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Reviews
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Surprisingly Great Movie
This is an interesting movie to talk about. Right away, it appears that the movie might have been seen as merely a Brad Pitt vehicle and it's easy to understand why. Pitt plays Tristan Ludlow, the incredibly sexy and appropriately troubled son of Colonel William Ludlow, played incredibly brilliantly by Sir Anthony Hopkins. While the Colonel's oldest and youngest sons, Alfred (Aidan Quinn) and Samuel (Henry Thomas), have ambitions to become great men like their father, they do not share Tristan's indecision as to whether or not they even deserve to be alive let alone happy.
Tristan Ludlow is one of those characters you just know is a good boy, really; he is just a bit distracted by some gloriously bad behavior. At first, this doesn't really seem to hurt anybody. But like anything else that moves the film dangerously close to being formula, a beautiful woman comes along. She is Susannah, fiancé to young Samuel, and, as the story moves along, lover to Tristan and finally, wife to Alfred.
On the face, this situation looks bad, especially if we judge it by today's standards. The story, however, is set in the early 20th century and opens on the eve of World War I, which makes Susannah's options drastically limited after Tristan abruptly breaks their engagement after they'd already been lovers. In this way, Susannah was likely to have been left no choice but to marry Alfred since she was not married to either Samuel, with whom it was never made clear if they did as intended, which was not to wait until marriage to have sex, or Tristan, whom she clearly did have sex with when they were not married. Either way, Susannah's situation would have been quite bad but it did reveal a trait of Alfred Ludlow: he loved her regardless of her previous engagement to Tristan.
Throughout the movie, there are examples of formula at work, not the least of which was Tristan's return amid a bunch of wild horses complete with scoring. And yet, the score itself is one of the most beautiful things about this movie. James Horner's score, done before Titanic, is nothing short of breathtaking. Just listening to the soundtrack album reminds you of how the film takes us to some of the lighter, more tender moments of the Ludlows' lives just before it takes us into the darker sides that are as full of realistic heartache as they are good old fashioned Hollywood drama. Except this film makes that old fashioned drama more realistic in terms of the feel and tone and the way it still reminds us that even this can happen in real life.
The movie, released in 1995, was based upon the novella of the same name by Jim Harrison, first published in 1979. While no adaptation is completely true to the book, there are still some significant departures from the book that the movie took (i.e. Tristan and Susannah were indeed married in the novella but divorced), but it still worked. It's hard to explain in only a few sentences how the movie managed to work despite some differences from the novella, but it did.
One of the film's most stunning features was the cinematography. There just aren't a lot of films with cinematography as breathtaking as it is in this movie. Considering the budget limitations for location that even moved the production from Montana to Canada and the unpredictable weather during filming, among other things, this is a fantastic accomplishment, to say the least.
Everyone in the cast gave a performance that made you forget you were watching Sir Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond, and the rest of the cast. You were watching the Ludlows. The argument that this movie, like other formula, does little else except make the toes of the female audience curl for Brad Pitt falls short, as Pitt can never be accused of being cast merely as eye candy meant to sell an otherwise mediocre film. He was eye candy alright but he also played Tristan Ludlow so believably that I doubt there were or are very many other actors who could have done as fine a job. This movie should be considered a classic before too much longer--or just right now.
Perfumed Garden: Tales of the Kama Sutra (2000)
Not bad for a low b movie...
...but obviously borrowing from other movies of the time it was made. I had to watch it a few times to get the basic story down, particularly the parts where the lives of Michael and Lisa intersect with the lives of a monk and a courtesan in 10th century India.
It's easy enough to see how this couple ended up there, or even together. Michael works for Lisa's brother-in-law, who happens to be Indian, and Michael, due to his problem with impotence, uses a work assignment as a way to try and get out of the relationship with Lisa, only she takes it as an opportunity for not only both of their careers but their relationship.
Michael's obsession with India, come to find out, leads him to work in the temple where a mysterious statue has been found. No one knows the origins of the statue, or even what the woman was supposed to have been. What is known is that the temple she was found in was dedicated to the gods of love, with numerous statuary and bas reliefs of erotic poses of the Kama Sutra. What is interesting to note is that her statue is in the one part of the temple that has been damaged by rain and elements, whereas the rest of it has been protected over time, which is what the other statues and bas reliefs were supposed to protect the temple from.
While Lisa is looking for fabrics for the fashion designer she works for and anguishing over ways to save her relationship with Michael, the statue disappears, utterly baffling the preservation staff as security is supposed to be tight. But just before Michael is informed of the disappearance, he sees a woman standing among the scaffolding of the temple where the statue had been.
From there, Michael and Lisa meet this mystery woman, Loni, who tells them the story of a soon-to-be-monk who, having taken a vow of celibacy, is sent by his guru, Vaisyzyana, the author of the Kama Sutra himself, to the palace of the king's courtesan to "observe but not participate in" lovemaking to see that his teachings are actually applied. He meets Lochani, whom the courtesan has raised as she was orphaned at an early age like the monk. The monk is not yet a monk but it is expected that he will become one; Lochani is not yet a courtesan but it is expected that she will become one.
Obviously problems ensued when the monk and the courtesan fell in love, and the further Michael and Lisa go into Loni's story, the more they realize they are directly involved in it.
The film making is obviously low budget, the scripting isn't great, and not all the cast is considerably talented, though the actress who plays Loni/Lochini is the exception. It takes a lot of thinking, more than one should have to do for such a small movie, to fill in plot holes. There are fun clues in scenes when you compare the ones set in the present to the ones in the past, such as the sand/limestone elephant Michael is restoring, but where this movie gets more points than other cheaply made erotica that jumped on the Kama Sutra bandwagon is in its attention to giving some pretty colorful life to the history of courtesans in 10th century India and their role in society and in the Kama Sutra itself.
There is a scene that depicts the Holi Festival as mentioned in Sir Richard F. Burton's forward to the Kama Sutra, and the characters do their best to use dialog to explain the role of a king's courtesan at that time in India's history. It's not exactly stunning dialog but it's enough to pique one's interest in the subject.
The cinematography, such as it is, actually does a decent job of capturing what intrigued people to watch movies about the sensual and mystical elements of the Kama Sutra. We see the "dance of seduction" (of course), the beauty rituals courtesans engaged in to keep themselves beautiful, the colorful saris and ornamentation worn by them, and even a little bit on how the physical acts of the Kama Sutra are performed by courtesans for the men who go to them. We see the temples, statuary and bas reliefs so commonly associated with it, even among modern day India. We see Lisa, an American from Los Angeles, dazzled by the sights and atmosphere of India as she shops.
Keep a watch for the part where Lisa, shopping by herself, is reading aloud from a large version Kama Sutra printed in English, is approached by Loni. Loni hands her another version of the Kama Sutra, the one by the Sage himself, and it is the very same popular copy found in most bookstores in the United States today.
No, this is not a cinematic achievement by any stretch of the imagination but it is a fun story with some great visual aspects. There are inconsistencies, such as the fact that we don't actually see the temple as the characters in the 10th century part of the film experience it, and the courtesan's palace as experienced 1,000 years later looks nothing like it did when the courtesan was living, but we can't expect too much from something with such a limited budget.
If you're looking for something to watch to kill time, but not expecting a lot of sexiness (or maybe just a little), this film is worth at least one viewing. If you're looking for something more than that, you might want to skip it. It's really a "to each his own" title.
Gotham (1988)
An Underrated Modern Day Film Noir
Tommy Lee Jones is in rare form here. Though he retains his trademark deadpan delivery and familiar Texan drawl, the comical one-liners are replaced by astute ones in a much darker atmosphere.
Eddie Mallard (Jones) is a broke, late on his rent New York private detective whose luck turns around when he is hired by eccentric millionaire Charlie Rand (Colin Bruce) to track down and confront his wife, Rachel Carlyle (Virginia Madsen). Rand wants Rachel to leave him alone, stop following him. When Eddie asks Charlie why not start with divorce, he gets a blunt answer: Rachel has been dead for over a decade.
After an initial frosty confrontation in a New York lounge, Rachel seeks out Eddie, who is falling in love with this woman who may or may not be a ghost. Rachel charms Eddie into falling in love with her as Eddie learns more about Rachel Carlyle.
Eddie cannot decide if Rachel is a flesh and blood woman or if she is in fact the ghost of a dead New York socialite who only married Charlie Rand for his money. As Eddie is pulled further and further into Rachel's mysterious world, he realizes that either way, his life as he knows it could come to a bad end. The dead can't lie - can they?
Excellent film, a dark, chilling tribute to 1940's film noir. Jones and Madsen have fantastic chemistry and the supporting cast (including Frederick Forrest as a priest) give outstanding performances.
For those looking for it to rent, Netflix does carry it.