Beta Film has picked up international distribution rights to Latvia’s “Soviet Jeans.” Presented at Berlinale Series Market Selects, the show will premiere at Series Mania in March.
Set in Riga in the late 1970s and based on multiple true stories, it zooms in onto young rock fan Renars (Karlis Arnolds Avots), sent to a mental asylum for political reasons. Undeterred, he starts illegal production of counterfeit U.S. jeans with his inmates, flooding the black market.
“We wanted to make it international,” said Teodora Markova who showruns alongside Stanislavs Tokalovs. They wrote the script with Waldemar Kalinowski.
“We also decided to go for a completely different tone when depicting this period, which so often is shown in this harsh, gloomy way. People used to joke during communism too: Humor was their main survival mechanism. They still lived and loved and laughed. Most of them had to learn how to trick the system,...
Set in Riga in the late 1970s and based on multiple true stories, it zooms in onto young rock fan Renars (Karlis Arnolds Avots), sent to a mental asylum for political reasons. Undeterred, he starts illegal production of counterfeit U.S. jeans with his inmates, flooding the black market.
“We wanted to make it international,” said Teodora Markova who showruns alongside Stanislavs Tokalovs. They wrote the script with Waldemar Kalinowski.
“We also decided to go for a completely different tone when depicting this period, which so often is shown in this harsh, gloomy way. People used to joke during communism too: Humor was their main survival mechanism. They still lived and loved and laughed. Most of them had to learn how to trick the system,...
- 2/17/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
The Latvian-Estonian co-production, set for release at the end of 2021, wrapped principal photography on 9 September. Stanislavs Tokalovs' sophomore feature, Lovable, is now in post-production. It follows the helmer's debut, What Nobody Can See, a psychological drama with elements of science fiction, produced by Ego Media and released in 2017. The story, penned by Tokalovs in tandem with Waldemar Kalinowski, revolves around a young man called Matīss (played by Kārlis Arnolds Avots), who has difficulty forming relationships based on love and trust. Only when he has to take care of a little girl called Paula (Paula Labāne) does he become more sensitive and responsive to the world around him. Alongside Avots and young Labāne, the main cast members are Kristīne Krūze Hermane, Vilis Daudziņš, Andris Keišs, Gundars Āboliņš, Elīna Vaska and Regnārs Vaivars. Romanian DoP Oleg Mutu is attached as the feature's DoP, whilst Laura Dišlere (Oleg,...
The Transatlantyk Festival in Poznan, Poland ended near dawn Aug. 10 with a rowdy party at fest founder Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s palatial villa, where Lezdek Możdżer (the pianist for Kaczmarek’s Oscar-winning Finding Neverland score) did duets with Gloria Campaner, Chopin best performance award-winner at La International Piano competition. “Admissions were 67,000, more than we thought at first count – it was 41,000 last year,” said Kaczmarek, beaming like a happy Gatsby. “It’s amazing growth for a three-year-old festival,” said Waldemar Kalinowski, the Crazy Heart production designer who staged a reading of
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- 8/10/2013
- by Tim Appelo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Chicago – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 25 admit-two run-of-engagement movie passes up for grabs to the new film “Crazy Heart” with Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Robert Duvall!
The film also stars Brian Gleason, Rick Dial, William Sterchi, Richard W. Gallegos, William Marquez, LeAnne Lynch, David Manzanares, J. Michael Oliva and Ryil Adamson from writer and director Scott Cooper. “Crazy Heart” is based on the novel by the same name from Thomas Cobb.
To win your free “Crazy Heart” movie pass to any Chicago-area Landmark Theatre at the time of your choosing, all you need to do is answer our question in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! “Crazy Heart” opened in Chicago on Dec. 25, 2009. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.
The movie poster for “Crazy Heart” with Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The film also stars Brian Gleason, Rick Dial, William Sterchi, Richard W. Gallegos, William Marquez, LeAnne Lynch, David Manzanares, J. Michael Oliva and Ryil Adamson from writer and director Scott Cooper. “Crazy Heart” is based on the novel by the same name from Thomas Cobb.
To win your free “Crazy Heart” movie pass to any Chicago-area Landmark Theatre at the time of your choosing, all you need to do is answer our question in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! “Crazy Heart” opened in Chicago on Dec. 25, 2009. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.
The movie poster for “Crazy Heart” with Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
- 1/6/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Check out red carpet photos from La premiere of New Line Cinema's "Appaloosa" including Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger and more! The preem took place at the Academy Theater / Beverly Hills, CA. on September 18th. The film makes its expansion this weekend into 800+ venues. Also in the cast are Jeremy Irons, Timothy Spall, Lance Henriksen, Mike Watson, Rex Linn, Tom Bower, Boyd Kestner, Gabriel Marantz. Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises"), four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris ("Pollock"), Academy Award winner Renee Zellweger ("Cold Mountain") and Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons ("Reversal of Fortune") star in the Western "Appaloosa," adapted from the Robert B. Parker novel. All images copyright© Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos Set in 1882 in the Old West territory of New Mexico, "Appaloosa" revolves around city marshal Virgil Cole (Harris) and his deputy and partner Everett Hitch (Mortensen), who have made their reputation as peacekeepers in the...
- 9/26/2008
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Nostalgia pervades Andy Garcia's long-gestating passion project, a valentine to his native Havana in the pre-Castro 1950s. Based on a 300-page script by G. Cabrera Infante, who died in February, "The Lost City" is a handsome production but one that struggles to integrate its various elements -- cabaret-society glamour, intellectual fervor, family drama, impossible romance and droll humor. In his feature directorial debut, Garcia -- who also stars, co-scripted and wrote the film's score -- often gets caught up in the good-looking surfaces. When it succeeds, the film conveys a bittersweet longing for a lost moment and the unfulfilled promise of a democratic Cuba. It will resonate with Cuban-Americans who identify with the characters; a more fine-tuned version of the two-hour-plus feature could widen its prospects.
Through the prism of the well-to-do Fellove family, "Lost City" shows that the anti-Batista revolution was in large part a product of Cuba's middle and upper-middle class. Patriarch Federico (Tomas Milian), a professor given to philosophical musings, believes in democratic change, while sons Ricardo (Enrique Murciano) and Luis (Nestor Carbonell) are ardent proponents of violent overthrow, the latter leading a daring assassination attempt -- a well-staged, powerful sequence. Eldest son and central character Fico (Garcia), proprietor of resplendent nightclub El Tropico, is the quintessential observer, home-movie camera and all. He's determined to ride out the storm even as the political divide shatters his family and tests him at every turn.
Much of the film's first half feels like setup, with dogma often subbing for dialogue. A nameless writer spouting one-liners (Bill Murray) evokes novelist Infante's wordplay but feels dropped into the proceedings rather than part of the story. It's only in later scenes that Garcia seems freed to plunge into character-driven confrontations with emotional heft, as when Castro's victory pits Ricardo against his land-owner uncle (Richard Bradford) and Fico against his lover (Ines Sastre).
The ultimate focus is the resilience of the individual against the absurdities of abusive power, whether wielded by egomaniac dictators like Batista (Juan Fernandez), capitalist thugs like Meyer Lansky (Dustin Hoffman) or charismatic and ruthless revolutionaries like Che Guevara (Jsu Garcia) -- impressive cameos all. Waldemar Kalinowski's production design, Deborah Lynn Scott's costumes and Emmanuel Kadosh's lensing lend a voluptuous look to the low-budget, Dominican Republic shoot.
Through the prism of the well-to-do Fellove family, "Lost City" shows that the anti-Batista revolution was in large part a product of Cuba's middle and upper-middle class. Patriarch Federico (Tomas Milian), a professor given to philosophical musings, believes in democratic change, while sons Ricardo (Enrique Murciano) and Luis (Nestor Carbonell) are ardent proponents of violent overthrow, the latter leading a daring assassination attempt -- a well-staged, powerful sequence. Eldest son and central character Fico (Garcia), proprietor of resplendent nightclub El Tropico, is the quintessential observer, home-movie camera and all. He's determined to ride out the storm even as the political divide shatters his family and tests him at every turn.
Much of the film's first half feels like setup, with dogma often subbing for dialogue. A nameless writer spouting one-liners (Bill Murray) evokes novelist Infante's wordplay but feels dropped into the proceedings rather than part of the story. It's only in later scenes that Garcia seems freed to plunge into character-driven confrontations with emotional heft, as when Castro's victory pits Ricardo against his land-owner uncle (Richard Bradford) and Fico against his lover (Ines Sastre).
The ultimate focus is the resilience of the individual against the absurdities of abusive power, whether wielded by egomaniac dictators like Batista (Juan Fernandez), capitalist thugs like Meyer Lansky (Dustin Hoffman) or charismatic and ruthless revolutionaries like Che Guevara (Jsu Garcia) -- impressive cameos all. Waldemar Kalinowski's production design, Deborah Lynn Scott's costumes and Emmanuel Kadosh's lensing lend a voluptuous look to the low-budget, Dominican Republic shoot.
- 11/8/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Possessed, at least thematically, by the spirit of "The Exorcist", Rupert Wainwright's "Stigmata" is an artsy, pretentious supernatural thriller that is much more concerned with candle-flickering style over any involving substance.
Patricia Arquette is the stigmatic in question -- a sassy young Pittsburgh hairdresser who undergoes terrible ordeals after receiving a gift package from Brazil that happens to include the rosary stolen from a dead priest.
Despite all the obligatory blood-letting, there is no satisfactory building of suspense or tension, let alone a sufficient degree of audience identification with the central victim. Other characters are introduced, then abruptly disappear without explanation.
Itself bearing the stigma of going up against the still red-hot "The Sixth Sense" -- not to mention fellow debuting thriller "Stir of Echoes" -- this MGM release hasn't much of a prayer at the boxoffice.
When Arquette's 23-year-old Frankie Paige (Frankie -- Francis of Assisi, get it?) succumbs to those paranormal attacks, her case comes to the attention of the Rev. Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne), a Vatican-based priest and investigator whose job as a member of the Church's Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints is to document unexplained phenomena and to debunk false miracles. He's sort of like an ecclesiastical Fox Mulder. Call it "The Excommunication Files".
Naturally, he finds more than he bargained for with nonbeliever Frankie, who not only is given to bleeding profusely from very significant points of her body but has developed a facility for speaking and writing in Aramaic.
To further complicate matters, he naturally finds himself fighting an attraction to her; while his superior, the high-ranking Cardinal Houseman (Jonathan Pryce) seems very anxious to remove him from the case.
Ironically, given the title, "Stigmata" seldom manages to get under the skin. While the script, penned by Tom Lazarus and Rick Ramage, has an interesting character in Kiernan's clergyman detective, director Wainwright never takes the necessary time to build from a foundation of credibility. We don't get to see enough of Frankie's pre-stigmatized life to feel sufficiently for her plight.
Instead, the ghosts of Wainwright's music video directing past surface in the form of oodles of stylistic flourishes -- slo-mo, flapping birds, dripping water, spurting blood, blazing flames -- intercut with all that religious iconography. It at least all looks impressive, with the picture making good use of its grimy Pittsburgh backdrop.
While the dialogue doesn't serve them particularly well, Arquette and Byrne nevertheless manage to put in credible performances. So do production designer Waldemar Kalinowski ("Leaving Las Vegas"), who must have been given a generous candle budget, and Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, who contributed much of the nerve-jangling music.
It still begs the question: Where's Linda Blair when you really need her?
STIGMATA
MGM
An FGM Entertainment production
A Rupert Wainwright film
Director: Rupert Wainwright
Screenwriters: Tom Lazarus and Rick Ramage
Story: Tom Lazarus
Producer: Frank Mancuso Jr.
Director of photography: Jeffrey L. Kimball
Production designer: Waldemar Kalinowski
Editors: Michael R. Miller, Michael J. Duthie
Costume designer: Louise Frogley
Music: Billy Corgan and Elia Cmiral
Make-up effects supervisor: Ve Neill
Casting: Wendy Kurtzman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Frankie Paige: Patricia Arquette
Rev. Andrew Kiernan: Gabriel Byrne
Cardinal Houseman: Jonathan Pryce
Donna: Nia Long
Jennifer: Portia de Rossi
Petrocelli: Rade Sherbedgia
Rev. Dario: Enrico Colantoni
Running time -- 102 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Patricia Arquette is the stigmatic in question -- a sassy young Pittsburgh hairdresser who undergoes terrible ordeals after receiving a gift package from Brazil that happens to include the rosary stolen from a dead priest.
Despite all the obligatory blood-letting, there is no satisfactory building of suspense or tension, let alone a sufficient degree of audience identification with the central victim. Other characters are introduced, then abruptly disappear without explanation.
Itself bearing the stigma of going up against the still red-hot "The Sixth Sense" -- not to mention fellow debuting thriller "Stir of Echoes" -- this MGM release hasn't much of a prayer at the boxoffice.
When Arquette's 23-year-old Frankie Paige (Frankie -- Francis of Assisi, get it?) succumbs to those paranormal attacks, her case comes to the attention of the Rev. Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne), a Vatican-based priest and investigator whose job as a member of the Church's Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints is to document unexplained phenomena and to debunk false miracles. He's sort of like an ecclesiastical Fox Mulder. Call it "The Excommunication Files".
Naturally, he finds more than he bargained for with nonbeliever Frankie, who not only is given to bleeding profusely from very significant points of her body but has developed a facility for speaking and writing in Aramaic.
To further complicate matters, he naturally finds himself fighting an attraction to her; while his superior, the high-ranking Cardinal Houseman (Jonathan Pryce) seems very anxious to remove him from the case.
Ironically, given the title, "Stigmata" seldom manages to get under the skin. While the script, penned by Tom Lazarus and Rick Ramage, has an interesting character in Kiernan's clergyman detective, director Wainwright never takes the necessary time to build from a foundation of credibility. We don't get to see enough of Frankie's pre-stigmatized life to feel sufficiently for her plight.
Instead, the ghosts of Wainwright's music video directing past surface in the form of oodles of stylistic flourishes -- slo-mo, flapping birds, dripping water, spurting blood, blazing flames -- intercut with all that religious iconography. It at least all looks impressive, with the picture making good use of its grimy Pittsburgh backdrop.
While the dialogue doesn't serve them particularly well, Arquette and Byrne nevertheless manage to put in credible performances. So do production designer Waldemar Kalinowski ("Leaving Las Vegas"), who must have been given a generous candle budget, and Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, who contributed much of the nerve-jangling music.
It still begs the question: Where's Linda Blair when you really need her?
STIGMATA
MGM
An FGM Entertainment production
A Rupert Wainwright film
Director: Rupert Wainwright
Screenwriters: Tom Lazarus and Rick Ramage
Story: Tom Lazarus
Producer: Frank Mancuso Jr.
Director of photography: Jeffrey L. Kimball
Production designer: Waldemar Kalinowski
Editors: Michael R. Miller, Michael J. Duthie
Costume designer: Louise Frogley
Music: Billy Corgan and Elia Cmiral
Make-up effects supervisor: Ve Neill
Casting: Wendy Kurtzman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Frankie Paige: Patricia Arquette
Rev. Andrew Kiernan: Gabriel Byrne
Cardinal Houseman: Jonathan Pryce
Donna: Nia Long
Jennifer: Portia de Rossi
Petrocelli: Rade Sherbedgia
Rev. Dario: Enrico Colantoni
Running time -- 102 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 9/10/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Leaving Las Vegas", an uncompromisingly artistic film that attracted a sizable audience and garnered many critics' awards and four Oscar nominations, is a hard act to follow. But filmmaker Mike Figgis has come through with another insightful, absorbing romantic drama with superb performances and a sense of humor that helps make its serious agenda more palatable to mainstream moviegoers.
Marred only by a tricky conclusion that's a letdown after the intensity of what has already transpired, New Line's "One Night Stand" should appeal to the adult audience that can push such moody works as Figgis' "Vegas" and "When a Man Loves a Woman" into the Hollywood hit parade. Critical support should be there from the start, and possible honors in the ensuing months will come in handy down the ancillary pipeline.
Wesley Snipes, as a successful married man who cheats on his wife one lonely night and goes through a soul-searching period in the aftermath, joins Oscar winner Nicolas Cage of "Leaving Las Vegas" and Richard Gere of "Mr. Jones" as another Figgis male lead on the brink of chaos redeemed through the love of a good woman.
It's a reliable gambit when the level of craftsmanship is this high and the writing so strong. Originally a script by Joe Eszterhas, the project has been refashioned by co-producer Figgis, who once again composes the film's score and is reunited behind the camera with "Vegas" alums co-producer Annie Stewart, cinematographer Declan Quinn, production designer Waldemar Kalinowski and editor John Smith.
Although one subplot, involving Robert Downey Jr. as a performance artist dying of AIDS, becomes central to the mostly somber and reflective scenario, "Stand" is primarily a character study of successful commercial director Max Carlyle (Snipes), who introduces himself to the audience in an informal opening sequence and occasionally interjects brief narration.
In New York on business, West Coast convert Max visits his HIV-positive friend and former business partner Charlie (Downey). They have an awkward reunion, with Max acting content but radiating unease, while Charlie is in denial about the grim future that awaits him. Back at the hotel, Max has a minor mishap with a friendly woman, Karen (Nastassja Kinski), who shares his passion for the Juilliard String Quartet and is married to Charlie's brother (Kyle MacLachlan).
Manhattan traffic plays a big part in Max staying an extra day and joining Karen at a concert, after which they are held up at knifepoint, escaping rattled but OK. Without a place to stay, he sleeps in her room. In the wee hours, she has a nightmare and his comforting her turns into them making love.
Safely back in Los Angeles, Max wants to be honest but is smothered with attention by his wife (Ming-Na Wen), and family life almost returns to normal. Time goes by and Charlie's condition becomes terminal. When Max returns to New York, he's faced with temptation again. But the painful, sad-to-watch demise of Charlie gets to Max, and his good manners and gentile demeanor are tested when he encounters homophobia, callousness and the possibility of another tryst with Karen.
Aside from the ending, the film is also mildly disappointing because of Kinski's somewhat enigmatic character, who is not given equal attention. Downey is haunting and wily in his passionate portrayal of a scared but courageous victim. Julian Sands, Glenn Plummer and Amanda Donohoe are solid in supporting roles, while Sony Pictures head John Calley and Figgis himself are memorable in cameos.
ONE NIGHT STAND
New Line Cinema
A Red Mullet production
Writer-director: Mike Figgis
Producers: Mike Figgis, Annie Stewart, Ben Myron
Executive producer: Robert Engelman
Co-executive producers: Michael DeLuca, Richard Saperstein
Director of photography: Declan Quinn
Production designer: Waldemar Kalinowski
Costume designers: Laura Goldsmith, Enid Harris
Editor: John Smith
Music: Mike Figgis
Casting: Nancy Foy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Max Carlyle: Wesley Snipes
Karen: Nastassja Kinski
Charlie: Robert Downey Jr.
Mimi: Ming-Na Wen
Vernon: Kyle MacLachlan
Running time -- 102 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Marred only by a tricky conclusion that's a letdown after the intensity of what has already transpired, New Line's "One Night Stand" should appeal to the adult audience that can push such moody works as Figgis' "Vegas" and "When a Man Loves a Woman" into the Hollywood hit parade. Critical support should be there from the start, and possible honors in the ensuing months will come in handy down the ancillary pipeline.
Wesley Snipes, as a successful married man who cheats on his wife one lonely night and goes through a soul-searching period in the aftermath, joins Oscar winner Nicolas Cage of "Leaving Las Vegas" and Richard Gere of "Mr. Jones" as another Figgis male lead on the brink of chaos redeemed through the love of a good woman.
It's a reliable gambit when the level of craftsmanship is this high and the writing so strong. Originally a script by Joe Eszterhas, the project has been refashioned by co-producer Figgis, who once again composes the film's score and is reunited behind the camera with "Vegas" alums co-producer Annie Stewart, cinematographer Declan Quinn, production designer Waldemar Kalinowski and editor John Smith.
Although one subplot, involving Robert Downey Jr. as a performance artist dying of AIDS, becomes central to the mostly somber and reflective scenario, "Stand" is primarily a character study of successful commercial director Max Carlyle (Snipes), who introduces himself to the audience in an informal opening sequence and occasionally interjects brief narration.
In New York on business, West Coast convert Max visits his HIV-positive friend and former business partner Charlie (Downey). They have an awkward reunion, with Max acting content but radiating unease, while Charlie is in denial about the grim future that awaits him. Back at the hotel, Max has a minor mishap with a friendly woman, Karen (Nastassja Kinski), who shares his passion for the Juilliard String Quartet and is married to Charlie's brother (Kyle MacLachlan).
Manhattan traffic plays a big part in Max staying an extra day and joining Karen at a concert, after which they are held up at knifepoint, escaping rattled but OK. Without a place to stay, he sleeps in her room. In the wee hours, she has a nightmare and his comforting her turns into them making love.
Safely back in Los Angeles, Max wants to be honest but is smothered with attention by his wife (Ming-Na Wen), and family life almost returns to normal. Time goes by and Charlie's condition becomes terminal. When Max returns to New York, he's faced with temptation again. But the painful, sad-to-watch demise of Charlie gets to Max, and his good manners and gentile demeanor are tested when he encounters homophobia, callousness and the possibility of another tryst with Karen.
Aside from the ending, the film is also mildly disappointing because of Kinski's somewhat enigmatic character, who is not given equal attention. Downey is haunting and wily in his passionate portrayal of a scared but courageous victim. Julian Sands, Glenn Plummer and Amanda Donohoe are solid in supporting roles, while Sony Pictures head John Calley and Figgis himself are memorable in cameos.
ONE NIGHT STAND
New Line Cinema
A Red Mullet production
Writer-director: Mike Figgis
Producers: Mike Figgis, Annie Stewart, Ben Myron
Executive producer: Robert Engelman
Co-executive producers: Michael DeLuca, Richard Saperstein
Director of photography: Declan Quinn
Production designer: Waldemar Kalinowski
Costume designers: Laura Goldsmith, Enid Harris
Editor: John Smith
Music: Mike Figgis
Casting: Nancy Foy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Max Carlyle: Wesley Snipes
Karen: Nastassja Kinski
Charlie: Robert Downey Jr.
Mimi: Ming-Na Wen
Vernon: Kyle MacLachlan
Running time -- 102 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 11/14/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It's not exactly a great mystery to see why Clare Peploe's "Rough Magic" has been floating around in release limbo for the past couple of years.
One of those steeped-in-magic-and-mysticism pictures, this deliberate confusion of screen conventions quickly wears out its overly perky welcome.
Like "Wilder Napalm" and "The Linguini Incident" before it, "Rough Magic" should serve as a handy example of "now you see it, now you don't" at the boxoffice.
Bridget Fonda is Myra Shumway, a magician's assistant in 1950s Los Angeles. She hightails it to Mexico in her shiny Buick convertible when her aspiring politician fiance, Cliff (D.W. Moffett), inadvertently shoots and kills the fatherly illusionist, played by Kenneth Mars.
There she meets up with Doc Ansell (Jim Broadbent), a street huckster who sells Miracle Elixir to the townsfolk; as well as Alex Ross Russell Crowe), a world-weary newspaperman who has been dispatched by Cliff to retrieve a roll of film from Myra that implicates him in the murder.
Of course, Alex ends up falling for the unwitting Myra, but not before she encounters a powerful Mayan sorceress (Euva Anderson), who endows her with the ability to lay giant tarantula eggs, turn annoying men into sausages and bestow on dogs the gift of speech, among other talents.
Peploe, who based her fractured fable on James Hadley Chase's "Miss Shumway Waves a Wand" (with an assist from William Brookfield and Robert Mundy), is obviously a big fan of the novel, but it would have been better left unfilmed. The story's flights of fancy work more effectively on the printed page, where the reader's imagination can take over. On the screen, they're self-consciously precious and grow rapidly tiresome.
The leads are similarly out of kilter. Dressed and coiffed to resemble, say, Veronica Lake and Joseph Cotten, Fonda and Crowe have the looks down but little of the substance or pulp. Old pro Jim Broadbent fares better as the Sydney Greenstreet-esque quack, while funnyman Paul Rodriguez scores some character points as a slimy thug who gets his just deserts.
Visually, the picture hits its requisite marks with some strong period production design from Waldemar Kalinowski and costume design from Richard
Hornung. DP John J. Campbell does some nice things with bright light that help conjure the magical realism.
ROUGH MAGIC
Goldwyn distributed through Metromedia Entertainment Group
UGC Images and Recorded Picture Company
present
in association with Martin Scorsese
A UGC Images production
A Clare Peploe film
Director:Clare Peploe
Producers:Laurie Parker and Declan Baldwin
Screenwriters:Robert Mundy and William Brookfield & Clare Peploe
Based on the novel "Miss Shumway Waves a Wand" by: James Hadley Chase
Executive producers:Yves Attal, Jonathan Taplin, Andrew Karsch
Director of photography:John J. Campbell
Production designer:Waldemar Kalinowski
Editor:Suzanne Fenn
Music:Richard Hartley
Costume designer:Richard Hornung
Color/stereo
Cast:
Myra Shumway:Bridget Fonda
Alex Ross:Russell Crowe
Doc Ansell:Jim Broadbent
Cliff Wyatt:D.W. Moffett
Magician:Kenneth Mars
Diego:Paul Rodriguez
Diego's Wife/Tojola:Euva Anderson
Running time -- 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13...
One of those steeped-in-magic-and-mysticism pictures, this deliberate confusion of screen conventions quickly wears out its overly perky welcome.
Like "Wilder Napalm" and "The Linguini Incident" before it, "Rough Magic" should serve as a handy example of "now you see it, now you don't" at the boxoffice.
Bridget Fonda is Myra Shumway, a magician's assistant in 1950s Los Angeles. She hightails it to Mexico in her shiny Buick convertible when her aspiring politician fiance, Cliff (D.W. Moffett), inadvertently shoots and kills the fatherly illusionist, played by Kenneth Mars.
There she meets up with Doc Ansell (Jim Broadbent), a street huckster who sells Miracle Elixir to the townsfolk; as well as Alex Ross Russell Crowe), a world-weary newspaperman who has been dispatched by Cliff to retrieve a roll of film from Myra that implicates him in the murder.
Of course, Alex ends up falling for the unwitting Myra, but not before she encounters a powerful Mayan sorceress (Euva Anderson), who endows her with the ability to lay giant tarantula eggs, turn annoying men into sausages and bestow on dogs the gift of speech, among other talents.
Peploe, who based her fractured fable on James Hadley Chase's "Miss Shumway Waves a Wand" (with an assist from William Brookfield and Robert Mundy), is obviously a big fan of the novel, but it would have been better left unfilmed. The story's flights of fancy work more effectively on the printed page, where the reader's imagination can take over. On the screen, they're self-consciously precious and grow rapidly tiresome.
The leads are similarly out of kilter. Dressed and coiffed to resemble, say, Veronica Lake and Joseph Cotten, Fonda and Crowe have the looks down but little of the substance or pulp. Old pro Jim Broadbent fares better as the Sydney Greenstreet-esque quack, while funnyman Paul Rodriguez scores some character points as a slimy thug who gets his just deserts.
Visually, the picture hits its requisite marks with some strong period production design from Waldemar Kalinowski and costume design from Richard
Hornung. DP John J. Campbell does some nice things with bright light that help conjure the magical realism.
ROUGH MAGIC
Goldwyn distributed through Metromedia Entertainment Group
UGC Images and Recorded Picture Company
present
in association with Martin Scorsese
A UGC Images production
A Clare Peploe film
Director:Clare Peploe
Producers:Laurie Parker and Declan Baldwin
Screenwriters:Robert Mundy and William Brookfield & Clare Peploe
Based on the novel "Miss Shumway Waves a Wand" by: James Hadley Chase
Executive producers:Yves Attal, Jonathan Taplin, Andrew Karsch
Director of photography:John J. Campbell
Production designer:Waldemar Kalinowski
Editor:Suzanne Fenn
Music:Richard Hartley
Costume designer:Richard Hornung
Color/stereo
Cast:
Myra Shumway:Bridget Fonda
Alex Ross:Russell Crowe
Doc Ansell:Jim Broadbent
Cliff Wyatt:D.W. Moffett
Magician:Kenneth Mars
Diego:Paul Rodriguez
Diego's Wife/Tojola:Euva Anderson
Running time -- 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13...
- 5/30/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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