ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 5, 1996 TAG: 9610080022
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: it came from the video store
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
In real life and on home video, love stories tend to be a little funky. They almost always put some kind of twist on the familiar boy-meets-girl-boy-loses-girl-boy-gets-girl-back formula. You can find that element in each of these four releases, but something more is also going on.
"La Vie de Boheme" is an amiable 1993 updating of the story that's already provided the basis for the opera "La Boheme" and the Broadway hit "Rent." It's about three scruffy, engaging artists - Marcel (Andre Wilms), a writer; Schaunard (Kari Vaananen), a composer; Rodolfo (Matti Pellonpaa), a painter - and Rodolfo's sometimes girlfriend, Mimi (Evelyne Didi), in Paris. Their quasi-episodic stories are beautifully filmed in black-and-white. Writer/producer/director Aki Kaurismaki lets the pace flow slowly, and the notable absence of music heightens the European sensibility. The dry humor is sometimes silly, sometimes completely charming, sometimes touching. Look for directors Sam Fuller and Louis Malle in cameos.
Like so many play adaptations, "Bar Girls" hasn't completely escaped the stage. It's a fairly pedestrian romantic comedy that's more successful as propaganda than as entertainment. Its politico-dramatic point - that lesbians are just as jealous, loving, screwed up and healthy as everybody else - is self-evident but labored. Loretta (Nancy Allison Wolfe) loves Rachel (Liza D'Agostino) who's attracted to J.R. (Camilla Griggs) who seduces Loretta ... etc., etc. The best efforts of producer/writer Lauran Hoffman and director Marita Giovanni aren't enough to make the story work as a film.
Director Holly Dale uses a limited budget to excellent effect in "Blood and Donuts," a curious little Canadian horror comedy. It's the story of Boya (Gordon Currie), a Toronto vampire who's accidentally awakened after a 25-year nap and hangs out at a rundown coffee shop where Molly (Helene Clarkson) is a waitress. He's a romantic, Byronic vampire who upsets a gangster's (David Cronenberg) plans to take over the neighborhood. Considering the recent excesses of the genre, the action is relatively restrained. The main irritant is Justin Louis as Earl, the cabbie. While everyone else is playing it straight, he chews up every piece of scenery in sight. Even so, Dale has come up with some intelligent variations on familiar themes.
"Ed and His Dead Mother" - Wow, what a title! Doesn't it make you want to run down to the video store and snatch it off the shelf? Actually, the black comedy is better than you might expect, but it's disappointing for fans of director Jonathan Wacks' brilliant debut, "Powwow Highway."
Succumbing to Mr. Powell's (John Glover) slick Midwestern salesmanship, Ed (Steve Buscemi) agrees to have his departed mother (Miriam Margolyes) brought back from the dead. Uncle Benny (Ned Beatty), who'd rather be spying on the comely new neighbor (Sam Jenkins), thinks it's a bad idea. Given the revivified Mom's sudden penchant for cannibalism and chain saws, he's probably right. The satiric targets (family values, consumerism, corporations) are well chosen but the tone isn't quite right. Imagine a sketch on "The Carol Burnett Show" gone somehow terribly awry.
Next week: The Tainted Trilogy!
Got a question about home video or film? Contact your favorite video columnist at P.O. Box 2491; Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491, or by e-mail at 75331.2603@compuserve.com.
New releases this week:
The Craft ***
Starring Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell and Rachel True. Directed by Andrew Fleming. Columbia TriStar. 100 minutes Rated R for violence, strong language, some sexual material.
A genuine sleeper! This remarkably good horror film is one of the best since "Carrie." What might have been pure exploitation is a keenly observed story of four teen-age girls who try to form a coven of witches. The supernatural elements are handled with restraint, and it's not until the big gross-out conclusion that the special effects really kick in. Before then, they're subtle and sneaky.
- MIKE MAYO
Flipper ** 1/2
Starring Paul Hogan and Elija Wood. Directed by Alan Shapiro. MCA/Universal. Rated PG for some violence.
Remember Sandy, the boy from "Flipper"? Well, he's wearing a Smashing Pumpkins T-shirt now, and his biggest problem in this very-much-updated version of the television show is that he's so cool, he can barely get over himself. And it creates lots of problems for his laid-back Uncle Porter (Hogan) - and for anyone trying to sit without squirming through the first part of it. Eventually, though, this movie will earn your affection.
- KATHERINE REED
The Essentials:
La Vie de Boheme *** Fox-Lorber. 100 minutes Unrated, contains some strong language.
Bar Girls * 1/2 Orion. 95 minutes Rated R for subject matter, brief nudity, strong language.
Blood and Donuts ** 1/2 LIVE. 89 minutes Rated R for violence, language.
Ed and His Dead Mother ** FoxVideo. 85 minutes Rated PG-13 for subject matter, language, brief nudity.
LENGTH: Medium: 96 linesby CNB