Change Your Image
Dan B Pearl
Reviews
The Last of the High Kings (1996)
Not for bozos
The other comments should in fact give you a good indication of whether you'll enjoy the film. If you're interested in Ricci's appearance, would really feel more comfortable if films have laughter tracks too or don't really know about Irish people (or anyone outside North America), you're not really going to get it. If, however, you enjoy the nuances of spoken language, rites-of-passage films, the idiosyncrasies of Irish rural life or '70s rock East of the Atlantic, you'll go for this Gregory's Girly slow-moving heartbreaker.
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)
Woody's woody beauty
Perhaps not for the slow-witted: the bucolic cinematography, perfectly wedded to the Mendelssohn score, takes its time; the turn-of-the-century debate on science, while an effective springboard for the sexual focus, is not glossed over for the impatient and the script focuses its wit and insight into relationships at the expense of a potentially-expected series of one-liners.
In this palimpsest on Bergman's Sommarnattens Leende, Woody gets to create a magical, self-contained environment for the dialogues and indiscretions. Like a feelgood Bunuel film, this will not please zeitgeist-watchers in the same way as Annie Hall, but in its treatment of theme and woody beauty, remains easily that film's peer - and one of his best.