Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 7, 1990 TAG: 9003071353
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: mike mayo
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The good news is\ "Apartment Zero," an excellent Hitchcockian thriller that had a limited theatrical release last year. It has been so popular that it's still playing in some cities. It's easy to understand why - this haunting exercise in originality is a surprise from the first scene to the last.
The setting is Buenos Aires. A serial killer is on the loose and his work may be related to the recently disbanded government-sponsored death squads. Or is something else going on? Nothing is certain.
Adrian LeDuc (Colin Firth) runs a theater that specializes in old American movies. The first time we see him, he's showing Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" to an almost empty house.
Adrian is an eccentric young man. He is compulsively neat. His spacious apartment is filled with photographs of the stars - Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Marlon Brando. He is aloof to the point of rudeness to the other residents of his building, but he's attentive to his aging, delusional mother. A roommate is the last thing he wants, but financial straits demand it.
Enter Jack Carney (Hart Bochner), a handsome American who instantly cracks Adrian's defensive shell.
That's where the mysterious games begin. Jack is a manipulative charmer. He tries to be all things to all people, beginning with the eccentrics in the other apartments. To the tippling old ladies, he is the rescuer of stranded cats. To the obnoxious ladies' man, he's a drinking buddy. To the beautiful, lonely wife of a salesman, he's a Byronic lover. To the transvestite, he's a nonjudgmental friend. And to Adrian?
Their relationship is more difficult to define. Though there is an undercurrent of homosexuality, nothing is overt and much is hidden about these two. The real story that's being told in "Apartment Zero" is the gradual striping away of the layers of disguise that both men wear. The mysteries are solved when we learn who and what they are.
The film was written, directed and co-produced by Martin Donovan. He got fine performances from his cast. At times, Bochner verges on the excessive, but that is not out of character. Firth, who also has the title role in "Valmont," is the real star here. He makes Adrian a thoroughly believable, twitchy collection of nerves, suspicion and, above all, loneliness.
Given Adrian's profession, the film is filled with film references, both blatant and oblique. "Blood Simple," "Psycho," and "Rear Window" figure prominently.
This is a subtle story. It contains no overt violence or sexual scenes. Everything is suggestion and nuance. Important information comes through small visual touches. You have to watch it carefully to catch everything that's going on. And "Apartment Zero" is well worth watching carefully. In fact, it's worth watching carefully twice.
The same cannot be said of\ "Friends, Lovers & Lunatics," this week's bad news. I hit the fast-forward button about two-thirds of the way through. This one is an unfunny romantic comedy about unpleasant, unattractive people.
Matt (Daniel Stern) is a misunderstood artist who is fired from his job. Soon after, his girlfriend leaves him and he decides to win her back. That involves his chasing her and her new boyfriend into the middle of the Canadian woods where they go on vacation. On the way, Matt meets up with Annie (Deborah Foreman), who's running from her nutty boyfriend, Buddy (Page Fletcher). Annie departs quickly; Buddy shows up; and the plot slogs to a conclusion.
The first problem here is that Michael Taav's script presents Matt as an immature bozo. You actively dislike this guy. The girl he's chasing is no more appealing. So, what's the point? There is none. Toward the middle of the film, this descriptive exchange takes place:
"Is this some kind of sick joke?"
"Yes, but not the kind where you laugh at the end."
I've got no argument with that.
New release this week:
Field of Dreams: Starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Burt Lancaster and Ray Liotta. Directed by Phil Alden Robinson. 102 min. Rated PG for mild profanity. This uncompromising, eccentric update of "Harvey" with a baseball has been nominated for several Oscars. Costner is Ray Kinsella, a farmer who has a vision of a baseball diamond in his cornfield. He builds it, and the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson comes to play there. From there, the visions become more complicated. Costner is excellent and so is the supporting cast.
THE ESSENTIALS:\ `Apartment Zero': 1/2 Academy. 114 min. Rated R for profanity, mature subject matter.
\ `Friends, Lovers & Lunatics': Fries. 87 min. Rated R for profanity.
by CNB