THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 17, 1995 TAG: 9510170028
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Videomatic
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Craig Shapiro
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines
A FILMMAKER trading in satire shares one career-making skill with an aerialist on a tightrope: an acute sense of balance. Come on too heavy and audiences are put off. Tread lightly and they miss the point.
It takes agility, and Rusty Cundieff is nothing if not sure-footed.
His debut film, 1994's ``Fear of a Black Hat,'' was a dead-on sendup of the gangsta rappers, as funny as ``This Is Spinal Tap.'' With today's video release of ``Tales From the Hood'' (HBO), the talented writer-director goes 2-for-2.
Setting his anthology at a creepy funeral home, Cundieff addresses real-life horrors - police brutality, domestic violence, racism, black-on-black crime. Given recent headlines, it could hardly be timelier.
``The danger anytime you deal with issue-oriented material,'' he said from his Los Angeles apartment, ``is you're going to lose some people, because the very nature of an issue means there's someone one either side, pro or con. It is very difficult to keep both sides of the audience, especially if you yourself have a point of view.''
How does Cundieff handle that? By working without a net.
``All I can do is guide myself by my own instincts,'' he said. ``Once you get into second-guessing what people are going to respond to and how they're going to accept it, it starts to affect what you're doing. You really just have to hope that the audience is sympathetic to your point of view.
``It totally depends on where they stand on the issues going into the film. The analogy would almost be the verdict in the Simpson trial.''
Make no mistake, ``Tales From the Hood'' will divide viewers. While it is often outrageously funny - Cundieff, who counts Buck Henry and Paddy Chayefsky among his influences, has a keen ear for dialogue - there's no getting around its point of view.
In one segment, comic David Alan Grier plays an abusive father and husband. Corbin Bernsen also switches gears as a David Duke-like gubernatorial candidate. Clarence Williams III goes way over the top as the mortician-host.
The movie made a respectable $12 million at the box office. The take might have been higher, though, with a different marketing campaign. Cundieff believes that the campaign which was mounted trivialized the issues.
``While the film was out, I got a lot of comments,'' he said, ``People would say, `You know, I really didn't have the desire to see the movie because the marketing made it look like a silly horror film. You're dealing with all these issues. Why didn't they do that?'
``All I can say is we argued and argued and, for whatever reasons, they felt it would be a turn-off. My point to them was that when you look at all the black films that have really done well, all of them tended to deal with issues or politics or polemics, and they all made a point of saying that's what they're dealing with in their marketing campaign.
``I'm not one who believes that you make a movie and try to sell a different movie. You sell the movie that you made. If you don't think that movie is going to sell, then you shouldn't make it.''
Not that the congenial Cundieff is complaining. He's working on a script for a romantic-comedy and just finished rewriting another that parodies action films.
``I feel relatively comfortable and confident that I'll get to do another movie,'' he said, laughing. ``That's the most you can ask for as a director.''
Videomatic says: A. (RATED: R for violence, language; 98 mins.)
The Couch Report
``While You Were Sleeping'' (Hollywood, 1995). Romantic-Comedy 101: Lonely transit worker is smitten by handsome commuter. He's mugged, she saves him, he slips into a coma. At the hospital, she is mistaken for his fiancee. Enter his brother. Sparks fly. The painfully contrived script is redeemed somewhat by Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman, likeable actors who create a nice, believable chemistry by fleshing out their cardboard roles. Videomatic says: C+
(CAST: Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Jack Warden. RATED: PG but it's harmless; 103 mins.)
``Farinelli'' (Columbia TriStar, 1995). This sumptuous biopic presents the 18th century castrato as the Elvis of his day; still, it raises real questions about artistic sacrifice. Jeroen Krabbe makes a superb Handel, too. The off-note is its technical achievement - using a soprano and countertenor to replicate the voice that made women swoon. When Stefano Dionisi opens his mouth, it's like watching Jim Nabors sing on ``Gomer Pyle.'' (Subtitled) Videomatic says: B
(CAST: Stefano Dionisi, Enrico Lo Verso, Elsa Zylberstein, Jeroen Krabbe. RATED: R for nudity, situations, language; 110 mins.)
``Picture Bride'' (Miramax, 1995). In 1918 Hawaii, a young Japanese woman enters a prearranged marriage with a sugarcane worker, only to learn he is older than her late father. With no family, she feels lost. Inspirational and insightful, this lauded film offers a fundamental truth: The future can only be realized by acknowledging the past. It also creates a lyrical sense of place and community. (Subtitled) Videomatic says: B+
(CAST: Tamlyn Tomita, Youki Kudoh, Akira Takayama. RATED: PG-13 for themes, situations; 95 mins.)
``Out of Sync'' (Live, 1995). LL Cool J is a deejay in deep water because of gambling debts. He turns informant, but it gets dicey when he falls for a drug lord's lady. Everyone is working an angle. While the story is routine, director Debbie Allen compensates by playing it refreshingly straightforward. The cast is solid. Videomatic says: B
(CAST: LL Cool J, Victoria Dillard, Yaphet Kotto, Howard Hesseman. RATED: R for language, violence, nudity; 105 mins.)
``A Pyromaniac's Love Story'' (Hollywood, 1995). A bit of froth about true love, good intentions and a burned-down bakery - except it never ignites. John Leguizamo and Sadie Frost are lukewarm at best; poor Erika Eleniak and William Baldwin are in over their heads. Only veterans Joan Plowright and Armin Mueller-Stahl have a handle on it. Videomatic says: C-
(CAST: William Baldwin, John Leguizamo, Sadie Frost, Erika Eleniak, Joan Plowright, Armin Mueller-Stahl. RATED: PG for language; 99 mins.)
``The Babysitter'' (Republic, 1995). Anyone looking to understand the Alicia Silverstone hoopla will be left clueless. She's a Barbie doll who inspires fantasies in kids, teens and potbellied men. When fantasy and reality collide, it's not good. Same goes for this limp thriller. Videomatic says: F
(CAST: Alicia Silverstone, J.T. Walsh, Jeremy London, Nicky Katt. RATED: R for language, violence, brief nudity; 90 mins.)
``Nightscare'' (Live, 1995). One for the curious. Vapid Elizabeth Hurley, Hugh Grant's gal before Sunset Boulevard, is a neurologist(!) testing a mind-control drug on a psycho, and herself. Look out: She's a conduit for his wickedness. Look out: 89 minutes never seemed so long. Videomatic says: F
(CAST: Elizabeth Hurley, Craig Fairbrass, Keith Allen. RATED: R for violence, language, brief nudity; 89 mins.)
Also: Marisa Tomei in ``The Perez Family,'' the lauded comedy about Cuban immigrants in Miami (R); ``Panther,'' Mario Van Peebles' account of the Black Panthers (R); ``Girl in the Cadillac,'' a romantic adventure with Erika Eleniak (R); lycanthropy in ``The Howling: New Moon Rising'' (R); coming-of-age drama in ``The Last Winter'' (not rated); and action in ``New York Cop'' and ``Blood for Blood'' (both R).
Next Tuesday: ``Exotica,'' ``The Cure,'' ``Signs of Life,'' ``A Tale of Winter,'' ``Tilai,'' ``Jury Duty,'' ``Stuart Saves His Family,'' ``Convict Cowboy,'' ``Nature of the Beast,'' ``Blue Flame,'' ``Cover Me''
Oct. 25: ``The Santa Clause'' by CNB