of the Holocaust (as Agnieszka Holland did with her wonderful "Europa Europa") by refraining from stylistic commentary and concentrating on the personal narrative in front of him. But Verhoeven wants it both ways, and consequently his film runs off in every which way, when all we want to do is follow this one woman who becomes remarkable - not necessarily because of her courage - but simply because she has a son who remembers her.

Tommy Nguyen

Grade: C+