Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 14, 1995 TAG: 9510170108
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Virtually any description or synopsis of "Sister My Sister" would make it sound like pure exploitation. The story concerns two women who have an incestuous lesbian relationship and then savagely murder their employers. But in this telling - it's the same true story that inspired Jean Genet's play "The Maids" - the sexual and violent elements are muted. It's a horror film based on emotion.
For comparative purposes, imagine a combination of "Upstairs, Downstairs" and Roman Polanski's "Repulsion."
It's France, 1932. Christine (Joely Richardson), famous for her needlework, is a maid for Madame Danzard (Julie Walters) and her daughter Isabelle (Sophie Thursfield). When Christine asks if her younger sister Lea (Jodhi May) may come to work at their prosperous middle class house, Madame says yes.
At first, Christine is ecstatic. Lea is the only person in the world she cares about. Their relationship with their mother, who left their upbringing to nuns, is ambiguous and troubled. Not nearly as quick or handy as Christine, Lea has trouble with her work. Before long, Madame's petty perfectionism becomes more hateful and the house becomes a prison.
From the opening moments of Wendy Kesselman's script (based on her own play), the viewer knows that the story ends in violence. But how does it come to that? What drives two women to murder two other women? Director Nancy Meckler creates tension and suspense in small moments. And the cast handles the claustrophobic material without a single misstep.
All that's really lacking is a final unexpected twist, but this is still an engrossing and carefully shaded psychological study. It's also the kind of "little" film that has made a place for itself in the American video market.
In a telephone interview last spring during the film's limited theatrical release, Joely Richardson said that "in England we can do these very low-budget films that have good roles for men and for women. They're really really actors' pieces that aren't to do with special effects and aren't to do with catering to a large audience. Everyone would like a large audience, but if you're particularly geared toward doing that, you have to compromise."
And there is no compromise in the film. "There's something very raw and quite pure about it," she said, "even though it's a horrible story. It's short and direct in the performances which, in a way, is strangely fresh."
Of course, she has reason to be prejudiced but she's also right. The restrained personal horrors of "Sister My Sister" will stay with viewers long after the excesses of more violent fare have been forgotten.
Though it's more conventional, "Nightscare" is a rare horror/comedy that actually manages to be frightening, funny and original. The main attraction may be the presence of hot covergirl (and significant other of Hugh Grant) Elizabeth Hurley, but this one delivers everything that horror fans could ask for.
It's obvious from the first shot - an extreme close up of a hypodermic needle entering flesh - that director Vadim Jean is trying to work on a primal level. He's more successful than not. The story concerns Gilmore (Keith Allen), an insane murderer; Dr. Lyell (Hurley), the neurologist who's treating him with an experimental drug that she's also testing on herself; and detective Hamilton (Craig Fairbrass), the cop who arrested Gilmore and still has reason to hate him. Without giving the game away, it can be said that the new drug brings the three of them together in a strange nightmare.
The bad news is that the accents in this British film are absolutely impossible to decipher. That's an irritating though not fatal flaw. Jean tells the story visually and the key points are clear enough. More importantly, he does a fine job of depicting different states of perception - dream, drugged, memory, sobriety - and making them equally "real" on screen.
Whenever the film threatens to take itself too seriously - a recurring problem in the genre - a dry, mordant humor shows up. Don't miss the last little visual joke that's tossed in at the end of the closing credits.
Next week: Hitmen and hitwomen ... hitpersons!
New releases this week
While You Were Sleeping ***
Starring Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman. Directed by John Turtletaub. Buena Vista/Hollywood. 99 min. Rated PG for subject matter.
Here's another cute romantic comedy of the "Sleepless in Seattle" school, well acted with a strong ensemble supporting cast that often upstages the leads. The matter of on-screen "chemistry" is more subjective. Stars Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman may not have developed the star power of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, but they handle things just fine. Nice Chicago locations, too.
The Perez Family **
Starring Marisa Tomei, Alfred Molina, Anjelica Huston, Chazz Palmenteri. Directed by Mira Nair. Hallmark. 110 min. Rated R for strong language, subject matter, brief nudity.
This slowly paced comedy-drama is never particularly involving and is only sporadically funny. It's unusual in that a fairly high-voltage cast is put in service of a thin story about a family reconciliation in Miami during the 1980 Mariel boat lift.
Panther **
Starring Courtney B. Vance, Marcus Chong and Kadeem Hardison. Written and directed by Mario Van Peebles. Warner Home Video. 120 min. Rated R for exceptionally strong language, violence.
Following in the footsteps of Oliver Stone and his controversial and biased "JFK," Melvin and Mario Van Peebles (father and son) attempt to tell the story of the birth of the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s. The result is obvious propaganda, a two-hour video bumper sticker that falls short both as history and as entertainment.
The Essentials:
Sister My Sister ***1/2
A-Pix. 87 min. Rated R for sexual material, violence.
Nightscare ***1/2
LIVE Entertainment. 85 min. Rated R for violence, strong language, subject matter, brief nudity.
by CNB