Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Snow Cake (15)

Dir: Marc Evans, 2006, UK/Canada (112 mins)
Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss
Following reality TV horror in My Little Eye and the psycho-angst of Trauma, chameleonic Welsh director Evans returns with a character-focused drama set in smalltown Canada.
Alex (Rickman), fresh out of jail for killing a man, picks up a pretty young hitchhiker who is collecting the stories of lonely men for her writing. Just when the journey seems to be heading to a very dark place a fatal twist occurs and propels Alex into the world of Linda (Weaver), a high-functioning autistic woman.
Moss glows as a loose woman offering shelter in the storm and Rickman is at his dry sardonic best. Weaver’s the problem though. She’s simply too familiar a face to assuage audience discomfort at another able-bodied portrayal of onscreen disability.
Even Brit sarcasm cannot stop the film straying into soppy territory, but a score by Broken Social Scene, and indie soundtrack including I Am Kloot diverts from occasional sentimental forays. Kate Taylor

Volver (15)

Dir: Pedro Almodóvar, 2006, Spain (121 mins)
Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas
When their aunt passes away, two sisters find themselves in a fix. Raimunda (Cruz) has a no-good-husband and Sole (Dueñas) suffers the ghost stories of a town where the eastern wind sends everyone crazy. Murder and resurrection ensue as family secrets spill out, forcing the women to face adversity using all the sass and deceit at their disposal.
Cruz is luminous in an astounding performance as a woman with a well-honed survival instinct. And she certainly knows how to work it, with the film’s production design having plenty of fun with Cruz’s wardrobe, legs and cleavage. Meanwhile Dueñas measures her comic timing to perfection and Almodóvar’s ability to conjure something cheeky and insightful remains unrivalled. A paean to loyalty and the female spirit, Volver is glorious cinema and the most uplifting film you’re likely to see this year. Kate Taylor

The Notorious Bettie Page (18)

Dir: Mary Harron, 2005, USA (91 mins)
Gretchen Mol, Chris Bauer, Lili Taylor
When profiling this 50’s S&M pin-up it would have been easy to slip into a kitsch homage that further objectified the woman behind the images. Thankfully The Notorious Bettie Page isn’t guilty of this, but neither does it unveil the fascinating psyche, which should be ripe for examination. Instead the films hits limbo. All we discover is that Page was actually, well, quite nice.
Dealt a rotten hand by various men in her life, Page hits the modelling circuit with an optimism borne of her church upbringing and we discover that many of the people producing the photographs were polite and fair, with only the kinky clientele coming in for vilification. But while the film is witty and affectionate in its period detail, there is little to explain why Page’s image has been reclaimed by young women in recent years. As biopics go, it’s a puzzler.
Kate Taylor

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (15)

Dir: Cristi Puiu, 2005, Romania (153 mins)
Ion Fiscuteanu, Luminita Gheorghiu, Doru Ana
Mr Lazarescu is unwell. He has a hunch that his headache is related to old stomach surgery, or maybe his leg ulcer, but his self-administered concoction of aspirin and tummy calmers washed down with cheap alcohol isn’t doing the trick. Turning grey, he feeds the cats and calls the ambulance. So begins this long journey of suffering as we lay witness to Lazarescu’s dying hours of vomit, incontinence and complaint.
Shot in stark naturalism with handheld camera work, there is no music or levity to this drowsy dose of social realism. The humour is of the blackest shade of tragic, found in the dark if occasionally forgiving view of the overworked and tired medical staff who shuttle Lazarescu from hospital to hospital. The nuances are slight however. The result is fundamentally soporific, and suitable only for those with a strong constitution who prefer to take their depictions of poverty and mortality without sweetener. Kate Taylor

Tideland (15)

Dir: Terry Gilliam, 2005, Canada/UK (122 mins)
Jodelle Ferland, Jeff Bridges, Janet McTeer
Terry Gilliam is back and in provocative form with the woozy Southern Gothic of Tideland, which features a cast of damaged grotesques spinning in and out of the life of Jeliza-Rose, a resilient nine-year-old. Dealing with parental overdose, geographic upheaval and pervasive decomposition with good grace and a fiercely energetic imagination, Jeliza-Rose’s darkly magical existence fills up with dolls’ heads, rabbit holes and talking squirrels, as life becomes curiouser and curiouser,
In making the point that innocence is not something to be preserved behind glass, Gilliam risks the audience’s ire by placing a child in a world of junkies though. Most contentiously, he also hints at a sense of sexuality. But Tideland maintains such unflinching honesty in its child’s-eye-view that while occasionally discomforting, it ultimately infects you with its sense of wonder. Featuring vertiginous cinematography and spellbinding performances from Bridges, McTeer and the extraordinary Ferland as Jeliza-Rose, this fantasy film is enthralling cinema; set to challenge and inspire. Kate Taylor

Thank You for Smoking (15)

Dir: Jason Reitman, 2005, USA (92 mins)
Aaron Eckhart, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe
As a lobbyist for Big Tobacco, Nick Naylor (Eckhart) is at the top of his game, with seemingly no argument he cannot charm his way out of. Socialising with fellow members of the Merchants of Death tri-force (alcohol and gun control), Naylor’s loose approach to ethical matters doesn’t deter his desire to provide guidance in the way of the world for his young son. Only the advances of an ambitious reporter (Holmes) threaten his towering sense of self-satisfaction.
The script, adapted from the Christopher Buckley novel, is snappy dialogue heaven, something that reaches its zenith when Nick arrives in Hollywood to make smoking cool again. As satire, the film’s targets are broad and everyone seems to be having too much fun to really spike them. But having defined its own moral universe, it satisfyingly swerves away from redeeming characters with false revelations, and Eckhart’s performance as the ‘yuppie Mephistopheles’ is terrific. Kate Taylor

To Die In San Hilario (12A)

Dir Laura Mañá, 2004, Spain, (105 mins)
Lluís Homar, Ana Fernández, Ferran Rañé
When a renegade gangster with a bag full of loot finds himself in the bizarre town of San Hilario he cannot believe his luck. In a haphazard case of mistaken identity, he is warmly welcomed by the natives who believe him to be in line for the town’s only industry - the staging of elaborate funerals.
While the fish-out-of-water scenario feels familiar, the homespun values of the small town are given an entertaining twist by the actions of the town’s inhabitants. Each has their own quirky perspectives on death; from a lovelorn artist suffering from multiple abortive suicide attempts, to the priest obsessed with imagining god’s face, and the beautiful woman who only falls in love with dying men, as long as they reveal their secrets. A distinctly old fashioned affair, the film’s farce has plenty of chutzpah and the comic pacing weaves well into the moments of magical realism. Kate Taylor

Forty Shades of Blue (15)

Dir: Ira Sachs, 2005, USA (108 mins)
Rip Torn, Dina Korzun, Darren E. Burrows
With her ironed blonde hair and magazine-prescribed glamour, Russian beauty Laura (Korzun) is the perfect trophy girlfriend to Alan James (Torn), an aging legend on the Memphis music circuit. Alan’s cheating, and boarish behaviour is countered by a comfortable house and a happy three-year-old son, so despite feeling numb and cut adrift, Laura does not complain. But the arrival of Alan’s estranged son Michael (Burrows), also dealing with his own marital problems, disturbs the precarious balance. As Michael views Laura first maliciously and then with another gaze entirely, the film’s tone shifts in a subtle and subdued manner, in keeping with Laura’s personal awakening.
Torn is in fine form as an egotistical bully unable to translate his love for his family beyond the display of selfish urges, and Korzun dazzles as Laura in her blankness; simultaneously attractive and powerless. The result is a film that provides an effective if bleak depiction of emotional dysfunction. Kate Taylor

Angel-a (15)

Dir: Luc Besson, 2005, France, (88 min)
Jamel Debbouze, Rie Rasmussen, Gilbert Melki
A small-time businessman and compulsive liar, Andre has left a trail of debt across Paris, so now the heavies are on his tail. Beyond hope, he decides to jump off a bridge but, at the decisive moment, spots a beautiful woman attempting the same thing. Following his instinct to rescue her, André finds himself bound to Angela, a strange companion intent on redeeming him and restoring his self-esteem - albeit with a radical approach including pimping and violence.
And it’s this odd couple, the leggy blonde and shuffling schmuck, who underpin Luc Besson’s first film in seven years. Sadly however, despite the evocative black and white cinematography that offers Paris in all its requisite majesty, the chemistry between leads feels more like a forced union than a match made in heaven. The film’s tone also sits uneasily between black comedy and self help, with the script delivering few laughs and fewer surprises. The result is an ultimately underwhelming experience. Kate Taylor

Awesome: I Fuckin’ Shot That! (15)

Dir: Adam Yauch, 2006, USA (90 Min)
Mike D, Ad Rock, MCA, Mix Master Mike
Strictly handheld is the style that goes in this groundbreaking concert film of a Beastie Boys show in Madison Square Gardens in 2004. Billed as an authorised bootleg, the band distributed Hi-8 video cameras to fifty fans to shoot from the crowd and the edited results reveal the gig experience from multiple perspectives. Evoking the requisite sweat and smell, the film definitely captures the experience of a stadium show and the electricity of the Beasties’ performance.
Democratisation leads to some predictable amateur cinematography, such as everyone going crazy on the zoom button for the first five minutes, but the skill here is in the edit, which is elegant and frenetic, splicing in time with Mixmaster Mike’s whirlwind scratching. As a document it works best for those who’d already consider themselves fans of the band, but would play well to anyone willing to shake their rumps in the cinema. Kate Taylor

Tony Takitani (U)

Dir: Jun Ichikawa, 2004, Japan (75 min)
Issei Ogata, Rie Miyazawa, Shinohara Takahumi
Tony Takitani is a lonely illustrator who discovers the coordinates of his own emptiness when love arrives. Having never considered it before, he is awoken to compassion when he encounters Eiko, an impeccably dressed young woman who consents to life as a gifted housewife.
The film is full of signifying objects, trombones and cashmere coats
externalising emotions the characters are unable to grasp. Tony can only draw mechanical objects, which are rendered in minute technical detail. Eiko uses clothes to compensate for an inner void. Unfortunately shopping addiction consumes Eiko and a love of Chanel leads to her downfall.
Adapted from a Haruki Murakami short story, the film evokes a finite world, and is less about internal wranglings than conveying a temperature – a muted mood shot in grey and pale blue with a distanced voiceover breaking the narrative spell, as the camera constantly pans left to right through the rooms of Takitani’s life. Kate Taylor

Dumplings (18)

Dir: Fruit Chan, 2004, Hong Kong (91 min)
Ling Bai, Miriam Yeung Chin Wah, Tony Leung Ka Fai
Aunt Mei may look like a foxy 20-something, with luminous skin and a fabulously trashy wardrobe, but it’s more than anti-aging creams that defy her sexagenarian status. There’s something in those dumplings.
Her famous dish leads Mrs Li, a faded soap star, to visit Mei for a taste of such rejuvenating powers. Desperate to retain her philandering husband, she begs Mei to up their potency and discovers there’s a high price to pay for a dewy complexion.
Mei remains cheery and mysterious about what exactly those tasty parcels contain, but when it becomes clear that the source lies in utero the film delights in a visceral horror that is certainly not for the squeamish or recently pregnant.
Dumplings is simultaneously a witty fable on the perils of vanity and a swoon-inducing paean to beauty, with master cinematographer Christopher Doyle wringing every drop of pleasure from each frame. Kate Taylor

Song of Songs (15)

Dir: Josh Appignanesi, 2006, UK (81 min)
Joel Chalfen, Nathalie Press, Leon Lissek
Set in the Orthodox Jewish community of North London, Song of Songs is a wilfully cryptic portrait of incestuous violence and sexual desire. Joel Chalfen gives an intense performance as a troubled school teacher who has rejected his background, with emerging talent Nathalie Press (My Summer of Love) as his devout sister returned from Israel to bring him back into the fold and make peace with their dying mother.
As a debut feature it is difficult to measure how much of the film’s ambiguity is actually confusion on director Appignanesi’s part. Certainly the film’s style is distinctive – we follow characters through the streets viewing the backs of their heads, the cold tones linger in dark places as characters hide behind curtains and pivotal events of the past are alluded to but never explained. It is good to credit an audience with intelligence, but the film ranges from intriguingly enigmatic to frustratingly incomprehensible. Kate Taylor

Tell Them Who You Are (15)

Dir: Mark Wexler, 2005, USA (95 min)
Dads, eh? While Mark Wexler’s documentary on the work of his father, legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler, starts out as a puff piece of respectful platitudes from Hollywood royalty, it quickly develops into a fascinating examination of paternal relations.
Growing up in the shadow of Haskell’s talent, arrogance and magnetism, Mark clearly displays a chip on his shoulder from a lack of affection and respect, which leads to some compelling cameras-at-dawn interplay between the irascible old man and his whiny progeny.
In his twilight years, Haskell sees the film as an opportunity to say something true, yet Mark’s intentions seem clouded by a lack of confidence, manifested by petulant antics such as overdubbing Haskell’s political rants and eavesdropping by leaving the microphone on when he’s not in the room.
So, while more sympathy may be elicited by Haskell for having a drippy son, the film certainly makes the point that mavericks are no fun to grow up with. Kate Taylor

Lobo (Wolf) (15)

Dir: Miguel Courtois, 2004, Spain (124 min)
Eduardo Noriega, Patrick Bruel, Mélaine Doutey
Based on real events, this political thriller depicts the agent, code-named Lobo (‘Wolf’), who infiltrated Basque-separatists ETA in the mid-1970s leading to over 150 arrests.
Starting out as a simple man with a conscience, we follow Wolf as he becomes a conflicted mole, who hooks up along the way with an attractive female activist who has a predilection for keeping her balaclava on in the bedroom. Quickly ascending the organisation’s upper echelons, Wolf finds them to be squabbling fanatics, who are busy bumping each other off over differing interpretations of revolution. But the secret service who recruit him are little better, acting as manipulative puppet-masters enslaved by personal ambition and the political machinations of their superiors.
Wolf’s journey was no doubt an extraordinary one, but this straightforward rendition lacks tension, with not enough shadows to define the intrigue, and insufficient appeal to rise beyond blandness. Kate Taylor

C.R.A.Z.Y (15)

Dir: Jean-Marc Vallée, 2005, Canada (127 min)
Michel Côté, Marc-André Grondin, Danielle Proulx
A Quebecois coming-of-age drama set in the 1970s, C.R.A.Z.Y follows a family of five sons as they rebel and compete for the affection of their father, a loving but unrepentantly macho man.
Fourth son Zac’s life is already difficult enough, having been blessed with a messianic gift for healing, but when a series of stolen glimpses and brief encounters lead to confusion over his sexuality, he works out that in the eyes of his dad it would be preferable for him to be a drug-addled dropout than an affront to the hereditary order of masculinity.
The period detail is shot with wit and an obvious affection for the era, and the film’s bizarre digressions offer an eccentric charm, although it tends to meander off-course in a trippy and spectacular fashion. And Zac’s character is never really likable enough to be sympathetic, so the only satisfaction comes from observations that are strictly domestic. Kate Taylor
Align Center

Offside (PG)

Dir: Jafar Panahi, 2006, Iran (88 min)
Sima Mobarek Shani, Safar Samandar, Shayesteh Irani
Even if you are fleeing to the cinema to escape football media saturation, you cannot fail to be charmed by Offside, a footie film where not a single shot of the match is shown. Instead we see Iran’s World Cup 2006 qualifier against Bahrain from the perspective of a group of girls who attempt to smuggle themselves into the all-male stadium.
As stereotype-busters go, the sassiness of the Tehrani girls, matched with their knowledge and passion for the game is refreshing and often hilarious. Rounded up and penned in an enclosure frustratingly close to the action, they are watched over by young army guards on national service who would much rather be tending to cattle than putting up with a bunch of cheeky female fans.
Shot with a lightness and spontaneity that keeps the girls’ enthusiasm infectious, the film gently pushes forward its wider perspective in women’s rights. Kate Taylor

Poseidon (12A)

Dir: Wolfgang Petersen, 2006, USA (99 min)
Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Jacinda Barrett
Recognising the dramatic potential of catastrophe, a few years ago Channel Five soap opera Sunset Beach featured a calamitous luxury cruise. Liberally pilfering from Cameron’s Titanic and the original Poseidon Adventure, divas in evening gowns waded through sets made of chipboard trying to find high ground while Gabi had an affair with her husband’s brother (the priest!).
This slightly more expensive tread-through of the 1970’s disaster flick replaces such hysteria and camp with CGI explosions aplenty and an unsentimental race for survival. Strong jawed determination comes courtesy of twinkly-eyed gambler Lucas (an ex-navy seal) and worried patriarch Russell (ex-Mayor of New York, and fireman!), with Peterson confidently maintaining tension to the end. But the lack of mental breakdowns or crises of faith may leave disaster fans feeling cheated. And a soggy performance from Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas as the sole concession to hairspray and sequins is unforgivable. Kate Taylor

36 (15)

Dir Olivier Marchal, 2004, France (110 min)
Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Depardieu, André Dussollier
“What about our ethics code?” Asks the play-it-by-the-book Police chief. “I’ve wiped my arse with that for years,” snarls back Klein (Depardieu), a friendless cop hungry for promotion. And so it goes, with Vrinks (a very Pacino-esque Auteuil) as Klein’s rival, the stage it set for the two officers to do whatever it takes to bring in a violent gang and win the chief’s job. Both have unorthodox approaches to securing information, which leads to a nasty circle of retribution.
36 sets its sights on the masculine thriller territory of Michael Mann, but unlike Heat there is no character shading, and the film, steeped in genre conventions, simply passes off tired clichés as short-hand. The breakneck velocity of plot points propels things forward, yet for all its violence the film is essentially anaemic. The set pieces don’t crackle, and an unrelenting score make it feel stylistically more akin to a car advert than cinema. Kate Taylor

Wal-Mart The High Cost of Low Price (PG)

Dir: Robert Greenwald, 2005, USA (95 min)
It’s not often that you feel Michael Moore’s presence would add a little subtlety to a subject. But this documentary, on retail behemoth Wal-Mart, is in dire need of some levity and wit.
The cataloguing of Wal-Mart’s sharp practices is laudable and extensive, highlighting the impact of new stores on the pre-existing smaller traders who get muscled out. It goes on to show the low-wage culture and how this is systematically maintained by the pressure on employees to put in free overtime, aggressive anti-union activities including surveillance and intimidation, and the offering of healthcare insurance that is so expensive that employees are encouraged to apply for state benefits.
The film successfully reunites the cheap products of the store with the exploited labour that created them but the execution is crude, with poor camera work, cloying musical underscores and a hysterical misuse of statistics that ultimately weakens its credibility. Kate Taylor

Russian Dolls (15)

Dir: Cedric Klapisch, 2005, France/UK (125 min)
Romain Duris, Audrey Tatou, Kelly Reilly
Slouchy Parisian lothario Xavier (Duris) is tussling with the void between his expectations of love and work, and the imperfect realities of adulthood. With his novel on hold, he scrapes by on bitty journalism and ghost writing, with the memoirs of a 24 year-old supermodel presenting a dream solution to his troubles.
A job writing a cheesy soap opera forces him to examine melodramatic clichés however, as well as pairing him with sassy co-writer Wendy (Reilly), who has her own hang ups and unsuitable attractions.
A sequel to Klapisch’s L’Auberge Espagnole, Russian Dolls has an obvious affection its characters, even if it occasionally slips into smugness. But for the most part this is a charming tale of yearning and disappointment, which despite suggesting that only in a fallen world can there be a perfect love, remains sharp in its wider observations on human tendencies for self-sabotage. Kate Taylor

Brick (15)

Dir Rian Johnson, 2005 USA (110 min)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nora Zehetner, Lukas Haas
Brendan, a hard-boiled loner, returns to town to piece together the disappearance of an ex-lover. A sinuous trail of clues leads to multiple beatings from henchmen warning him off the seedy realm of thwarted drug deals and poisonous femme fatales he has uncovered. So far, so Noir. The twist here is that the film is set in a high school, with a cast of teenagers getting cryptic for kicks.
Brick’s underworld has it’s own vocabulary and this jive talk is delivered in an often-incomprehensible mumble. Adolescent affectation abounds as the camera gazes lovingly over shoes, a Rubik’s cube is used as metaphor and pretty lens-flares puncture the suburban desolation of parking lots, storm drains and basement dens. There is charm in Brendan’s detached self-possession, but the head-scratching jargon overcompensates, a masquerade for genuine intrigue. Depending on your leanings you will either find Brick a stylish tonic or a total waste of time. Kate Taylor

Paradise Now (15)

Dir Hany Abu-Assad, 2005 France/Germany/Netherlands/Israel (90 min)
Kais Nashef, Ali Suliman, Lubna Azabal
A young man holding gun aloft falteringly starts to read his speech. The camera breaks down. His handlers chomp bread nonchalantly. He tries again with great effort. This will be his martyr video, his suicide note. Suddenly his head clears and his voice perks up – he looks into the lens and tells his mother of a water filter she would like that is selling cheaply in town.
Paradise Now succeeds in creating moments of irony and emotional resonance that give the urgent drama a memorable depth. As Palestinian friends Said and Khaled embark on a suicide mission, the film humanises its protagonists, illustrating their frustrations and the lack of options they believe are available to them. Saha, a strong-willed woman that Said is in love with, represents a forcefully persuasive moral counter balance. And the audience is left with a powerful conclusion that haunts long after you’ve left the cinema. Kate Taylor

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (15)

Tommy Lee Jones, 2005, USA/France (121 mins)
Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Dwight Yoakum
When Mexican immigrant Melquiades Estrada is shot on the Texan border, the authorities are quick to turn a blind eye. But as his sole friend, obstinate cowboy Pete Perkins (Jones) is determined to reap a bloody justice and fulfil the promise to lay the corpse to rest back in Estrada’s homeland. And to accompany him on this voyage Perkins kidnaps the border guard (Pepper) responsible for the murder.
Scripted by Guillermo Arriaga, writer of Amores Perros and 21 Grams, Three Burials maintains the intensity of these previous films, its traumatised characters sweltering equally in the diner and trailer park as in the empty desert. Although violent, the masculinity here is not muscle-bound, but defined by a gritty compassion, with the integrity of Perkins’ promise standing as a show of strength against a vast harrowing loneliness. With respite in small exchanges of hospitality and mercy, Three Burials offers a soulful and sweaty journey.
Kate Taylor

The Devil and Daniel Johnston (12A)

Dir Jeff Feuerzeig, 2005 US (109 mins)
A legend in the underground circles of lo-fi American music, the bizarre life of Daniel Johnston marks this documentary as more compelling than fiction. Identified early as a black sheep in his devoutly religious family, Johnston demonstrated a prodigious musical talent matched with a hunger for fame. But just as his simple and affecting song-writing started to win peer recognition, his mental illness worsened and his life has been marred by his devil-fixated persecution complex ever since.
The film spins its tale out beautifully, creatively incorporating the rich archive of Johnston’s early Super8 films and artwork. And while Johnston is no longer lucid enough for interviews, his voice is ever-present via the cassette tapes where he has compulsively recorded his thoughts since adolescence. The film suggests no romance in Johnston’s condition, instead it offers a poignant account of his relationships with friends and family, an appealing offbeat humour and a smattering of great songs. Kate Taylor

Metal A Headbanger’s Journey (15)

Dir Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen, Jessica Joy Wise, 2005, CA, (96 mins)
Tony Iommi, Alice Cooper, Bruce Dickinson, Lemmy
The aim of Sam Dunn’s documentary is to offer an anthropology of heavy metal. It’s a chance to reflect on where it’s come from, why it remains maligned, and who really invented that ‘devil horns’ hand gesture.
Treats come in the form of Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, shot in a grubby twilight Birmingham, and Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) recounting his triumphant statement to the US Senate in 1985. However, things come a cropper for Dunn when he meets the Norwegian death metallers who actually burn down churches, and tellingly the film’s credits include both therapist and moral guide.
The roll call of contributors is lengthy, but many are wasted (in every sense) as we catch a soundbite or two rather than extended commentary. And while Chuck Klosterman and Rob Zombie offer insights into the role of metal in embracing outsiders, the rhetoric remains cultural and free of economics. A film made by fans for fans. Kate Taylor

Don’t Come Knocking (15)

Dir Wim Wenders, 2005, DE/FR/GB/US (111 mins)
Sam Shepard, Jessica Lange, Tim Roth
The set of an unnamed Western is thrown into chaos when Howard Spence (Shepard), seasoned actor and carouser goes AWOL. Hired by the film insurance company, a fastidious private detective (Roth) sets out on his trail. But having spent thirty years playing cowboys, not even Spence knows where he’s heading, and the film charts his befuddled odyssey and subsequent wrangles with unexpected paternity.
As the drink-addled and inarticulate hero, Shepard, collaborating with Wenders again after their success with 1984’s Paris, Texas, offers us a man lacking in agency away from the rigour of a shooting schedule. And following his cue, the whole film drifts and mooches, in no hurry to reach a destination.
Instead, the pleasures offered are of landscapes without maps. The desert and small town Americana are rendered spellbindingly as Spence’s psyche unfurls, while an anchor is found in the classy performance from Jessica Lange as his old flame. Kate Taylor