Film review: 'Wilbur Falls'
A Massachusetts native and USC film school grad, writer-director Juliane Glantz shows much enthusiasm in her feature debut, charging ahead with an overwrought, genre-bending teen potboiler that has a fashionable, anything-goes agenda.
Screened recently at the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, "Wilbur Falls" is headlined by Danny Aiello and Sally Kirkland as small-town eccentrics whose revenge-minded daughter (Shanee Edwards) vamps her way into serious trouble just before graduating high school.
The most honored and busy among her schoolmates, Renata (Edwards) never forgets her public humiliation as a freshman, when an erotic drawing of hers is reproduced and displayed by treacherous friends. Reduced to a hysterical mess and needing the comfort of her father Phillip (Aiello), the affable but overprotective town sheriff, Renata evolves into a noir virgin with a superior attitude.
Renata's mother (Kirkland) is a New Age floozy whom Phillip adores, but they are only two influences on Renata. Her best friend Arne (Jeff Daurey) encourages her to exact long-overdue payback from brainless stud Jeffrey (Charlie Newmark). Luring him to her favorite frog pond, Renata pulls a nasty prank resulting in Jeffrey's unintended demise.
When the body disappears, Renata and Arne keep mum as locals believe Jeffrey has disappeared. Alas, Phillip is no longer sheriff, and his replacement, T-Bone David Anthony Marshall), arrogantly and menacingly lurks while attempting to solve the mystery.
Complications set in when the deceased's pregnant girlfriend Jodi (Cherilyn Hayres) turns to Renata for help getting an abortion. They travel to the city and visit Renata's wild older sister Katherine (Suzanne Cryer), who has goo-goo eyes for slick gangster Johnny Handsome (Fred Stoller). Jodi and Renata talk about sex, with the former's enthusiasm turning on the latter, and they fall into bed together.
After the brief lesbian interlude, and because of newsworthy abortion protesters, they cause a panic back home, and Renata defiantly claims to have been pregnant with Jeffrey's child. From unused condoms by the pond to the surprise of what happened to Jeffrey's body, the film lurches into overheated melodrama as T-Bone and the state police begin looking for a murderer.
The performances are rarely subtle or convincing, though Edwards, Aiello, Kirkland and Hayres work hard. Glantz's scenario is too scattershot, and the combination of serious and satirical elements is handled clumsily.
WILBUR FALLS
Vexatious Films
Writer-director: Juliane Glantz
Producer: David L. Delman
Executive producers: David L. Delman, Joseph Pecoraro
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Editors: John Gilbert, Duncan Burns
Costume designer: Kristen Anacher
Music: Jim Halfpenny
Color/stereo
Cast:
Renata: Shanee Edwards
Phillip: Danny Aiello
Roberta: Sally Kirkland
Katherine: Suzanne Cryer
Arne: Jeff Daurey
Jodi: Cherilyn Hayres
T-Bone: David Anthony Marshall
Johnny Handsome: Fred Stoller
Jeffrey: Charlie Newmark
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Screened recently at the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, "Wilbur Falls" is headlined by Danny Aiello and Sally Kirkland as small-town eccentrics whose revenge-minded daughter (Shanee Edwards) vamps her way into serious trouble just before graduating high school.
The most honored and busy among her schoolmates, Renata (Edwards) never forgets her public humiliation as a freshman, when an erotic drawing of hers is reproduced and displayed by treacherous friends. Reduced to a hysterical mess and needing the comfort of her father Phillip (Aiello), the affable but overprotective town sheriff, Renata evolves into a noir virgin with a superior attitude.
Renata's mother (Kirkland) is a New Age floozy whom Phillip adores, but they are only two influences on Renata. Her best friend Arne (Jeff Daurey) encourages her to exact long-overdue payback from brainless stud Jeffrey (Charlie Newmark). Luring him to her favorite frog pond, Renata pulls a nasty prank resulting in Jeffrey's unintended demise.
When the body disappears, Renata and Arne keep mum as locals believe Jeffrey has disappeared. Alas, Phillip is no longer sheriff, and his replacement, T-Bone David Anthony Marshall), arrogantly and menacingly lurks while attempting to solve the mystery.
Complications set in when the deceased's pregnant girlfriend Jodi (Cherilyn Hayres) turns to Renata for help getting an abortion. They travel to the city and visit Renata's wild older sister Katherine (Suzanne Cryer), who has goo-goo eyes for slick gangster Johnny Handsome (Fred Stoller). Jodi and Renata talk about sex, with the former's enthusiasm turning on the latter, and they fall into bed together.
After the brief lesbian interlude, and because of newsworthy abortion protesters, they cause a panic back home, and Renata defiantly claims to have been pregnant with Jeffrey's child. From unused condoms by the pond to the surprise of what happened to Jeffrey's body, the film lurches into overheated melodrama as T-Bone and the state police begin looking for a murderer.
The performances are rarely subtle or convincing, though Edwards, Aiello, Kirkland and Hayres work hard. Glantz's scenario is too scattershot, and the combination of serious and satirical elements is handled clumsily.
WILBUR FALLS
Vexatious Films
Writer-director: Juliane Glantz
Producer: David L. Delman
Executive producers: David L. Delman, Joseph Pecoraro
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Editors: John Gilbert, Duncan Burns
Costume designer: Kristen Anacher
Music: Jim Halfpenny
Color/stereo
Cast:
Renata: Shanee Edwards
Phillip: Danny Aiello
Roberta: Sally Kirkland
Katherine: Suzanne Cryer
Arne: Jeff Daurey
Jodi: Cherilyn Hayres
T-Bone: David Anthony Marshall
Johnny Handsome: Fred Stoller
Jeffrey: Charlie Newmark
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/25/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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