ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996 TAG: 9606240114
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: It Came from the Video Store
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
Mainstream Hollywood films are almost never about strong women. The stars who carry the big films are mostly male. Home video, however, tends to be more adventurous both in characters and in setting. This week, we've got four new releases with six assertive heroines in far-flung locales.
"Desperate Remedies" is a quirky New Zealand import that's going to find an audience at festivals and on video. It's so stylized that it's bound to irritate more viewers than it delights. But obviously that's what Stewart Main and Peter Wells (who co-directed and co-wrote it) intended. The whole film was made on sets - no exteriors - with wildly exaggerated make-up, colors, camera angles, sound effects, acting ... everything. As for the story - imagine the Fellini version of an overripe Dickens novel.
In a 19th-century town being flooded with immigrants, businesswoman Dorothea Brook (Jennifer Ward-Leland) has a host of problems. Her opium-addicted sister Rose (Kiri Mills) is involved with the totally unsuitable and nasty Frazer (Cliff Curtis). The oily and unscrupulous Poyser (Michael Hurst) wants to marry Dorothea to gain control of her money and to advance his political career, though he's not at all certain about Dorothea's relationship with her "servant," Ann Cooper (Lisa Chappell). Meanwhile, Dorothea haunts the docks looking for a man, and when she spies pouty-lipped pretty boy Lawrence Hays (Kevin Smith), she thinks she's found him. Toss in a few more subplots, add a fistful of rubies and stir vigorously.
For loose comparative purposes in a visual sense, think of "Absolute Beginners," "Ballroom Dancing" and "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover," but this one's more operatic and grandiose than any of them, and it's got a much better ending.
"The Sorceress" is a wonderful rediscovery.
It's a black-and-white French film from 1955. Essentially, it's a fairy tale, a variation on "The Little Mermaid" set in a Swedish forest. A French engineer (Maurice Ronet) is hired by a wealthy woman (Nicole Courcel) to cut a road through the wilderness. He's distracted first by his employer and then by a woman-child, Ina (the radiant and sexy Marina Vlady) who lives deep in the woods. With her youthful Kim Novak-Brigitte Bardot blond glamour, she's the key to the film.
The pace may seem slow, because director Andre Michel wraps his story in an atmosphere of inevitability. In look and tone, the film is a lot like Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast," but without the bold stylistic flourishes and lush production values. The title's anonymity in this country is really unfair. It is, I suppose, a matter of bad timing. Maybe now "The Sorceress" will finally find the audience it deserves.
"The Heroic Trio" is another wild martial arts adventure from Hong Kong. With these particular imports, the narrative conventions and storytelling techniques are so unusual that Western viewers have trouble following the anything-can-happen plots. (At least this viewer does, particularly when he dozes off after dinner and has to rewind and finish up the next evening.) But that's less important than it sounds. These films are so energetic and imaginative that those plots are mostly unimportant.
"The Heroic Trio" is a crazed tale of a supernatural being, kidnapped cannibal babies, cops, computers and three magical heroines - Wonderwoman, Thief Catcher and Invisible Girl, played by Anita Mui, Maggie Cheung and Michelle Yeoh (possibly in that order). The stunt choreography is almost impossible to describe, and it really shouldn't be. Surprise counts for a lot. The action scenes are graphic with beheadings and such, but they take place in such an unrealistic context that the violence doesn't seem excessive. Martial arts fans who're tired of the same old kicks and spins should definitely give this one a try.
"Nemesis 3" might make more sense to those who've seen "2" but not necessarily. It's a deliberately disjointed sci-fi action flick set in a desolate future Arizona wasteland where cyborgs are hunting humans. The minimal plot provides a framework for some nifty visual effects involving lights and "bubble" distortions. The stars are pudgy Tim Thomerson who morphs into a golden robot character who looks like the result of an unholy union between an Oscar statuette and a Power Ranger, and Sue Price, a muscular young woman who could probably benchpress Newt Gingrich without breaking a sweat.
Even judged by the relaxed standard of the genre, the general level of acting in this one makes Jean-Claude Van Damme look like Laurence Olivier. "4" is on the way.
Next week: Alternative approaches to home video - in print and on the web!
Got a question about home video or film? Contact your favorite video columnist at P.O. Box 2491; Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491, or by e-mail at 75331.2603@compuserve.com.
New releases this week:
Sense and Sensibility *** 1/2
Starring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman. Directed by Ang Lee. Columbia TriStar. 135 minutes. Rated PG for subject matter.
Star and writer Emma Thompson does first-rate work in both jobs. She got able help from director Lee, her co-stars and a supporting cast of England's best character actors. Jane Austen's tale of the Dashwood sisters' rocky road to romance is simply a delight from start to finish.
- Mike Mayo
Dracula: Dead and Loving It ***
Starring Leslie Nielsen, Mel Brooks. Directed by Brooks. Columbia TriStar. 85 minutes. Rated PG-13 for comic violence, sexual references.
To place this horror spoof within the spectrum of Mel Brooks' films, it's much better than his most recent, "Robin Hood: Men In Tights," but not nearly as good as the brilliant "Young Frankenstein." Brooks goes back to the original 1931 Bela Lugosi film for most of his jokes and the plot and even for the impressive sets. Horror fans will love it.
- MM
Dead Man Walking *** 1/2
Starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. Directed by Tim Robbins. Polygram. 122 minutes. Rated R.
Forget the hype, but not this movie, a veritable all-you-can-eat banquet of food for thought on the subject of capital punishment. Sarandon is excellent as Sister Helen Prejean, who wrote the book on which the movie is based. Penn is masterful as death row inmate Matthew Poncelet, who blames everyone but himself for his plight. Robbins tries a little too hard to let all sides have their say - over and over - but exceptional performances burn this story into the brain.
- Katherine Reed
Bed of Roses ** 1/2
Starring Christian Slater and Mary Stuart Masterson. Turner/New Line. 87 minutes. Rated PG.
Ever told someone you were breaking up with, ``It's not you - it's me''? Well, that pretty much summarizes the conflict in this romance. But it argues, unconvincingly, for the existence of perfection in love. Still, it's a pleasant enough date movie.
- KR
The Essentials:
Desperate Remedies *** Paramount. 92 minutes. Rated R for subject matter, sexual content, brief nudity, drug use.
The Sorceress *** Ivy Classic Video. 91 minutes. Unrated, contains no objectionable material.
The Heroic Trio *** Tai Seng. 104 minutes. Unrated, contains violence, strong language.
Nemesis 3: Time Lapse * 1/2 WarnerVision. 91 minutes. Rated R for violence, language., one naked backside.
LENGTH: Long : 136 linesby CNB