Screen Scene

Friday, November 15, 1996

"The English Patient"

Directed by Anthony Minghella

Starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche

The great romantic war film was a genre from Hollywood’s Golden
Age that seemed to be extinct in today’s growing obsession with
action movies and never-ending sequels. Happily, Anthony Minghella
has brought a film that recalls that genre, complete with spies,
betrayal and intrigue.

Based on the acclaimed novel by Michael Ondaatje, "The English
Patient" revolves around an amnesiac known only as the English
patient and how he affects the destinies of three people and their
views on love.

This exquisite film takes place in an abandoned Tuscany
monastery near the end of World War II where a French Canadian
nurse (Juliette Binoche of "Blue") is caring for severely burned
victim Count Laszlo de Almasy (Ralph Fiennes of "Schindler’s
List"). Waiting to die, Almasy is surrounded by memories of his
true love (Kristin Scott Thomas of "Four Weddings and a Funeral").
Through flashbacks, their tragic story is played out, intricately
detailing the events that led to his hospitalization. This movie
contains almost every aspect of a great old-fashioned romantic war
epic, with enough drama and wit to make the quite-lengthy 2
1/2-hour movie worth every minute. It flashes between two romances
that take place before and after the war: the ill-fated affair of
Almasy and his married lover, Katharine Clifton, to Nurse Hana’s
romance with a Sikh demolitions expert (Naveen Andrews).

Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas have wonderful romantic
chemistry together. Fiennes is magnetic as the obsessive Almasy,
who gives up his career and social standing to be closer to his
lover. Scott Thomas brings so much luminous grace to Katharine that
it is understandable why Almasy is so enchanted by her.

While the all-consuming affair between Almasy and Clifton
represents one side of romance, the courtship of Hana and her lover
Kip depict the gentler and sweeter type of love. With her doe-like
eyes and gentle smile, Binoche is radiant as the nurse who is
convinced that anyone she ever loves is doomed to die.

The movie’s celebration of love is somewhat different than other
movies’ conventional take on the fuzzy and sentimental side of
romance. It reveals the guilt, desperation and misery of loving
another person and how a lover’s spirit can haunt someone for a
lifetime. Combined with smooth, flowing direction, finely created
characters and the breathtaking scenery of North Africa and Italy,
"The English Patient" is possibly the finest romantic drama of the
year.

Aimee Phan

Grade: A

"The Mirror Has Two Faces"

Directed by Barbra Streisand

Starring Streisand and Jeff Bridges

Actor-singer-producer Barbra Streisand has taken to the
director’s chair again. The first time was for the somber and
heartfelt "Yentl" (1984), followed by 1991’s therapy
tear-jerker/love story "The Prince of Tides." Now, Hollywood’s most
powerful woman director has decided to lighten up a bit with "The
Mirror Has Two Faces," a romantic comedy that recalls the "Funny
Girl" Babs of yore. Unfortunately, the jokes are a bit too broad
and the storyline is way too predictable to make this film a
must-see for anyone … except of course Barbra’s legion of adoring
fans. (And they know who they are.)

Babs plays English professor Rose Morgan, a junk-food addict and
hopeless romantic who lives with her beautiful diva of a mother,
played by Lauren Bacall in a turn that has people talking about a
Best Supporting Actress nomination. Rose also has a beautiful
though shallow sister (Mimi Rogers, clearly having fun with her
part), who is marrying the man Rose dreamt about once upon a
time.

Enter math professor Gregory Larkin (Jeff Bridges), who like
Rose is a professor at Columbia University. He believes he has
pinpointed what ruins relationships: the corrosive effects of lust
and physical attraction. Claire (Rogers) answers the professor’s
personal ad for Rose, and after a time the two hit it off.

They seem to be ideally matched for each other, except that this
no-sex/no-passion business quickly wears thin with Rose, and her
requests for sex send Gregory into fits of panic.

Adapted from a French melodrama by screenwriter Richard
LaGravanese, "The Mirror Has Two Faces" has the kind of humor that
does its best to make sure even the dumbest guy in the theater
laugh along with everyone else. Lines of the "I look like Shirley
Temple on crack" variety fly fast and furious, giving the film a
sitcom-TV feel that no movie should shoot for. Streisand’s
direction is competent, her work with actors being her strong
point. Bridges, who usually goes in for heavier, more ponderous
pictures, works quite well as the handsome yet nebbishy professor
(and here he bears a never-before-seen uncanny resemblance to
Streisand’s two-time romantic comedy co-star Ryan O’Neal). As for
Barbra … well, she’s Barbra. She manages to pull off
self-directing with a fair amount of success, though this depends
on how you enjoy her performance. This film hinges on your Barbra
Quotient and whether you love her or not.

The film runs about 20 minutes too long, and because it’s a
romantic comedy, the story is very unsurprising. But if Barbra is
your cup of tea, then drink deep and enjoy.

Brandon Wilson

Grade C+

"Rift"

Directed by Edward S. Barkin

Starring William Sage and Jennifer Bransford

This stylish psychological drama spends much of its time showing
the inner thoughts of a sensitive musician in love with his best
friend’s wife. Writer-director Barkin sets up this love-triangle
premise, then quickly unfolds three enormously sympathetic
characters in a tour-de-force combination of nightmares, flashbacks
and hallucinatory visions.

This relatively short (90-minute) film successfully plays
against viewer expectations by never really settling into a
distance genre. Instead of the usual psycho-thriller trappings, the
film explores how knowledge can lead to self-deception and displays
a complex, underlying vision. The script is full of unconventional
twists and simple, unfettered dialogue that manages to flesh out
the realistic characters.

Although the movie’s highly ambiguous tone may turn off strict
fans of the psycho-thriller genre, this elliptical character study
features superior acting, directing, camera work and editing.

Ash Steffy

Grade: A-

"Carparti: 50 Miles, 50 Years"

Directed by Yale Strom

Starring Zev Godinger and Simiche Mermelshtein

This cinema-vérité style documentary delves deep into
sentimentality as it tells the true story of a poor, working-class
Jew (Godinger) who is the caretaker of a rapidly dwindling Jewish
and Gypsy community in the Ukraine. Yale Strom and his camera crew
filmed about 50 hours of video over a four-week period and much of
the footage is remarkable.

A handful of old Jews and Gypsies recount harrowing stories of
growing up amidst the murderous reign of the Nazis and their
collaborators. Godinger returns to his hometown of Vinogradov,
bringing the town’s first Torah, and attempts to locate his former
neighbors. At times Strom tends to linger on the old-timers more
out of respect for their ages than interest in their accounts.
However these. instances are more than made up by the inspiring
"jam" sessions of Carparthian Gypsies playing traditional klezmer
and Yiddish melodies.

Indeed, "Carparti" is an impressive, useful documentary of a
fading Jewish culture, but it is sloppily organized and not
tremendously watchable.

Ash Steffy

Grade: B

"Plan 10 From Outer Space"

Directed by Trent Harris

Starring Stefene Russell and Karen Black

In this tedious attempt at satire on Mormonism and space flicks,
a Salt Lake City girl (Russell) is thrown into a strange world of
conniving aliens and angry polygamists after digging up a
century-old book written by a mad prophet.

This movie has no association with the similarly titled "Plan 9
From Outer Space," Ed Wood’s infamous 1959 stinker. Cult
writer-director Harris tried to make his low-budget science fiction
film relevant to modern Mormon issues but missed the mark.
Unfortunately, the script merely dabbles in intelligent religious
satire, opting instead for an emphasis on crude, scatological
humor. Furthermore, the film is populated by mostly one-dimensional
caricatures, but Harris at least has the sense enough to allow them
to overact wildly, generating a few unintentional laughs. The
presence of film veteran Karen Black and some weird set designs are
the main points of interest in this largely unentertaining
spoof.

Ash Steffy

Grade: D