`PASSION FISH' IS SAYLES AT HIS BEST

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 13, 1993                   TAG: 9303130251
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
`PASSION FISH' IS SAYLES AT HIS BEST
One of the more unfortunate aspects of movies these days happens as soon as the film begins to unreel. There we see "a film by," followed by the name of the director, no matter how bad or inconsequential a movie we're about to see. Though the director is generally in charge, movies are a collaborative art and owe their success or failure to a variety of factors.
But in the case of John Sayles, you can bet a movie is his from the title to the final credits.
Sayles is an independent filmmaker who controls his movies with great integrity, economy and intelligence.
If you're in doubt, just check out "Passion Fish," his latest. Sayles not only wrote and directed this movie, he edited it as well.
It was made with a budget that probably wouldn't pay the caterers on most big studio productions. Yet you would never know it. The acting is impressive - so much so that Mary McDonnell has earned a best-actress Oscar nomination.
The visuals, though not large scale, are handsome. The writing is smart and sensitive: Sayles earned a best screenplay nomination himself. And the direction by Sayles is typically savvy. Stars commonly work for union scale on Sayles' movies, and it's not just out of charity. Sayles provides good, three-dimensional characters and dialogue that sounds as if it comes from real people. He makes actors look good.
This is Sayles' movie about friendship and spiritual healing.
McDonnell plays May-Alice, a soap opera star who is paralyzed when struck by a taxi.
She is understandably bitter about a future in a wheel chair and returns to her family's house in Louisiana to drown herself in alcohol, television and self-pity.
May-Alice quickly runs through a string of nurses because of her disagreeable antics. Then Chantelle arrives. Alfre Woodard plays Chantelle, a young black woman who makes it clear that she's not May-Alice's maid. She also makes it clear that she needs the job and is willing to put up with more than usual from May-Alice. However, as the arrangement progresses, Chantelle begins to push May-Alice in directions that help strengthen her body and her self-esteem. Meanwhile, Sayles drops hints that Chantelle needs some healing herself.
McDonnell and Woodard both give striking performances that play on the heartfelt material without seeming false or manipulative. May-Alice might be disagreeable, but she has a deep and saving sense of irony. Chantelle is all determination and dignity. As usual, Sayles provides interesting supporting characters as well.
David Strathairn, a Sayles veteran, plays Rennie, a Cajun carpenter who comes around to help. In their youth, May-Alice and Rennie were once interested in each other but never followed it up because of class barriers. Vondie Curtis-Hall plays Sugar, a blacksmith with several ex-wives, who fancies Chantelle. Leo Burmester has an enjoyable small role as Reeves, May-Alice's uncle, who unwittingly provides her with an instrument for her spiritual recovery.
The pleasures of a John Sayles movie come not just from the principal characters but from the people all around them and from his fascination with the kind of detail all around us.
A film by John Sayles is kind of like life.

Passion Fish ****. A Miramax Films release showing at the GRandin Theatre. Rated R for language, sexual situations. 135 minutes.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB