mkpfan Reviews

You Are Free (2001)

An amazing film, thanks to Siavash Lashkari, et al.

[10/10 · 2 May 2004]

Two young boys in Iran are released from reform school with the provision that they are to remain with family or go to a supervision center. While this film features all-around excellent performances, I must say that it has what may be one of my favorite performances by a child actor (along with Ana Torrent in Victor Erice's _El Espíritu de la Colmena_. Siavash Lashkari, as Sohrab, takes us on a sometimes humorous and ultimately poignant journey from his time in reform school to his days as a combination "fop" (of sorts) and delinquent (and beyond). His range of emotion and his display of character arc are most impressive, especially considering his age. Ehsan Ghasemi is also very good as the other boy who must struggle to find acceptance, even from his own family.

I saw this film in 2002, thanks to the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, and I am surprised by what little attention it received. Amazingly, this title is currently not available on DVD or VHS, but if ever it is, I recommend it highly. The portrayals of youth gone astray, the pain of indifference and rejection, and the hope of forgiveness and reform make this title one that should most definitely be available.

Filthy Rich (1982–1983)

"We don't serve gristle!"

[25 February 2004]

There's no way to italicize Dixie Carter's delivery of the word "serve" with this particular forum, so that I will have to characterize it in prose. When Bootsie Westchester (breathily played by Ann Wedgeworth) worried aloud about what she would have to do if she got "a piece of gristle" at an upscale dinner party, Carlotta Beck (Dixie Carter's never been more caustic and haughty, but fun...) did a slow burn, and said, "We don't (shudder) *serve* gristle."

This sums up the basic us vs. them premise of "Filthy Rich." However, there were really two different rivalries for control of the family's wealth. Carlotta and Stanley were the Established, Recognized members of the family, but hated the gold digging Kathleen (Delta Burke, in her first former beauty queen-with-a-penchant-for-tiaras-at-the-dinner-table role), who was married to the recently departed "Big Guy." The second family feud was between these three "legitimate" characters and the "trailer trash" Westchesters, who recently discovered that Wild Bill was the Big Guy's illegitimate son,

and was in line for an inheritance, if they could all get along...

As a raw parody of "Dallas" and other night time soaps, the show was absolutely perfect in its timing. It appeared as a summer replacement program and was wildly popular. Critics hated it, but audiences demanded that the network put the show in its regular lineup in the fall.

Unfortunately, the show couldn't maintain the level of interest that it generated in the slow, dull, dog days of summer. Maybe the show was too "one joke" to sustain extended audience interest, plus the competition was providing new material, and it was no longer the only new fish in the pond.

The writing was bawdy, brilliant, and satisfying when U.S. audiences couldn't get enough of oil-rich families fighting and trying to out-maneuver one another. It's a shame that it never got the chance to grow.

Latter Days (2003)

Mary Kay Place's most electrifying performance in film!

[9/10 · 4 February 2004]

On November 15, 2003, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival screened Latter Days. This movie is poignant, funny, surprising, and thought-provoking. Mary Kay Place is excellent, as usual, and the two leads are well cast and quite good. Jacqueline Bisset has some great one-liners, too. She is sort of the sage of the film. I particularly like the way that the writer/director, C. Jay Cox, wrote the character Aaron, the Mormon missionary. Steve Sandvoss plays him quite realistically, and it is clear that he and Cox did their research regarding this role.

In the first few scenes, the role of Aaron's mother, played by Mary Kay Place, looked to be another of those "also ran" roles that she has done lately. However, it's worth the wait to see her in her rather unsympathetic role of the Mormon mother of a gay son.

Because of the movie's gay theme, it may be relegated to "select theaters," so that you might have to look for this one. It's worth it.