Reviews

While sitting around the house today I popped in this video courtesy of the local Blockbuster.

The film is "Return to Paradise' starring Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn. The film is about three friends vacationing in Malaysia where the are involved in generally messing around including the indulging in liberal amounts of hashish consumption. On the last day of the vacation one of the three men decides to stay on for a while longer.

Two years pass and the three men have limited if any contact between them. Eventually the most hardened of the three men, portrayed by Vaughn, is working as a limo driver and has his car hired by a female lawyer (Heche) who explains to him the fate of the member of their group who stayed behind.

On the day the other two left Malaysia the police come to the place where they were staying to inquire about a missing bicycle the three men had rented. Naturally, what they found instead was the stash of narcotics. The law in Malysia says that anyone found with more than a specified amount of drugs in their possession, will be charged with intent to deal. The penalty for dealing is death and now the friend who initially stayed behind is scheduled to be hanged in eight days unless the other two return to Malaysia and own up to their responsibility.

What ensues is a very moving and sometimes gut-wrenching examination of what it means to deal with the unforeseen consequences of human misbehavior with courage. The point seems clear: Even when we think we are only doing something only a wee bit wrong, the outcome can be dreadful beyond what we imagine.

In a culture that consistently winks at wrong doing the story of "Return to Paradise" seems ominous. If, consequences for wrongdoing are so unpredictable on an individual level, what lies ahead for us on a cultural and national level?

I believe the film's story does offer an answer. The only answer to these questions that has ever borne up under scrutiny. That is to simply face the consequences of misdeeds with courage and hope for mercy.

I am certain that there are many in a our ruthlessly pragmatic time who would demand to know what good it would do to return to Malaysia to try to save a friend's life, or for that matter, to make any sacrifice for moral principle. In the end, the answer to that objection is not quantifiable, does not run in the easily demarcated lines of whether or not the desired outcome is achieved. The answer is simply that some actions make us into better people and some actions make us worse, that right action forms in us a kind of character that makes life meaningful in spite of circumstance.

"Return to Paradise" does not gloss over any of these issues. In a time of high budget teenage horror flicks and Titanic sized romantic sentimentality, it is easy to understand how a film like "Return to Paradise" could easily get lost. Its honest examination of the human heart and its depiction of moral triumph make it a welcome contribution to the world of contemporary film.

Todd and Cory Edwards' first feature film, "Chillicothe" emerges into a culture awash in darkly menacing media images as a refreshing effort. After a seemingly endless string of "Pulp Fiction" knock-offs by a variety of upstart filmmakers, "Chillicothe's" sensitive human drama, sincere without a trace of schmaltz, seems exotic. "Chillicothe " is the story of four male friends drifting along in the low-rent doldrums now common among recent college graduates. Set in Tulsa, Oklahoma and on the campus of a small Indiana liberal arts college, the movie follows the odyssey of the four friends as they make decisions about marriage and careers. One character, Wade, played by Todd Edwards, becomes the story's focus early in the film. The four begin to disintegrate when one of the group marries the woman who agrees, in the story's opening moments, to go out with him if he shaves his gotee. Over the next few months, the remaining three friends split up. Wade and his older brother (played by real-life older brother Cory Edwards) move into an apartment together and the last of the four friends finds himself cloistered with two flamboyant, irritable Latin men. After a particularly soul numbing day running video editing machines for finicky ad executives, Wade abruptly departs for home where he re-enrolls in some art classes at his alma mater. In the end, the stability of familiar territory helps Wade confront the fear and indecision preventing him from pursuing his dream of becoming a painter. When we last see Wade he is working toward an advanced degree in painting at NYU. Unlike so many independent films of late, "Chillicothe" is strikingly original. In our post-Tarantino daze, contemporary films, especially small budget features, have tended toward obsession with darker human experiences and a technical and structural emphasis on creating a disjointed, pastiche feel. What makes "Chillicothe" different is its trust in the power of a simple story worth telling. While its drama emerges from a very familiar story, everything about the film seems fresh. In fact, it is the familiarity of its story that gives "Chillicothe" its power. It is a story for all of us who have felt lost and alone, dreaming of doing what we really want to do and of finding lasting love. Above all, it is its open-heartedness that gives "Chillicothe" an uncanny, but familiar feel. Like walking past a mirror in the hallway and for a split second thinking you are not alone. "Chillicothe" is a moving, engaging film with wide appeal, but perhaps especially so for those of us who meet ourselves head on in its characters. A world of contracting horizons, of vast moral confusion among our elders, and an addictive need for and paranoid fear of love , connection and roots has left many of us floundering outside the structured environment of college life. The story presented in "Chillicothe" is one of bravery among our peers in the face of these common threats. Ultimately, "Chillicothe" speaks so strongly about our generation because it speaks from a perspective of faith. Part of Wade's process of destiny seeking involves painting a mural in a Sunday School room. As his journey moves forward we see him sitting in church listening to a sermon. Without being preachy or condescending "Chillicothe" manages to show the practical difference faith can make in the lives of those who possess it.

Even though the film is ultimately affirming of both life and faith, it is not unambiguously so. It's ending is neither completely tidy nor happy, but definitely genuine. We are left not knowing exactly what will happen to Wade, knowing only that he is "out there". Out there taking those frightening steps in the direction of his calling, living a life of hope in the pursuit of an uncertain vocation, looking for the next step, nurturing a belief in the goodness of both life and the possibility of relationship. "Chillicothe" speaks about faith to a distrustful generation while maintaining integrity to a characteristically generation X perspective. The movie manages to bring forth a traditional story in a way that seems fully modern, full of pop culture references and the longing for love and clarity so many in this generation feel. The Edward's brothers first offering sets the agenda for a new genre of film that, like many gen Xer's themselves, looks at life with an eye washed clean with tears, indulging no illusions, yet stubbornly aspiring to a life of bravery and of hope.