Stigmata
The latest entry in Hollywood's mad dash for demonic thrillers will probably be the one remembered for the best script completely undermined by the director. Once again, another commercial and MTV hack steps up to the show and immediately proves the limits these knuckleheads share. While mostly in focus, STIGMATA is another example of why a director who pays attention to the story as well as the visuals is so rare in the current director climate.
His name is Rupert Wainwright and this is his first movie. A gentle fable about a club hopping young woman(Patricia Arquette) who suddenly begins to share the same wounds Christ received when he died on the cross. When the Catholic church is brought in to investigate, a priest (Gabriel Byrne) begins to question his place in the religious organization and finds himself becoming attached to this confused, and almost bled dry, female.
Like Michael Bay, Hype Williams, and any number of established MTV directors/feature hacks that have come before, Wainwright seems bent on destroying every ounce of narrative and structure that the screenplay, I'm positive, had. STIGMATA takes on some heady subjects, one of them being the fallacy of organized religion. Wainwright has a potential powder keg of issues to molest but all he can seem to accomplish is to fill every scene with enough lit candles to make Smokey The Bear break out into a cold sweat over, and the rampant use of edits - alone the downfall of modern film. His style is boring and repetitive, yet nothing he does can drown the interest I had in STIGMATA's story. With every visual thing pushing me away, the ideas that STIGMATA toys with are fascinating, and in the end, based in fact. It draws you in completely.
Even Patricia Arquette cannot seem to dampen the film. After every bad performance she has given recently (HI-LO COUNTRY, GOODBYE LOVER) I find it hard not to dry-heave a bit when her name is attached to a movie. I don't like her, but Wrainwright takes all the focus off her poor acting with his overdirecting. In a way you could say it's her best performance in years. Byrne, on the other hand, commands the screen with his massive Irish-Catholic charm. His role as Satan in Schwarzenegger's upcoming END OF DAYS should be a hoot and a holler. Oddly, the film also plays as a minor BEFORE THEY WERE STARS special with Portia de Rossi (TV's ALLY MCBEAL) and Enrico Colantoni (JUST SHOOT ME) in tiny supporting roles - filmed way before they both hit the television jackpot.
STIGMATA is not a film I would recommend. While I enjoyed the story and the performances, everything is wasted by a director who feels he has to show off instead of letting his movie breathe. Obvious (and I mean obvious!) last minute tampering by the studio doesn't helps things at all. Instead of one long story arc, we get THIRTEENTH WARRIOR style montages and clips of scenes and characters we never got to see or meet. It's a mess, but a damn intriguing one. --------------- 5/10
The latest entry in Hollywood's mad dash for demonic thrillers will probably be the one remembered for the best script completely undermined by the director. Once again, another commercial and MTV hack steps up to the show and immediately proves the limits these knuckleheads share. While mostly in focus, STIGMATA is another example of why a director who pays attention to the story as well as the visuals is so rare in the current director climate.
His name is Rupert Wainwright and this is his first movie. A gentle fable about a club hopping young woman(Patricia Arquette) who suddenly begins to share the same wounds Christ received when he died on the cross. When the Catholic church is brought in to investigate, a priest (Gabriel Byrne) begins to question his place in the religious organization and finds himself becoming attached to this confused, and almost bled dry, female.
Like Michael Bay, Hype Williams, and any number of established MTV directors/feature hacks that have come before, Wainwright seems bent on destroying every ounce of narrative and structure that the screenplay, I'm positive, had. STIGMATA takes on some heady subjects, one of them being the fallacy of organized religion. Wainwright has a potential powder keg of issues to molest but all he can seem to accomplish is to fill every scene with enough lit candles to make Smokey The Bear break out into a cold sweat over, and the rampant use of edits - alone the downfall of modern film. His style is boring and repetitive, yet nothing he does can drown the interest I had in STIGMATA's story. With every visual thing pushing me away, the ideas that STIGMATA toys with are fascinating, and in the end, based in fact. It draws you in completely.
Even Patricia Arquette cannot seem to dampen the film. After every bad performance she has given recently (HI-LO COUNTRY, GOODBYE LOVER) I find it hard not to dry-heave a bit when her name is attached to a movie. I don't like her, but Wrainwright takes all the focus off her poor acting with his overdirecting. In a way you could say it's her best performance in years. Byrne, on the other hand, commands the screen with his massive Irish-Catholic charm. His role as Satan in Schwarzenegger's upcoming END OF DAYS should be a hoot and a holler. Oddly, the film also plays as a minor BEFORE THEY WERE STARS special with Portia de Rossi (TV's ALLY MCBEAL) and Enrico Colantoni (JUST SHOOT ME) in tiny supporting roles - filmed way before they both hit the television jackpot.
STIGMATA is not a film I would recommend. While I enjoyed the story and the performances, everything is wasted by a director who feels he has to show off instead of letting his movie breathe. Obvious (and I mean obvious!) last minute tampering by the studio doesn't helps things at all. Instead of one long story arc, we get THIRTEENTH WARRIOR style montages and clips of scenes and characters we never got to see or meet. It's a mess, but a damn intriguing one. --------------- 5/10