Blind Spot
Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK — Less an organic creation than a debut indie film compendium of cliches designed to impress, "Blind Spot", written, produced, directed and edited by Stephan Woloszczuk, is a stupefying and pretentious road movie that has the good fortune to have as one of its stars James Franco. The presence of this talented young actor, a Golden Globe winner for last year's James Dean biopic, might provide some attention to a film that would otherwise languish in film festival purgatory.
The plot, or as much of it as could be discerned through half-closed eyes, has to do with Danny (Franco), a prep school dropout whose best friend, Darcy, suddenly vanishes. Shorn of possessions and clothing, Danny attempts to search for Darcy accompanied by two strangers: Darcy's comely blond girlfriend, April (Shawn Montgomery), and ex-con Wayne Mark Patrick Gleason). The trio embark on a road trip from Los Angeles, traveling through the desert and experiencing a series of adventures as they are pursued by a group of mobsters.
The filmmaker attempts to inject weirdness into the proceedings via a variety of stylistic devices, the most annoying of which is a series of still photo montages that gives the film the air of an avant-garde video. Even worse is the portentous narration, infused with film noir-style cliches that produce unintentional laughs.
The performers have charisma and sex appeal (Montgomery scores mostly in the latter department), and the film does boast some well-composed visuals, but ultimately this road trip is as much of an ordeal for the audience as it is for the main characters.
Three Days of Rain
Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK — Michael Meredith's feature debut, a modern-day adaptation of six short stories by Chekhov, demonstrates the pitfalls of transplanting writing from another era into a contemporary idiom.
Chekhov's stories and plays are hard enough to bring off when done faithfully, let alone when altering their entire milieu. Still, there's a quiet emotionalism to the film that is sometimes moving, and the enterprising filmmaker has assembled a fine cast. "Three Days of Rain" is receiving its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The title refers to the fact that all of the events of the film, which involves six different sets of characters, take place during a non-stop torrential downpour in Cleveland. The vignettes include the story of a tile maker desperately trying to procure the money he's owed by a recently widowed client; a couple nearly torn apart by their conflicting attitudes toward a particularly polite beggar; a heroin addict trying to prevent her child from the same fate; an alcoholic pensioner at the end of his financial rope; a cabdriver mourning the recent death of his son; and a mentally challenged laborer being manipulated out of his job.
Unfortunately, few of the stories carry any real dramatic weight, with the result that the film — relying more on mood than on narrative momentum — is far more lugubrious than involving. But there are occasionally powerful moments along the way, and Bob Belden's evocative jazz score adds greatly to the overall atmosphere. The large cast —which includes Peter Falk and, in cameos, Blythe Danner and Lyle Lovett — brings a strong sense of conviction to the material.
Public Enemy
Udine Far East Film Festival
UDINE, Italy — This quirky cop drama from Korea takes a big chance by slipping back and forth from violent drama to slapstick. But director Kang Woo-suk guides the film so effortlessly between the two genres, they seem like a natural fit. Playing at Italy's Udine Far East Film Festival, where it was a hit with audiences, "Public Enemy" proves that there is much life left in Korean cinema's commercial renaissance. Domestically, it is the highest-grossing Korean film so far this year and should have no trouble attracting moviegoers in Asian territories. Foreign distribution is a strong possibility, providing distributors want to brave the language gap.
Director Kang Woo-suk ("Two Cops") came to prominence during the days of Korean New Cinema, the art-house movement that wowed international critics during the early 1990s.
The story is typical "Dirty Harry". Grungy detective Kang knows he's on the right track when he collars a yuppie for the vicious murder of his parents. But Kang's superiors force him to lay off the suspect, who has no motive for patricide. Kang is demoted to traffic cop but turns up a crucial piece of evidence that allows him to avenge the murdered couple in the name of society-at-large.
The story line is straightforward, but the exposition is original. The scenes featuring the villain are gory and intentionally lack humor. But Kang's investigation leads him into genuinely hilarious situations. One involves a couple of camp gangsters who rap about knife-play. Another sees him single-handedly beat up an impossible number of young thugs. Actor Sol Kyung-gul ("Peppermint Candy") pitches Kang so that he can effortlessly move from Chuck Norris to Leslie Nielsen without jarring the viewer. Lee Sung-ji makes a nice counterpoint by portraying the cruel killer as ice-cold throughout.
Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK — Less an organic creation than a debut indie film compendium of cliches designed to impress, "Blind Spot", written, produced, directed and edited by Stephan Woloszczuk, is a stupefying and pretentious road movie that has the good fortune to have as one of its stars James Franco. The presence of this talented young actor, a Golden Globe winner for last year's James Dean biopic, might provide some attention to a film that would otherwise languish in film festival purgatory.
The plot, or as much of it as could be discerned through half-closed eyes, has to do with Danny (Franco), a prep school dropout whose best friend, Darcy, suddenly vanishes. Shorn of possessions and clothing, Danny attempts to search for Darcy accompanied by two strangers: Darcy's comely blond girlfriend, April (Shawn Montgomery), and ex-con Wayne Mark Patrick Gleason). The trio embark on a road trip from Los Angeles, traveling through the desert and experiencing a series of adventures as they are pursued by a group of mobsters.
The filmmaker attempts to inject weirdness into the proceedings via a variety of stylistic devices, the most annoying of which is a series of still photo montages that gives the film the air of an avant-garde video. Even worse is the portentous narration, infused with film noir-style cliches that produce unintentional laughs.
The performers have charisma and sex appeal (Montgomery scores mostly in the latter department), and the film does boast some well-composed visuals, but ultimately this road trip is as much of an ordeal for the audience as it is for the main characters.
Three Days of Rain
Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK — Michael Meredith's feature debut, a modern-day adaptation of six short stories by Chekhov, demonstrates the pitfalls of transplanting writing from another era into a contemporary idiom.
Chekhov's stories and plays are hard enough to bring off when done faithfully, let alone when altering their entire milieu. Still, there's a quiet emotionalism to the film that is sometimes moving, and the enterprising filmmaker has assembled a fine cast. "Three Days of Rain" is receiving its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The title refers to the fact that all of the events of the film, which involves six different sets of characters, take place during a non-stop torrential downpour in Cleveland. The vignettes include the story of a tile maker desperately trying to procure the money he's owed by a recently widowed client; a couple nearly torn apart by their conflicting attitudes toward a particularly polite beggar; a heroin addict trying to prevent her child from the same fate; an alcoholic pensioner at the end of his financial rope; a cabdriver mourning the recent death of his son; and a mentally challenged laborer being manipulated out of his job.
Unfortunately, few of the stories carry any real dramatic weight, with the result that the film — relying more on mood than on narrative momentum — is far more lugubrious than involving. But there are occasionally powerful moments along the way, and Bob Belden's evocative jazz score adds greatly to the overall atmosphere. The large cast —which includes Peter Falk and, in cameos, Blythe Danner and Lyle Lovett — brings a strong sense of conviction to the material.
Public Enemy
Udine Far East Film Festival
UDINE, Italy — This quirky cop drama from Korea takes a big chance by slipping back and forth from violent drama to slapstick. But director Kang Woo-suk guides the film so effortlessly between the two genres, they seem like a natural fit. Playing at Italy's Udine Far East Film Festival, where it was a hit with audiences, "Public Enemy" proves that there is much life left in Korean cinema's commercial renaissance. Domestically, it is the highest-grossing Korean film so far this year and should have no trouble attracting moviegoers in Asian territories. Foreign distribution is a strong possibility, providing distributors want to brave the language gap.
Director Kang Woo-suk ("Two Cops") came to prominence during the days of Korean New Cinema, the art-house movement that wowed international critics during the early 1990s.
The story is typical "Dirty Harry". Grungy detective Kang knows he's on the right track when he collars a yuppie for the vicious murder of his parents. But Kang's superiors force him to lay off the suspect, who has no motive for patricide. Kang is demoted to traffic cop but turns up a crucial piece of evidence that allows him to avenge the murdered couple in the name of society-at-large.
The story line is straightforward, but the exposition is original. The scenes featuring the villain are gory and intentionally lack humor. But Kang's investigation leads him into genuinely hilarious situations. One involves a couple of camp gangsters who rap about knife-play. Another sees him single-handedly beat up an impossible number of young thugs. Actor Sol Kyung-gul ("Peppermint Candy") pitches Kang so that he can effortlessly move from Chuck Norris to Leslie Nielsen without jarring the viewer. Lee Sung-ji makes a nice counterpoint by portraying the cruel killer as ice-cold throughout.
- 5/16/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tribeca Film Festival
Less an organic creation than a debut indie film compendium of cliches designed to impress, "Blind Spot", written, produced, directed and edited by Stephan Woloszczuk, is a stupefying and pretentious road movie that has the good fortune to have as one of its stars James Franco. The presence of this talented young actor, a Golden Globe winner for last year's James Dean biopic and currently seen in theaters in a little film called "Spider-Man", might provide some attention to a film that would otherwise languish in film festival purgatory. It was showcased recently at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
The plot, or as much of it as could be discerned through half-closed eyes, has to do with Danny (Franco), a prep school drop-out whose best friend, Darcy, suddenly vanishes. Shorn of possessions and clothing, Danny attempts to search for Darcy accompanied by two strangers: Darcy's comely blond girlfriend April (Shawn Montgomery), and ex-con Wayne Mark Patrick Gleason). The trio embark on a road trip from Los Angeles, traveling through the desert and experiencing a series of adventures as they are pursued by a group of mobsters.
The filmmaker attempts to inject weirdness into the proceedings via a variety of stylistic devices, the most annoying of which is a series of still photo montages that gives the film the air of an avant-garde video. Even worse is the portentous narration, infused with film noir-style cliches that produce unintentional laughs.
The performers have charisma and sex appeal (Montgomery scores mostly in the latter department), and the film does boast some well-composed visuals, but ultimately this road trip is as much of an ordeal for the audience as it is for the main characters.
Less an organic creation than a debut indie film compendium of cliches designed to impress, "Blind Spot", written, produced, directed and edited by Stephan Woloszczuk, is a stupefying and pretentious road movie that has the good fortune to have as one of its stars James Franco. The presence of this talented young actor, a Golden Globe winner for last year's James Dean biopic and currently seen in theaters in a little film called "Spider-Man", might provide some attention to a film that would otherwise languish in film festival purgatory. It was showcased recently at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
The plot, or as much of it as could be discerned through half-closed eyes, has to do with Danny (Franco), a prep school drop-out whose best friend, Darcy, suddenly vanishes. Shorn of possessions and clothing, Danny attempts to search for Darcy accompanied by two strangers: Darcy's comely blond girlfriend April (Shawn Montgomery), and ex-con Wayne Mark Patrick Gleason). The trio embark on a road trip from Los Angeles, traveling through the desert and experiencing a series of adventures as they are pursued by a group of mobsters.
The filmmaker attempts to inject weirdness into the proceedings via a variety of stylistic devices, the most annoying of which is a series of still photo montages that gives the film the air of an avant-garde video. Even worse is the portentous narration, infused with film noir-style cliches that produce unintentional laughs.
The performers have charisma and sex appeal (Montgomery scores mostly in the latter department), and the film does boast some well-composed visuals, but ultimately this road trip is as much of an ordeal for the audience as it is for the main characters.
- 5/16/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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