Yet, even when the film founders on its own self-seriousness, writer-director Steve Lustgarten manages to imbue it with a cinematic intelligence. Ultimately, the film is too academic for the marketplace, but, equally, it displays real talent.
Set in Portland, Ore., the action centers around Paul Jay Horenstein), a mousey photogapher's assistant who spends his working hours being bullied by his philandering boss (Mark Rabiner) and his free time taking photographs, which are usually devoid of human figures.
At least that's the case until he notices Lisa (Nicole Harrison), the teenage girl next door. After she shows up at his door bearing chocolates for sale, he begins to keep an eye out for her, snapping her picture unawares and, inadvertently, spying her nude in her bedroom window.
Lisa turns out to be more forward than Paul, and after teasing him into a day at the beach, eventually lures him into her bed, where his dreams finally come graphically true, and, following painful second thoughts, he begins to shed his painful social inhibitions.
The film fails mainly in the way it reduces the concrete to the symbolic. Paul is a walking psychological problem and Lisa is its ambulatory solution, yet their patency doesn't stop Lustgarten from reinforcing their"meaning'' with more clues and symbols. Even the landscape, particularly at the seaside, is psychological rather than physical. The dialogue is unfailingly awkward, and deteriorates as the age of the speaking character increases.
Nevertheless, Lustgarten does integrate characters and landscape gracefully, alters his editing rhythms intelligently, and controls his sober tone even as the film skirts sensationalism, a noteworthy accomplishment in the face of some extensive nudity. Many of the film's faults are typically, though not egregiously, those of a student project, while many of its virtues are entirely those of an individual.
AMERICAN TABOO
Lustgarten Entertainment Organization
Writer-directorSteve Lustgarten
ProducersSteve Lustgarten, Sali Borchman,
Ron Schmidt
CinematographersLee Nesbit, Steve Lustgarten, Eric Edwards
MusicDan Libonati, Dan Brandt
EditorsSteve Lustgarten, Ron Schmidt
Color
Cast:
Paul Jay Horenstein
Lisa Nicole Harrison
Michael Mark Rabiner
Running time -- 94 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Set in Portland, Ore., the action centers around Paul Jay Horenstein), a mousey photogapher's assistant who spends his working hours being bullied by his philandering boss (Mark Rabiner) and his free time taking photographs, which are usually devoid of human figures.
At least that's the case until he notices Lisa (Nicole Harrison), the teenage girl next door. After she shows up at his door bearing chocolates for sale, he begins to keep an eye out for her, snapping her picture unawares and, inadvertently, spying her nude in her bedroom window.
Lisa turns out to be more forward than Paul, and after teasing him into a day at the beach, eventually lures him into her bed, where his dreams finally come graphically true, and, following painful second thoughts, he begins to shed his painful social inhibitions.
The film fails mainly in the way it reduces the concrete to the symbolic. Paul is a walking psychological problem and Lisa is its ambulatory solution, yet their patency doesn't stop Lustgarten from reinforcing their"meaning'' with more clues and symbols. Even the landscape, particularly at the seaside, is psychological rather than physical. The dialogue is unfailingly awkward, and deteriorates as the age of the speaking character increases.
Nevertheless, Lustgarten does integrate characters and landscape gracefully, alters his editing rhythms intelligently, and controls his sober tone even as the film skirts sensationalism, a noteworthy accomplishment in the face of some extensive nudity. Many of the film's faults are typically, though not egregiously, those of a student project, while many of its virtues are entirely those of an individual.
AMERICAN TABOO
Lustgarten Entertainment Organization
Writer-directorSteve Lustgarten
ProducersSteve Lustgarten, Sali Borchman,
Ron Schmidt
CinematographersLee Nesbit, Steve Lustgarten, Eric Edwards
MusicDan Libonati, Dan Brandt
EditorsSteve Lustgarten, Ron Schmidt
Color
Cast:
Paul Jay Horenstein
Lisa Nicole Harrison
Michael Mark Rabiner
Running time -- 94 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
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