CANNES FILM REVIEWS:
'Tokyo Eyes'
Slick and stylish, intriguing at first but ultimately unsatisfying, French director Jean-Pierre Limosin's "Tokyo Eyes" (Un Certain Regard) is an end-of-the-century love story between a bespectacled young rebel who calls himself K (Shinji Takeda) and the younger sister, Hinano (Hinano Yoshikawa), of a police inspector on the trail of a mysterious shooter who randomly confronts people on the streets of Tokyo but misses his targets even at close range.
A happy teenybopper just beginning to pay serious attention to boys, Hinano recognizes K as the unpredictable "virtual killer" in the news and at first wants to help her brother catch him. But once she gets to know the spacy video-game maker, she comes to sympathize with his instant rages at prejudiced, intolerant and callous people who cross his path. While Limosin's technique draws one into the convoluted mystery-thriller-romance and the performances are solid, the film's appeal is limited to younger audiences and U.S. distribution is a long shot.
'Teatro Di Guerra'
A small theater company in Naples struggles to mount a production of Aeschylus' "Seven Against Thebes" in 1994, intending to present the grim drama of war and fratricide in disintegrating Sarajevo. Unfortunately, this frustrating Italian Un Certain Regard offering from acclaimed avant-garde writer-director Mario Martone is too choppy and uninvolving except for the most patient cineastes, with most of the characters remaining sketchy and distant despite a nearly two-hour running time.
Rehearsing in a ramshackle theater in a rough neighborhood, the group of pro and tyro thesps led by Leo (Andrea Renzi) manages to stay afloat despite lack of funding and the disinterest of more successful comrades. Last-minute support comes when Leo agrees to hire a drug-taking star (Anna Bonaiuto), while the situation outside the stage door becomes more ominous with the gunning down of the local Mafia boss. The film builds to an ironic conclusion that underscores the war everywhere between artistic conscience and indifference.
'Divine'
With the unholy ghost of Luis Bunuel hovering over this Un Certain Regard entrant -- iconoclastic Mexican auteur Arturro Ripstein was mentored by the great Spanish surrealist -- "Divine" (El Evangelio De Las Maravillas) is a millennial allegory about a bizarre religious cult with a movie-loving priest, self-proclaimed prophetess and dozens of sheepish followers. Unfolding as more than a dozen "mysteries," the non-linear structure is the most interesting aspect of the storytelling that is driven by the arrival of a reformed prostitute (Carolina Papaleo) and sinful teenager Tomasa (Edwarda Gurrola) in the shut-off community.
Veterans Francisco Rabal (Bunuel's "Nazarin") and Katy Jurado (an Oscar nominee in 1954 for "Broken Lance") are the leaders preparing the flock for the coming of a new messiah, and the latter before dying proclaims Tomasa the new prophet. But the youngster rewrites the rules and commands every male to have joyless sex with her. It sounds racy and relevant, but it's ponderous and far from a divine viewing experience.
David Hunter...
Slick and stylish, intriguing at first but ultimately unsatisfying, French director Jean-Pierre Limosin's "Tokyo Eyes" (Un Certain Regard) is an end-of-the-century love story between a bespectacled young rebel who calls himself K (Shinji Takeda) and the younger sister, Hinano (Hinano Yoshikawa), of a police inspector on the trail of a mysterious shooter who randomly confronts people on the streets of Tokyo but misses his targets even at close range.
A happy teenybopper just beginning to pay serious attention to boys, Hinano recognizes K as the unpredictable "virtual killer" in the news and at first wants to help her brother catch him. But once she gets to know the spacy video-game maker, she comes to sympathize with his instant rages at prejudiced, intolerant and callous people who cross his path. While Limosin's technique draws one into the convoluted mystery-thriller-romance and the performances are solid, the film's appeal is limited to younger audiences and U.S. distribution is a long shot.
'Teatro Di Guerra'
A small theater company in Naples struggles to mount a production of Aeschylus' "Seven Against Thebes" in 1994, intending to present the grim drama of war and fratricide in disintegrating Sarajevo. Unfortunately, this frustrating Italian Un Certain Regard offering from acclaimed avant-garde writer-director Mario Martone is too choppy and uninvolving except for the most patient cineastes, with most of the characters remaining sketchy and distant despite a nearly two-hour running time.
Rehearsing in a ramshackle theater in a rough neighborhood, the group of pro and tyro thesps led by Leo (Andrea Renzi) manages to stay afloat despite lack of funding and the disinterest of more successful comrades. Last-minute support comes when Leo agrees to hire a drug-taking star (Anna Bonaiuto), while the situation outside the stage door becomes more ominous with the gunning down of the local Mafia boss. The film builds to an ironic conclusion that underscores the war everywhere between artistic conscience and indifference.
'Divine'
With the unholy ghost of Luis Bunuel hovering over this Un Certain Regard entrant -- iconoclastic Mexican auteur Arturro Ripstein was mentored by the great Spanish surrealist -- "Divine" (El Evangelio De Las Maravillas) is a millennial allegory about a bizarre religious cult with a movie-loving priest, self-proclaimed prophetess and dozens of sheepish followers. Unfolding as more than a dozen "mysteries," the non-linear structure is the most interesting aspect of the storytelling that is driven by the arrival of a reformed prostitute (Carolina Papaleo) and sinful teenager Tomasa (Edwarda Gurrola) in the shut-off community.
Veterans Francisco Rabal (Bunuel's "Nazarin") and Katy Jurado (an Oscar nominee in 1954 for "Broken Lance") are the leaders preparing the flock for the coming of a new messiah, and the latter before dying proclaims Tomasa the new prophet. But the youngster rewrites the rules and commands every male to have joyless sex with her. It sounds racy and relevant, but it's ponderous and far from a divine viewing experience.
David Hunter...
- 5/21/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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