
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993                   TAG: 9403170004
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GIBSON MAY HAVE SUMMER SLEEPRE

Mel Gibson's ``The Man Without a Face'' is a curious combination of effective storytelling with characters who don't always ring true. Like last year's ``Scent of a Woman'' it's a good film that finally overcomes its flaws.

The time is 1968. Often married and currently single Catherine Nordstat (Margaret Whitton) comes to vacation at Cranesport, Maine, with her two daughters, Gloria (Fay Masterton) and Meg (Gaby Hoffman), and unhappy 12-year-old son Chuck (Nick Stahl). Living with these three is driving Chuck crazy. He idolizes his dead father as a fallen hero, and yearns to go to a military boarding school.

But he failed the entrance exam - his older sister constantly torments him on his lack of intelligence - and he does have trouble studying. No matter though. Chuck vows to spend the summer pounding the books, to put aside his Batman comics and pick up his Latin text. Then he finds out that a local man, MacLeod (Gibson), used to be a teacher. Half his face disfigured by burns, MacLeod is a virtual hermit who seems to want nothing to do with the rest of the world.

Chuck persists and eventually persuades the reluctant MacLeod to take him on as a student. Though there is a degree of predictability to Malcolm MacRury's script (based on Isabelle Holland's novel), it contains enough surprises that nothing more should be revealed. But it also contains some mistakes.

Particularly near the beginning, in his efforts to show us that this is a dysfunctional family with a capital ``D,'' first- time screenwriter MacRury places dialogue in the characters' mouths that no one would ever say. Kids don't talk like that in 1993 and they didn't talk like that in 1968. They only talk like that when writers are trying to make them sound like cute little adults.

Later, when the story shifts to Chuck and MacLeod, it becomes much more believable and involving. That's also where first-time director Gibson shows that he really knows what he's doing. He captures a strong sense of place, both in the Maine exteriors and in MacLeod's book-cluttered home. He seems to have avoided the temptation to place himself in front of the camera too often. Young Nick Stahl, also making his big screen debut, carries a large share of the dramatic weight without being upstaged by his co-star's grotesque makeup.

Their scenes together, notably a two-man version of ``Merchant of Venice'' and a geometry lesson, are fine moments. Homework has never been so much fun. Those scenes also set up a small but important part of the film's ``message'': that learning isn't about memorizing facts and verb tenses; it also involves thinking and making independent decisions.

That's a complex and difficult point for what could have been a simple ``feel-good'' movie to make, but this one manages it without being preachy or obvious. ``The Man Without a Face'' could turn into a late-summer sleeper.

The Man Without a Face: ***

A Warner Bros. release playing at the Tangelwood Mall Cinema. 112 min. Rated PG for strong language, subject matter.

by CNB