Illuminata . Tucson Weekly . 09-13-99

Illuminata

DIRECTED BY: John Turturro

REVIEWED: 09-13-99

John Turturro directs himself as Tuccio, a bastardly playwright involved with Rachel (Katherine Borowitz), who heads a theatre troupe of misfits, sluts and clowns. Cinematographer Harris Savides paints a magnificent backdrop for the movie's shenanigans, and there's some above-average supporting roles from Christopher Walken as a decrepit gay critic, Susan Sarandon as a vainglorious actress, and Ben Gazzara as Rachel's addled father. Despite its virtues, the plot is too scattered, rarely allowing us to understand the characters or their actions; and like the theatre folk it portrays, it can be pretentious and annoying at times. It also suffers from the mannered acting and precious dialogue that hamstring a lot of plays adapted to the screen. Illuminata definitely has a certain quirky charm, but the main reason I'd recommend it is for the amazingly wicked puppetry in the opening credits.

--Greg Petix

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