Fleshy pods make icky virtual images

eXistenZ (1999)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Virtual reality is a concept that is beginning to lose its luster partly because no one seems to have the imagination or the stamina to explore it. After enduring endless ordeals like "Lawnmower Man" and "The Matrix," one can savor the lurid, fascinating, uneven "eXistenZ," the latest from the twisted mind of David Cronenberg, who helmed mind and body experiments like "Crash," "Videodrome" and "The Naked Lunch."

"eXistenZ" stars Jennifer Jason Leigh as Allegra, a twisted, sexy computer designer whose latest creation is a game called eXistenZ, a virtual reality game where a bio-port is connected to the spine, and resembles a fleshy game pod made of amphibious organs and brain matter. The game begins, but this is not a world of razzle-dazzle computer pyrotechnics or laser beams or kung-fu fights. Instead, you experience a world where trout farms exist, guns made of chicken bones that fire human teeth, people walk and act like zombies, and Chinese waiters serve you two-headed amphibians. To make matters worse, Allegra enters her own game with a seemingly incompetent market trainee (Jude Law), who has not been accommodated with a bio-port.

"eXistenZ" never makes clear when it is a game or when we are seeing reality, although I am sure that in our reality, two-headed amphibians who seemed to have wandered in from Jurassic Park are non-existent. Nevertheless, Cronenberg's idea is to show that a faux reality may not be far from our own - our feelings and emotions dictate our fantasies, and some are more dangerous than others. If only he pushed further with this concept as Wim Wenders did with the dreamlike, humanistic "Until the End of the World," a parable about the danger of being addicted to visual images. Cronenberg wallows in grisly, fleshy details and sudden bursts of violence - the most impressive is the shooting of a Chinese waiter, which shows that the Jude Law character may be taking the concept of the game's "free will" too far.

The actors follow the command of Cronenberg's universe, and no one ever overacts even in the game. Jennifer Jason Leigh is indeed one of my favorite actresses of all time - a quixotic wonder with her expressive eyes, sexual demeanor, and wavy-like patterns in her blonde curls. She is the perfect Cronenberg heroine, and we side with her and hope she can survive her own destructive game. Jude Law reminds me of Rufus Selwell in "Dark City" - he handles his role with aplomb and subtle smirks directed towards the whole ridiculous show. I also enjoyed the tense, rat-like Ian Holm as the designer of the pods - it is a real kick to watch this actor repairing a bloody pod.

"eXistenZ" still has Cronenberg's continuing clinical obsession with flesh and bodily fluids - it affected me to watch these slimy appendages being applied to our semi-heroes in agony, as if they couldn't get enough. This is decidedly not meant for the "Matrix" action crowd. Thus, "eXistenZ" disturbs and intrigues, but it never is truly profound or provocative.

Chameleonic American Friend

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
(Original reviewed in 1999)

How does one comprehend the chameleonic Mr. Tom Ripley's actions, and his desires to be someone else by any means necessary? Is it an attraction to the posh lifestyle of his new friend, Dickie, or a need to come to terms with his own identity? Director Anthony Minghella's adaptation of Patricia Hightsmith's 1955 crime novel is as smooth and clever as the titled character, a thrilling, masterfully told thriller - an exemplary character study of deception and lies, and of an identity crisis in turmoil.

Matt Damon plays the youthful Ripley, whom we see at the beginning of the film playing the piano at a reception wearing a Princeton University jacket. He catches the eye of a wealthy New York ship magnate (James Rebhorn), who falsely assumes that Ripley went to college with his son, Dickie, considering that Ripley's jacket is emblazoned with a Class of '56 patch. Under false pretenses, Ripley is asked by Dickie's father to fly out to Italy to bring back his son, who is living the high life with his girlfriend, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). Once Ripley arrives in Italy and meets Dickie, he is introduced to a glamorous world of lavish parties, concerts, beaches, and hot jazz clubs. Dickie (Jude Law) is a difficult man to get to know, but he is immensely likable and full of energy. His girlfriend Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow) likes everyone, and takes a liking to Ripley who is the total opposite of Dickie. But slowly Ripley falls in love, and Dickie is the man he adores and wants to be - Marge and a snobbish friend of Dickie's (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are merely distractions in Ripley's fantasy world.

"The Talented Mr. Ripley" weaves its story and characters smoothly like a snake, and the slow pace exemplifies its creepy atmosphere - we get the sense that Ripley's intentions or goals are unclear throughout the film. What does he want with Dickie, and will he help Dickie's father or does he begin to see himself as Dickie? And who in fact is Ripley? Sure, he is a talented piano player and a gifted mimic, but who is the real Ripley?

Excluding "Good Will Hunting," I have not cared for Matt Damon as an actor, especially in the cartoonish funk called "Dogma." In the guise of Thomas Ripley, Damon finally finds a character as complex, mischievous and duplicitious as anything he's ever managed to play before. One moment he is a smiling simpleton who seems utterly harmless, the next moment he's a conniving, amoral, two-faced murderer. The transition is brilliantly executed by Damon and he makes us hold our breath every moment he is on screen - we are never sure how he is going to react. And to Damon's credit, he makes Ripley sympathetic, and there were moments when I was tense and scared for him since his murderous ways could be uncovered.

Jude Law, who played the cyber hero in David Cronenberg's "eXistenZ," displays an interesting range for his character - a devious, devilish grin that masks his own insecurities about getting close to people, and displays a gradual temperamental attitude toward Ripley. Law looks like he belongs in the past, and think of how well he could have fit in any of Hitchcock's thrillers, especially "Rope" or "Strangers on a Train." If Law did not utter a syllable, he would still be a commanding presence on screen, so let's hope Oscar nominations are in the running.

Gwyneth Paltrow turns in a surprisingly credible and intelligent performance, her best turn since "Hard Eight." Though the role is somewhat thankless and similar to the awful "A Perfect Murder," she gives the character, Marge, more weight and nuance than expected. She is amorous, lovable but she also is suspicious of Ripley, though she does love him as a friend. Paltrow slowly shows irritation at seeing Ripley everywhere she goes, especially after Dickie mysteriously disappears. It is a superb performance overall - I'd rather hand her an Oscar for this mature role than for her Oscar gold in "Shakespeare in Love."

Director Anthony Minghella, who previously helmed "The English Patient," follows Hitchcock's golden rule of psychological thrillers - to make us care for the characters enough that we feel for their safety, even for a murderer like Ripley. And no secret is made about Ripley, we know what he is and what he is capable of and so Minghella makes us wonder what will happen next. He also shows us the decor and atmosphere of Italy in all its splendor, and all the sights will make you wish you were there along with Ripley, Marge and Dickie.

Tightly structured and suspense built on characters motivations (what a rarity nowadays), "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is a masterpiece in the best tradition of Hitchcock. And there is a sense of emotional doom when Ripley discovers that he is not aware of his own identity, and may continue searching for any kind of identification. Brimming with vital supporting turns by Cate Blanchett, Philip Baker Hall and Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Talented Mr. Ripley" is a uniquely great film - it may leave you with a bitter taste but you won't soon forget it. Now that takes talent.

Adventures of Hoffman, Queen of the City

FLAWLESS (1999)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally written in 1999)

Robert De Niro never bores me, and he is always trying to make a fresh cut out of every character he plays. In "Flawless," De Niro plays a paralyzed cop, and this echoes memories of the mental patient he played in "Awakenings," yet surprisingly his role here is overcome by the dazzling Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Hoffman plays a drag queen named Rusty, who considers "herself" to be an artist - a showgirl with dreams of having a sex operation. Rusty is a show-off - always entertaining any and everyone including a group of drag queens who sing together loudly at his, or, um, her apartment. This infuriates a cop named Walt (De Niro) who lives across the courtyard. Walt is an aching homophobe who also has a low opinion of certain women. When one asks to tango with him, he replies, "You are a whore. She is a lady." One night, Walt gets a stroke when he hears a shooting and is paralyzed on the right side of his body. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that these two opposites, Walt and Rusty, will come together in some way - how and why is the reason of most of these movies with generic buddy-buddy formulas exist in the first place. When we think of this formula, Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte come to mind in "48 HRS." or De Niro and Charles Grodin in the fabulous "Midnight Run." I almost want to pair "Flawless" in the same company, but it is a near-miss.

In a matter of speaking, the thrust of "Flawless" is the developing relationship between Rusty and Walt, as Walt reluctantly takes singing lessons from Rusty to correct his speech impediment. This relationship is often threatened by a subplot involving a secret stash of money and some gangsters - somehow, this feels out-of-place and seems to come from another movie entirely. There are not enough scenes of Walt's inner life, or his relationship with a tango dancer or with his cop buddies. Director Joel Schumacher obviously has an affection for Rusty and the circle of drag queens - this may be very personal terrain for Joel but he never takes it as far as one would hope. Instead, we get more gangster threats involving stolen money and drug deals that make one squirm at the screenwriting level. Does a dead parrot and a kidnapped mother merit any attention in a character study like this one?

What is particularly invigorating about "Flawless" is Philip Seymour Hoffman - his performance is on par with Terence Stamp's subtle drag queen character in "Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." Hoffman makes the smart choice of not infusing any of the stereotypical cliches often associated with such a character - he makes her human and compassionate and appropriately effeminate. There are some scenes between De Niro and Hoffman, particularly when playing the piano and singing, that will take your breath away. Hoffman can easily add this character to his memorable turns in "Boogie Nights" and "Happiness" - this is an actor I will keep an active watch for in the future.

De Niro lends another fine character role to his oeuvre - it is a difficult part to play because he has to play it with a speech impediment (sometimes it is difficult to comprehend what he is saying). De Niro is essentially second fiddle to Hoffman, who has the showier part, but his character is too underdeveloped. The transition from homophobe to a compassionate human being is less credible than Nicholson's transition in "As Good As It Gets," but at least De Niro makes Walt touching in his frailness and inexpression.

"Flawless" has its share of flaws - the deletion of the gangster subplot would have improved things greatly - but it has a certain poignance and there are delightful zingers along the way, courtesy of Hoffman. And it is Hoffman's performance that is really flawless - he makes his affinity for Hollywood starlets very inviting. You feel like singing and dancing along with him.

Written in cold blood

CAPOTE (2005)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Capote" is not a big-screen biography of one of the most famous writers of the 20th century. In fact, this is one of the great films about the process of writing and how the subject of what one is writing can affect the writer so deeply.

The book was "In Cold Blood," considered one of the finest non-fiction books ever written. The writer was the fey, egotistical Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman). The movie begins in 1959 where Truman is enjoying the fruits of his success after writing "Breakfast at Tiffany's," though he feels the need to pursue something other than fiction. He finds it when he reads about the brutal slaying of a family in Kansas by two killers. The killers are apprehended and Truman sees the potential for a New Yorker magazine article, something to delight his crowd of friends and intellectuals. Capote visits Kansas with Nelle Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), another writer who has just completed "To Kill a Mockingbird." He wants to see the mutilated bodies and visit the murderers, as well as question the local police on the grisly details. After assimilating so much information, Capote decides that a non-fiction book would be more appropriate.

The killers are, as most true crime enthusiasts know, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins, Jr.) and Richard Hickock (Mark Pellegrino). Capote spends more time questioning Perry and developing his confidence in the story, realizing they both came from similar backgrounds. Capote feels pity for Perry and requests the help of top lawyers to avoid a death sentence. But something happens to Capote as he feels the essence of the crime to be too brutal to feel any kind of pity for the murderers. When Capote starts learning the details of the crime and hears a confession of true evil from Perry (one of the most startling, stark confessions of the power of evil since Polanski's "Death and the Maiden"), we see that Capote feels remorse and shame at himself for being lured by such a grisly crime.

Philip Seymour Hoffman gives the first truly knockout performance of his inspiring career (that he won an Oscar and so many actor's prizes for this role should come as no surprise). He captures Capote's look and voice with vivid fidelity, but there is more than gifted mimicry at work here. Hoffman captures the man's humanity, his loss of ethics and morals in writing such an emotionally draining book, and his growing disintegration through alcohol. His performance is certainly complex, evoking the deceit of his character and the bond he develops with Perry, despite fake promises and lies.

Catherine Keener is a slight weakness in the film's structure playing Nelle Harper Lee, Capote's dedicated friend. Somehow Keener is a little flat and doesn't have enough scenes - I would've been fine if her role was omitted altogether. Her role is so brief that you'll forget she was ever Capote's research assistant in the first place.

The real crux of the film is Capote's relationship to Perry and Clifton Collins, Jr. is exceptional as Perry. Collins doesn't channel Robert Blake or even Eric Roberts - he opts for a complacent quality that is just as creepy and realistic. Same with the short-shrifted role of Hickock, as played by Mark Pellegrino who has an eerie laugh.

"Capote" is not an entertaining film. It is a slow-paced, dark, penetrating look at the ethics of exploiting someone for the purposes of a book. It affected Capote till the end of his days, to the point that he never completed a book after "In Cold Blood." I get the sneaking suspicion that Capote might have wished he never wrote it in the first place.

Cruising with Penny Lane

ALMOST FAMOUS (2000)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
(Best film of 2000 - Review originally written in 2000)

Cameron Crowe is the Stanley Kubrick of rock n' roll cinema. Here is a man who takes his time to develop his stories before unveiling them to the public. Consider "Say Anything" in 1989, followed by "Singles" (his second best film) in 1992, to the cloying and superficial Tom Cruise comedy-drama "Jerry Maguire" in 1996. Four years later, Crowe has created his most personal film by far, and certainly one of his most insightful. "Almost Famous" is an autobiographical look at an ambitious reporter who loves rock n' roll music, and decides to interview a reluctant band. The only catch is that the reporter is 15 years old!

Newcomer Patrick Fugit plays overachiever William Miller (based on Crowe's own days as a teen reporter), who lands an unusual assignment - Rolling Stone has asked him to cover a story on the up-and-coming fictional band Stillwater. Apparently, Rolling Stone is astounded by his in-depth story of the band in the magazine "Creem." Lo and behold, the youthful, naive William now travels with Stillwater on the road across the United States. William stays in hotels, loses his virginity to a few groupies, develops a crush on Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), a groupie who is in love with the band's lead guitarist, Russell (Billy Crudup), and in short soaks up their grungy atmosphere while trying to record their thoughts on fame and the band's future on tape. As Penny grows charmed by the young man, she lets him know that he is "too sweet for rock n' roll." And so he is, to the point where William is continuously called by his overprotective mother, a college professor (Frances McDormand), who warns him about drugs by simply stating "Don't do drugs."

There are many people that dominate William's life. The most significant is Russell, whom he develops a strong friendship with based on mutual respect. Penny is an even stronger friend who helps to get William laid, but she is so obsessed over her relationship with Russell that she forgets he may not love her. There is also the "uncool" rock journalist Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who warns William that rock music's genesis, the need to lose control, is losing its potency and to be wary of rock musicians who will only use him to get a nice cover story. The last thing a band needs is negative press.

"Almost Famous" floats by on Patrick Fugit's charm and elfish eyes - he has the sympathetic ooze and trustworthiness of Tobey Maguire. He is so enamored by this band that he is willing to take risks along with them. This also means that William has to abandon his school career and pending graduation. But who cares when you have sex, drugs and rock n' roll! Fugit is so damn lovable and likable that it is impossible to hate the film for having such a warm, fuzzy character at its center.

Also worth mentioning is the up-and-coming actor Billy Crudup ("Jesus's Son") who shows a temperamental nature in Russell, particularly at a party where he does acid and begins to badger the kid. Russell is also changed by William, and realizes his mistakes in his affairs. Kate Hudson, Goldie Hawn's daughter, is also quite good as the emotionally fraught Penny, affected by William's puppy-dog eyes and sweetness - her near-overdose scene is also effective as William tries to get help and admits his love for her. Philip Seymour Hoffman is delightfully witty and on-target as Lester Bangs - he has the best one-liners in the film and should get a deserved Best Supporting Actor nomination. Frances McDormand offers fine support as William's mother who has a disdain for rock music on purely immoral grounds. Also memorable are Jason Lee as the group's loud lead singer who considers William the "enemy", and Fairuza Balk and Anna Paquin as groupies who are there for the music.

I could have lived without the tumultuous scene in a plane where everyone feels the need to confess to their sins or the far too tidy final scene, and yet there is nothing in "Almost Famous" that does not work. Every scene feels honest and truthful, and Cameron Crowe's gift is in keeping the camera static and observational. Crowe has a gift for colorful dialogue and situations, and for bringing the appropriate mix of pathos and realism from his actors. My favorite scene is when the band is on a bus tour and they sing-along to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer." A scene like that might have been laughable or contrived under lesser hands, but Crowe manages to find a family connection between the members of the band and it pays off with poignance. Maybe someone like Paul Thomas Anderson might have shown the grittier, soulless side of the 70's rock music era whereas Crowe's affection for his characters and his own tumultuous, personal connection to them does not allow for it. By refusing to be sentimental, Crowe has made one of the livelier, soulful films about the 1970's that I've seen in quite a long time.

Weird, wonderful, trippy ride thru a bizarre Oz landscape

WILD AT HEART (1990)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(One of the best films of the 90's)

'The whole world is wild at heart and weird on top'.

That statement could sum up director David Lynch's film career. It is a line delivered by Lula (Laura Dern), the sexy siren who has a thing for Sailor (Nicolas Cage), the ex-convict. He gets out of jail and is picked up by Lula as they embark on a truly strange odyssey where they find oily, snarly hit men and other unlikable louts like dishonorable thieves with bad teeth and so on. Their first stop on this ride is the hotel at the Cape Fear. Welcome to the wonderful world of David Lynch. 

The crux of the film is the love story between Sailor and Lula, a match made in heaven who indulge in sex, cigarettes, bars, clubs, more sex and finally, a robbery. Lula's mother (Diane Ladd) hates Sailor and wishes him dead, especially for killing a hit man she hired eons ago. She refuses to have Sailor dominate her daughter's life again and asks the help of a cold-blooded killer (J.E. Freeman) to kill Sailor and a private detective, Johnnie Farragut (Harry Dean Stanton), she already sent to track Sailor! Meanwhile, Sailor and Lula travel from motel to motel meeting an assortment of characters along the way, including a hoodlum named Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe) who has robbery on his mind. And then there is a discovery that Lula is pregnant. Plus, we see nude aides to a drug baron who goes by the name, Mr. Reindeer. Then there is some vomiting, an attempted rape, and a hapless victim of a car accident. Oh, yes and for more demented goings-on, there is a town named Big Tuna in Texas, a robbery involving hands and heads blown off, and a hysterically funny Crispin Glover as a disturbed individual who lets insects crawl in his butt. And there are all those "Wizard of Oz" homages in every scene. No Lynch film can be complete without a cameo by Jack Nance ("Eraserhead") as...well, you have to see it.

"Wild at Heart" is based on a novel by Barry Gifford and it could best be described as a zany, obscene, hellish variation on "Wizard of Oz" with songs by Elvis. It is consistenly funny, crude, violent and bizarre in its melding of film noir with a Western landscape and its near parodic overtones. But it is not serious noir - more like a pulp fiction carnival of raging emotions and pure malevolence. It is so melodramatic and over-the-top that it achieves a new low in cinematic crudity. And yet, as directed by David Lynch, it has such a breezy, non-stop attitude of anything goes in this weird world that it achieves a new kind of hip poetry. Considering it was released in 1990 and won the coveted Golden Palm award at Cannes, I see it as the precursor to Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" and Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" in terms of the high energy level, histrionic performances and the postmodern genre-bending of noir staples that find their own bizarre infusion from Lynch's own insane mind.

"Wild at Heart" is a fusion of all the cliches of the road movie genre with distinct Lynch-isms throughout. But this is no "Bonnie and Clyde" revisited - it is too strange and amoral for the mainstream movie crowd yet it is too watchable and chaotic to easily dismiss. Either way, it is one hell of a ride at the movies.

The 4 Quadrants of Life

TIMECODE (2000)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

As a sheer experiment in filmmaking, "Timecode" is audacious but as human drama, it fails to evoke much of an emotional response, though it has selective moments of humanism and it is often compelling.

"Timecode" takes place during a hazy afternoon in Los Angeles near Sunset Boulevard where a "creative meeting" is taking place among ad executives in an office building, and other events occur with different characters outside the building and beyond, including a psychiatrist's office and a limo that travels from some mansion to the aforementioned building. I don't want to sound too general with such a description, but that is about it. The characters merely float by us, making little introductions and soundbites. If this sounds like a documentary, in many ways, it is. Let me explain further.

As directed by Mike Figgis ("Leaving Las Vegas"), "Timecode" was shot in real time using four digital cameras that each recorded up to 93 minutes of footage in one single continuous take. Not only is this the longest long take ever devised on film (shot of course on video and then transferred to film), but it is also the first film to ever have four 93 minute takes in four quadrants of the screen projected at the same time. The idea of breaking up the screen in four quadrants is not a new visual trick but an entire film viewed in this manner is new and something to behold. Often, Figgis will drown out sound from one or more quadrants to focus on something significant in another. This aural technique makes me wonder why Figgis did not cut the film to focus on what he wanted us to be attentive to. Perhaps this is my own problem of trying to discover what the director intended but I much rather see such an experiment used as part of the underlying story, as opposed to just for the sake of style.

Some of the basic characters include a coke-sniffing security guard (Danny Huston), a jealous lesbian (Jeanne Tripplehorn, who spends most of the film in a limo), another lesbian with hopes of movie stardom (Salma Hayek), an attentive psychiatrist (Glenne Headley), and the founder of a film studio (Stellan Skarsgard) who is coming apart at the seams over a failed relationship. Skarsgard makes the biggest impression, creating a full-bodied character portrait of a lost soul, whereas the other characters sort of drift by, including a barely audible Holly Hunter as an ad exec. I did enjoy the frenetic Richard Edson, an unsung actor to be sure, as a low-budget film director with drug problems.

Despite what is a literally mind-boggling visual experience to endure, the film is still quietly fascinating, and there are moments that break up the quiet, stately style such as a series of earthquakes, some screaming fits and a chilling finale. The use of music by Gustav Mahler gives the film some punch. All in all, a semi-successful experiment that will hopefully lead to more exciting uses for such an innovative technique. Although it is draining and sometimes repetitive, "Timecode" is certainly brave and risky fare. Just what we would expect from Mike Figgis.