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Film Clips
JULY 5, 1999:
 AN IDEAL HUSBAND. In this period piece based on Oscar Wilde's
play, a ne'er-do-well (well-played by Rupert Everett) and a young
parliamentarian are drawn into a web of evil by the cupidity of
the lascivious and mendacious Mrs. Chevely (played with delicious
wickedness by Julianne Moore). The film begins strongly and finishes
well, but bogs down a bit in the middle. Still, lots of good fin-de-siecle
style quips and decadence make this a reasonable divertissement,
although it would probably be more fun to just sit around your
drawing room drinking absinthe and engaging in witty banter with
your cadre of illicit lovers.
--James DiGiovanna
THE RED VIOLIN. Perhaps in response to the vast amounts
of dead wood in many Hollywood films, director Francois Girard
casts a violin as the star of this Canadian production that follows
an instrument through various owners. The violin is cleverly animated
through the voice of a 17th-century tarot card reader who tells
its future and lets it serve as tour guide across four centuries
and five countries. The narrative structure is similarly engaging
as a contemporary auction is the touchstone from which flashbacks
of its travels emerge and converge. Also, sound and image are
harmoniously fused together as the score dictates and justifies
much of the pacing. Kudos to you, Red Violin, and also
to your supporting actor, Samuel L. Jackson, who courts you without
shame. --Polly Higgins
THE WINSLOW BOY. David Mamet's first stab at directing
someone else's story is a smashing success that will have almost
no appeal for American audiences. There's no sex, no violence,
and the surface plot about a young boy accused of theft is there
merely as a distraction from the real story about a 29-year-old
woman who must marry in order to survive in 1920s England. Her
story is left largely unresolved, with only subtle hints at its
outcome, and one of the major plot motivators is never revealed
to the audience--each time it comes up the characters whisper
inaudibly to each other. While this will no doubt infuriate or
bore most Hollywood-trained theater-goers, it is Mamet at his
best, dealing with the difficulties of rule-based human relationships,
and it deserves a wider audience than it will no doubt get. Starring
the impeccable Rebecca Pidgeon and the delectable Jeremy Northam.
--James DiGiovanna
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