FILM REVIEWS II - Music - http://maxpages.com/aeazine/FILM_REVIEWS

Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trickbaby
With: Natasha Lyonne, Vincent Gallo, David Alan Grier, Maria Celedonio, Bob Dawson, Jennifer Griffin.
Written and Directed by Matthew Bright
Produced by Brad Wyman
Music by Kennard Ramsey
Cinematography by Joel Ransom
Kushner-Locke

Matthew Bright is one of those writer-directors who throws convention to the wind when speaking through the medium of the motion picture, using disturbing imagery to make his point without concern of who walks away offended. Indeed, his point seems to be shocking the viewer into looking at society more closely, and driving the message home in a fashion to horrify you as much as he’s horrified with the real world that mainstream audiences witness less and less in contemporary cinema in favor of over-exaggerated nostalgia and fantasy superheroes gifted or cursed with superhuman abilities. The superheroes of Bright’s “Freeway” movies by contrast are actually all too human; the only special ability setting them apart from average human beings is the will not just to survive but keep their human dignity in a world full of real-life villains who prove to be far more dangerous to the innocent. Bright appears haunted by said horrors to the point of having to exorcise them through revealing the beast lurking beneath a facade of decency as with Kiefer Sutherland’s evil Bob Wolverton in “Freeway” and Vincent Gallo’s (“Buffalo ‘66.”) wolf in sheep’s clothing in 1999’s “Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trickbaby.”

The central heroes of both movies written and directed by Bright happen to be females, usually viewed by stalkers and serial killers as the “weaker sex” but in these films turning out to have been the wrong people to mess with. This in itself raises more than a few ironic points concerning the current American justice system pertaining to juveniles as well as to adults. “Freeway” discussed the matter of who is guilty or innocent in a self-defense situation based on the background, education and lifestyle of those involved. “Freeway 2” goes into the fact that when a woman commits a violent crime and is caught, the issue is often clouded by the traditional perception of women as victims of violent crimes, not perpetrators. But there is one common thread uniting both films, which is the simple Hammurabian notion that the actual perpetrator of a crime should be punished when proven guilty. In the case of Crystal (Natasha Lyonne, “American Pie”) the system does finally manage to catch up with her repeated offenses against society when upon her conviction it orders her to begin her sentence early at a psychiatric facility to cure her bulimia, something that turns out to be a key element in the story later.

Many who saw “Freeway 2” consider it a work of genius; others find it utterly revolting and the product of a twisted mind at worst, not as effective as the first installment of Bright’s series at best. While Kiefer Sutherland and Reese Witherspoon managed to make their story work by bringing a sense of realism to their characters, this is much more existential and symboilic in its imagery. Like “Freeway,” which followed “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Freeway 2” is based on a children’s tale, “Hansel and Gretel.” It begins with Crystal ensconced in the psychiatric ward sharing a room with Cyclona (Maria Celedonio, TV’s “Crossing Jordan”), a 19 year old killer with mental problems far worse than Crystal has with being bulimic. These two at first become friends under duress because they have to tolerate each other while living in the same environment, but Cyclona approaches Crystal with an offer to escape, promising sanctuary in Mexico where she knows a nun who she says took her in as a child. Meanwhile Crystal’s attorney, Mr. Butz (David Alan Grier, “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle”) is trying to get her absolved on a technicality; however, things are about to get much heavier soon.

From the point of Crystal and Cyclona’s escape the film becomes a juvenile delinquent version of the road trip formula, having more in common with the seedy world of “Thelma and Louise” or “Truth or Consequences, N.M.” than the standard fare directed at the MTV audience, peppered with acts of senseless violence mostly committed by Cyclona including the sudden shooting murder of two border guards just before reaching Mexico, which in turn prompts a search for the two by American agents. These moments hearken to the issue of victim or criminal as Cyclona offers Crystal the novel defense that her victims were a danger to her. Michael T. Weiss, who played Vanessa’s abusive stepfather in “Freeway,” returns in a cameo appearance as Larry during their journey stowing on a freight train. Despite the killings that occur on their way to Mexico the two grow close to each other and by the time they reach Tijuana there is a sense of camaraderie made lighter by a soundtrack of college rock like the kind heard in most “road trip” films. In time, the film takes another turn when they are reunited with Sister Gomez (Gallo) toward what’s to become unspeakable black horror for both before a riveting finale.

The Apostle
With: Robert Duvall, Farrah Fawcett, Miranda Richardson, June Carter Cash, Todd Allen, John Beasley, Lenore Banks, Billy Bob Thornton
Written and Directed by Robert Duvall
Produced by Rob Carliner
Cinematography by Barry Markowitz
Music by David Mansfield
October Films

Euliss “Sonny” Dewey (Robert Duvall, “Gone in Sixty Seconds”) is a southern pastor residing in Texas who is quite dedicated to his work, having devoted his life to preaching gospel since he was brought to a congregation as a young child. So much, ironically, that in his adult life he appears to have excluded all else. And he has inner demons that his years of preaching were not entirely successful in exorcising, no matter how often he has demanded God save him. If the road to salvation is through the humility one learns from experiencing hardship, it’s possible Dewey has spent a great deal of his life treading in circles on the wrong foot, and still has yet to arrive at this revelation himself. More prideful than humble, he repeatedly chooses to respond to anger when he discovers his wife has been unfaithful to him, and taken over his church. In keeping with stories centering on lessons in life courtesy of the man upstairs, his actions in fact turn out to set the pace for the events in his life that follow. But his deeds, whether they are done or God’s glory or his own, leave it up to the viewer to decide if he is truly good or evil within, not an omnipotent deity.

Shortly after 1997’s “The Apostle” begins, Dewey is confronted with his two unpleasant revelations, which he reacts to with righteous wrath and detachment from his own responsibility in both matters. Robert Duvall, also writer and director of the film, creates an interesting paradox for his character. Early on we learn that Dewey would willingly attend the site of an impendingly fatal car accident to give the driver last rites before he passes away, but shows much less compassion for the people involved in his own personal life, including members of his own family. One morning we watch him leave his ailing mother (June Carter Cash) unattended and half-conscious because he is late for work that day, almost seeming to make wisecracking remarks about the possibility of her death, joking that she ought to remember to greet Saint Peter for him. In a later scene he is up half the night getting into how pissed off he is at God that things are going badly for him, not asking but ordering him and his son to grant him peace and show him the way with very little regard for who is within earshot.

We never learn how or why Dewey became as self-absorbed as he is; the film’s only flashback shows him preaching to the church congregation as an older boy demanding the sun, the moon and the constellations “get out of my way.” Today we see his personal life is no better than his life as a pastor because his wife is not only cheating on him and “stealing” his church, but also wants to divorce him and take the children. Despite his efforts to cajole her into changing her mind, she is adamant, telling him she wants more out of life than she is getting as his wife. In a confrontation with the third party in the affair, who we see him forgiving during the church service, Dewey perceives his presence as a distraction from seeing his children, loses control of his faculties and strikes him in the head with a baseball bat, knocking him unconscious. From the point where he does this and his wife and children leave him, he deems it necessary to leave town and go on the road in a search for redemption, again calling to God for direction and deciding that God led him to Bay Boutte, Louisiana.

Once there, Dewey sets out to make a new life for himself as a preacher, passing himself off as a rootless vagrant, one piece of imagery that’s an integral part of movies involving divine intervention but seems to be parodied by Dewey himself, as he believes he can abandon his past by concealing his guilt. He takes an abandoned church and with the help of locals converts it into a new house of worship, preaching the gospel from his new pulpit while doing the same on the radio. But, he can’t seem to silence his inner demons that have become more prominent by the memories of his family, his son and his mother, calling home frequently and learning that his mother has been growing sicker and the man he assaulted is not expected to survive much longer. One cruel twist of irony occurs when he meets a new love interest (Miranda Richardson, “Sleepy Hollow”) only to learn his dreams with her may not be as attainable as he expected, and despite the impact he’s made with his congregation by deeds including the conversion of a local troublemaker (Billy Bob Thornton, “Armageddon”) he learns in the end what God’s will was for him all along as his past catches up with him.

The Devil's Backbone
With: Eduardo Noriega, Marisa Paredes, Federico Luppi, Inigo Garces, Fernando Tielve, Irene Visedo, Besta Ojea, Fransisco Maestre, Jose Mauel Lorenzo, Junio Valverde
Written by Guillermo del Toro, Antonio Trashorras and David Munoz
Directed and Produced by Guillermo del Toro
Music by Javier Navarrete
Cinematography by Guillermo Navarro
Anhello Producciones

Consider the possibility of being virtually abandoned in an orphanage at a young age, in a country where a violent civil war that has raged for years is on the verge of drawing to a close with less than optimistic results. The environment is as hostile as the world outside, almost as if to mask an unpleasant occurrence that happened years ago, that nobody wants to discuss in the daylight. In addition to your isolation and your fear of the immediate world around you, you discover something much more sinister is lurking, waiting for nighttime to arrive before it comes searching for you, wanting to share its secret. You have no way to alleviate the consternation knowing only you are aware of its existence; any attempt to convince others of what you've witnessed is greeted with either skepticism, outright disbelief or fearful admonition not to invoke what demons exist beyond. But now it's determined to meet you, perhaps at the cost of your own soul.

We wouldn't expect a movie set against the Spanish Civil War to have much to do with horror, but Guillermo del Toro's 2001 film "The Devil's Backbone" gives you a different impression of horror's function in society. Not relying on horror-generating elements alone, its purpose in incorporating the horrid vision of a deceased boy's disembodied spirit is to provide a channel for what the director is saying. The writer-director compares a ghost to a single moment in human history eternally frozen in time; an open window through which one enters the past, like the effect of looking at a fossilized insect. The imagery of a specter prowling the darkness represents something that occurred within the orphanage everyone would rather forget about. That the setting is a major conflict that took place in Spain before World War II when Franco's army was overtaking the Republicans to the point of defeat is meant to offer an example of how war affects people's lives.

A young orphan named Carlos (Fernando Tielve) was left at a home for orphaned children by his tutor, who wished to protect him from Franco's army before they invaded the area. The others there are two instructors Dr. Cesares (Federico Luppi) and Carmen (Marisa Paredes), the children of Republican parents who presumably died in the war, an intimidating caretaker, Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), who is physically abusive to the children, and his girlfriend Conchita (Irene Visedo). As if adding a counterpoint to the deceased spirit residing there, the corpse of a bomb dropped by allies of Franco's forces remains embedded in the courtyard, rumored to be "still alive" despite having been disarmed. Because Carlos is new, he becomes the target of school bullies led by Jaime (Inigo Garces) though the instructors take a liking to him. Under the pretense of a test of courage, Jaime dares Carlos to steal water from a tank in a locked basement, where his first meeting takes place with the spirit of Santi (Junio Valverde), which naturally scares him for he doesn't know what the ghost wants.

Santi warns Carlos that many people at the orphanage are going to die, and Carlos' first reaction is to believe the ghost seeks to cause this to happen. But as is the case with many ghost stories, nothing is exactly as it seems and it's possible that Santi seeks to warn Carlos of what he sees is about to happen. As for Jacinto, he is plagued by unpleasant memories of when he was living in the orphanage, mentioning that when he grows rich someday he wants to buy the place and tear it down. Which brings us to the sole reason he is still around. Gold is hidden somewhere in the orphanage that was brought there for financial support for the war effort against Franco. Jacinto wants to discover where it is hidden so he might take it all for himself, regardless of whether he has to go through Dr. Cesares, Conchita and everyone else there to acquire it. Eventually befriending the other kids, Carlos learns more about Santi until the moment finally arrives in which he confronts Santi face to face, learning the story behind his death before the end comes for the responsible party. In this final confrontation, the lines between the worlds of living and dead are brought inexorably together with unsettling impact.

The Princess and the Warrior
With: Franka Potente, Benno Furmann, Joachim Kroll, Natja Brunckhorst, Christa Fast, Lars Rudolph, Melchior Beslon, Ludger Pistor, Susanne Bredehoft, Gottfried Breitfuss, Steffen Schult, Role Dennemann
Written and Directed by Tom Tykwer
Cinematography by Frank Griebe
Music by Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer
X-Filme Creative Pool

I’ve seen three of Tom Tykwer’s movies and have little complaints about his scriptwriting or directing abilities. The first I saw of his, “Run Lola Run,” was easily among the better movies of the months following my discovery of the independent industry and I agree with those reviewers who consider it one of the previous decade’s finer moments. What I found most appealing about that movie was Tykwer made it fast-paced and viscerally exciting without it being necessary to include high-speed car chases or gratuitous gunfire. Judging by other examples of his work, “Lola” seems unique to itself, forcing imagery into your head without giving you a chance to recover unlike the next ones I had a chance to see. The pre-“Lola” “Winter Sleepers” and “The Princess and the Warrior” painstakingly allow its plot detail to establish itself so it becomes ingrained deeply into your consciousness. Often using the same camera angles as he had during the making of “Lola,” the German filmmaker creates a movie that’s uplifting and unsettling. While “Lola” discussed how the choices we make at any given time affect our lives, “Princess” deals with the power of coincidence when meetings occur that seem “meant” to.

A dark fairytale that often incorporates symbolism just for the sake of getting key points across, “Princess” has enough elements to avoid being lumped in with brighter themed movies. It reunites Tykwer with Franka Potente (“The Bourne Identity”), the lead character in “Lola” who returns as Sissi, a solitary woman who works as an attendant at the insane asylum. Her sole company is the staff and the inmates in her place of employment; one patient, who is blind and has a “second sight” feels close friendship for her and another has fallen for her. In one scene we see how close those two are though their actions are probably inappropriate. In spite of this, Sissi doesn’t come across as lonely, but we receive the impression he wants to fly away to a new life, something that eludes her, and she’s to meet someone who’s in the same position as she is. Sissi is pleasantly surprised upon receiving a letter from her friend Meike (Natja Brunckhorst), whose mother recently passed away, leaving her something in her will that’s locked in a safe deposit box at a local bank. Meike entrusts her to retrieve the item though she doesn’t reveal what it is. Soon we see why fate may have drawn her to town.

As Sissi heads for the bank with her blind friend from the asylum; someone is on the run for breaking the law; we don’t know what he did but it’s obvious he has to get away quick. Bodo (Benno Furmann) is a former solider who is frequently haunted by the death of his wife, and with his partner Walter (Joachim Krol) is devising a plan to rob a bank for traveling money to begin a new life elsewhere. To escape his current situation he hitches a ride with a truck, jumping onto its rear ladder where he holds on until the driver sees him there. His attention distracted, the truck driver doesn’t notice Sissi crossing the street until his vehicle strikes her and bears her under. For some reason, the man who indirectly caused the accident ends up back at the scene, ducking under the truck for want of a place to evade capture. Seeing the woman unable to move and slowly choking to death while she’s lying on the ground, he uses his experience as a solider to save her life, ensures that she is taken to a hospital, then disappears again. Laid up for almost two months, Sissi returns to work, discovering that things may be just as they were before the mysterious accident happened.

Now seeming to dread this more than anything, Sissi grows obsessed with tracking down and finding the person who rescued her to the point of blackmailing the owner of a store Bodo passed through to coerce him into telling her where she may find him. “Princess” also deals with choices a little differently than “Lola” does, firstly because every meeting between Sissi and Bodo seems to be less and less coincidental as the story progresses. As Sissi and Bodo grow more attached to each other, they find themselves making more decisions they might not have made on their own if they never met. In what must be the quietest, most perfectly timed bank robbery ever filmed, Sissi decided to help him try and pull it off while Bodo declines from shooting a security guard when things go wrong. What happens after this should be left for you to discover, but you have to see where Bodo decides to go into hiding when he learns the police are after him, and what comes out of that for these characters. The film’s ending is an especially powerful moment for both of them.

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Page Updated Thu Jul 22, 2004 8:40pm EDT