Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508220021
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
That's the subject of two new foreign films, one from China and one from France. These are big historical epics, not exactly standard fare for the new-releases shelf of your favorite video store. And though they necessarily lose something in the transition from big screen to small, both are still effective and entertaining on tape.
"Temptation of a Monk" is a little difficult to follow initially. That's to be expected. The setting is 7th-century China, where the political situation is unstable. The details aren't clear, but we soon learn that there's a question about the dynastic succession. In a move that he thinks and hopes will help ensure a peaceful transition, General Shi (Wu Hsin-Kuo) agrees to hold his men back when another faction makes a bid for power.
When the moment comes, he is betrayed. In shame, he retires to a monastery where he is joined by a few trusted lieutenants. It's a time of great confusion everywhere. His men chafe at monastic life and the idea of taking orders from a 10-year-old monk who's completely full of himself. Shi is torn between a desire to exact whatever revenge he can find, thereby regaining some self-respect, and an equally strong desire to surrender to religious discipline.
He returns to the pleasures of the flesh in a partially allegorical sequence set in a brothel, and then finds that the outside world isn't yet finished with him.
The other key character is Joan Chen, who plays both Princess Scarlet and a temptress who appears late in the story. She figures prominently in a head-shaving scene that's as intensely sensual as anything you're likely to see on film. It's a long, carefully photographed sequence, and director Clara Law wrings every molecule of emotion out of it. She seems equally comfortable with the large-scale battle scenes. One that's set in a narrow rocky canyon could have come straight from Peckinpah, and the climactic confrontation in a burning monastery is just terrific.
In the end, "Temptation of a Monk" is too unusual and too deliberately paced to recommend to all videophiles, but it's such a well made film with such strong, memorable images that anyone with a taste for the exotic and challenging should give it a try.
Much the same could be said of "Queen Margot." Though it's based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas, this adaptation almost could have been the David Lynch version of "The Three Musketeers." It's that bizarre, overstated and outlandish.
The setting is Paris, 1572, when Protestants and Catholics are serious about religious differences - deadly serious.
In an attempt either to calm the situation or to make it more explosive, the ruthless Catherine de Medici (Virni Lisi) has arranged the marriage of her wild, rebellious daughter Margot (Isabelle Adjani) to the Protestant Henry Bourbon (Daniel Auteuil). Harboring incestuous interests in their sister, Catherine's Catholic sons (Jean-Hugues Anglade and Pascal Gregory) don't take kindly to the new arrangement. Neither does Margot.
The catalyst is laMole (Vincent Perez). He's a young Protestant swordsman from the country who comes to the big city for the wedding and winds up being more intimately involved than he ever dreamed. The ceremony has hardly finished before all concerned are conspiring against each other, and those plots quickly turn to mass slaughter - religious cleansing, as it were.
For anyone not already familiar with French history and this story, the first half of the plot is difficult to follow. The script by Daniele Thompson and director Patrice Chereau doesn't bother with explanations when there's another palace intrigue to be cooked up, another assassination to be plotted or another fevered infidelity to be consummated.
And all of this is accomplished within a long, lush, extravagant production. The sets and costumes look great, but the cast, not wishing to be upstaged by inanimate objects, gives the hyperbolic plot its full due. No stick of scenery is safe. These people aren't above rolling around on the floor and tearing their clothes when they're upset, and by the end of the story they're all really ticked off, at least the ones who are still alive.
Again, this kind of deliberately excessive material isn't for everyone. Francophiles of more refined tastes probably won't care for it either. But those who like their history raw, sweaty, rough and nasty will be hugely entertained.
Next week: The beginning a semi-ambitious three-part series!
New releases this week:
Top Dog **1/2
Starring Chuck Norris. Directed by Aaron Norris. LIVE Home Video. 85 min. Rated PG-13 for violence, strong language and a dog in a Carmen Miranda hat.
A serviceable little cop/action movie for the younger set. The violence is well choreographed without being vicious or overly graphic, and the canine comedy is the standard shaggy dog stuff. Think "Lethal Weapon" meets "Benji" with a plot revolving around a right-wing hate group planting bombs. Norris shares star billing with Reno the dog.
Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh *1/2
Starring Tony Todd, Kelly Rowan. Directed by Bill Condon. Polygram Home Video. 99 min. Rated R for graphic violence, language.
This one's about as unnecessary as most sequels, maybe a little more in the key scenes. The 1992 original attempts to use "urban legends" as a basis for a horror story firmly set in today's world. Here, the scene is New Orleans. The story about a hook-handed man who appears from a mirror is the same. The pace is tedious.
The Mangler : Bomb
Starring Ted Levine, Robert Englund. Directed by Tobe Hooper. New Line Home Video. 103 min. Rated R for graphic bloody violence, strong language (also available in unrated and presumably more violent version).
For a horror film made on a relatively large budget, this one is remarkably incompetent. Almost everything about it is a mistake, including the accents that might have come from an Italian gladiator movie. Loosely based on a Stephen King story and aimlessly directed by Hooper.
The Essentials:
Temptation of a Monk ***1/2 Fox Lorber Home Video. 118 min. Rated R for graphic violence, strong sexual material, brief nudity.
Queen Margot ***1/2 Miramax Home Entertainment. 153 min. Rated R for graphic violence, strong sexual material, language, nudity.
Look what's hitting the shelves in October
Until now, the rule of thumb has held that there's a six-month "window" between a film's run in theaters and its appearance on tape. But the studios are rethinking that conventional wisdom and hurrying the process along when it seems appropriate. October is going to be busier than usual:
Oct. 3: "Cinderella" (Buena Vista), "French Kiss" (FoxVideo)
Oct. 10: "Rob Roy" (MGM/UA)
Oct. 13: "Casper"(MCA/Unversal)
Oct. 24: "The Santa Clause" (Buena Vista)
Oct. 31: "Little Women" (Columbia TriStar), "Batman Forever" (Warner) (expected)
by CNB