Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 20, 1993 TAG: 9302200285
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
`GAME' IS A TOP THRILLER
"The Crying Game," nominated for Academy Awards in most of the major categories including best picture, has been creating a lot of buzz.Now that it has opened wide - filmspeak for openings outside of a few large cities - it will no doubt create a lot more.
Director Neil Jordan ("In the Company of Wolves," "Mona Lisa") makes imaginative and intelligent movies that avoid cliches and defy expectations.
This well-crafted thriller is a perfect example.
Stephen Rea, who has been nominated for a best actor Oscar, plays Fergus, a foot soldier in the terrorist Irish Republican Army.
Fergus is a member of a small band that kidnaps a British soldier to barter for a senior IRA officer held by the British for interrogation. Miranda Richardson plays the toxic terrorist who lures the soldier into captivity with sexual favors. Forest Whitaker plays the soldier, and he engages the audience's sympathy early on.
Fergus, it turns out, is a little too decent to be an efficient terrorist. Over the course of Jody's capture, the two become friends of sorts.
Jody expects to be executed and makes Fergus promise to look up Jody's girlfriend if his worst expectations transpire. She's a hairdresser and part-time club singer, played with a flirtatious world-weariness by Jaye Davidson.
In an unlikely alliance, most reviewers take the plot exposition this far and no further. This is, after all, a story with twists and subtexts that should go unrevealed as much as possible.
Jordan is a shrewd filmmaker working with an excellent cast that makes the story convincing. He also has a playful sense of humor that dovetails effectively with Rea's resigned cynicism and humane impulses.
Part of the acclaim that has been generated for "The Crying Game" is probably due to discontentment over dumb, implausible plots that thrillers such as "Basic Instinct" and "Body of Evidence" ask viewers to believe.
The characters here seem real, though Richardson appears to be re-creating the stock, meaner-than-the-boys woman terrorist. Still, she's better than most at the characterization.
The Crying Game: ****
A Miramax movie at Salem Valley 8 (389-0444). Rated R for violence, language, strong sexual content and nudity; 120 minutes.