Reviews

Dark and moody, this adaptation of Shakespeare's tale of betrayal and revenge is a must-see for those who think Shakespeare is dated and inaccessible to today's film. They should be proven wrong with this endeavour. Oliver Parker's vision of homoeroticism and the trappings of masculinity transfers easily on-screen, with the help of the wonderful Laurence Fishburne as one of filmdom's best Othellos.

After watching Welles and Olivier in their performances as a black-faced Moor, Fishburne is a breath of fresh air, and comes across as the first actor who has ever portrayed Othello's truth on-screen. Fishburne plays subtext wonderfully, playing out the very real human flaws that are rooted in ego and pride that make Othello a haunting and complex character. Irene Jacob is Desdemona as a sensual force drawn into a powerful sexual relationship with a dangerous man. The love scenes between Othello and Desdemona - scenes Shakespeare could only fantasize about - are haunting with their near-mysticism and erotica. Very effective.

One of the hidden gems of this film is Anna Patrick's very powerful performance as Iago's wife Emilia. This wonderful actress gives Emilia the power and complexity of personality that it needs to encourage examination of Shakespeare's commentary on women in this play.

The only downside to this wonderful film is the casting of Kenneth Branagh in the role of Iago. If anyone imagines Shakespeare's ultimate villain as a dark and serpentine presence, they will be disappointed in Branagh's performance. Fair-haired and playing "British-boarding-school-mommy's-boy," Branagh is a strange choice for the role of Iago. His sporadic asides with the audience are more satirical than serious, forced than innovative. His handling of Shakespearian dialogue is characteristically academic and not personable enough. Fishburne is living the part, whereas Branagh reads it. However, if you want to consider Iago as an effeminate and baby-faced schemer who has major issues about his masculinity, then Branagh is your man.

An erotic and dark rendering of one of Shakespeare's most famous works, Oliver Parker's OTHELLO is definitely worth the time for its direction, its unique interpretation, and Laurence Fishburne, who makes Othello into one of the most dangerous and masculine sexual presences on film.

In an attempt to create a trilogy, the powers-that-be should have been careful in building this continuing story to a shattering and epic-sized climax. Establishing the presence of Evil itself in the person of Damien Thorn through two previous movies, the third installment lets the veiwer down in the characterization of Damien as an adult. Sam Neill does a great job as the charismatic and darkly seductive political wunderkind, but, as with the script for DAMIEN: OMEN II, the material isn't there to delve into the tormented soul of evil.

THE FINAL CONFLICT attempts to be more in keeping with the original OMEN in terms of style and mood. The film is informed by the very presence of England itself, complete with its overcast skies and its sweeping country landscape. After the "splash of colour" that the second movie represented, the conclusion is wise in being "serious" as its original. However, they just don't get serious enough.

The build-up to the ultimate conflict between good and evil starts off well. The emergence of religious forces who are determined to stop the rise to power of the anti-Christ leads to Damien, who is poised for supreme world power as the head of the global Thorn empire. Unfortunately, what follows is a series of accidents that follow Damien and set out to be as grisly as possible. THE OMEN series works well when it suggests rather than gratuitously shocks. This movie tries to shock the veiwer every chance it can get.

There are some interesting moments - conversations of apocryphal prophecy between Damien and his loyal assistant/manservant; a nocturnal meeting on the mount between Damien and his legions of worshippers; a confrontation between Damien and the inverted Christ-statue he keeps in a secret shrine; the bizarre lovemaking between Damien and his love interest (played by the beautiful Lisa Harrow, whose resemblance to Lee Remick could have been played more upon to create an Oedipus-type complex in Damien). The ending is a complete disappointment and rewrites the biblical prophecies that have been followed religiously through the first two films.

Throughout the first films, Damien and the evil he represents grew from a contained existence and more into the outer world. The third installment should have depicted more of a larger-scale battle between Good and Evil, God and the Devil. Although understandably a challenge to expect anyone to depict the Book of Revelations on-screen effectively, the third part of the OMEN series disappoints in that it avoids the fight instead of even trying to engage in it.

Although it fails to live up to its built-up expectations, the movie is worthy to see, if only to see what isn't done that what is.

SALO is not for everyone ... but everyone should see it. As the past becomes history and studies in fascism and totalitarianism become more academic and more generic, we lose that sense of anger and horror that such ideologies should inspire in us all. SALO captures the very essence of evil that fascism truly is. After watching the events of organized chaos unfold in this film, no one will ever think of these movements the same way again.

Adapting the plot of Sade's 18th century novel 120 Days of Sodom, Pasolini strikes deep at the heart of the viewer's sense of security by drawing them into a world of perversion and molestation. He uses sex-as-metaphor to depict the atrocities of fascist mentality and ideology. Sado-masochistic practices and pedophilism dominate this very raw and gritty film, perversions that culminate into one of the most horrific conclusions ever captured on film. There is no where to hide, and Pasolini forces the observer to become an unwilling participant in his chateau of horrors. Nothing - sex, home, food, beauty - will be looked upon in the same way again after being introduced to his world of masters and slaves where religion, family and love are completely destroyed in the pursuit of sexual pleasure and power.

SALO has long been misunderstood, challenged by censorship, political and artistic narrow-mindedness, and fear. It is, however, one of the most important films ever made. As a work of art, it is a testament to Pasolini's genius. With its gritty and doom-laden atmosphere, created by its colourless cinematography and shadowed illumination, he creates a world with absolutely no hope, a vacuum existence that lives on death. The air permeates with the very real presence of Evil. Pasolini manipulates the senses - sight, smell, taste, touch - and locks the imagination in a prison of terror. In these respects, it is a study in the endless possibilities of film as art. More importantly, it is a powerful anti-fascist statement, ironically choosing a work of fiction to depict the brutal realities of human nature and the dark recesses that feed and is fed by fascist ideology.

Defending Sade as an essential study to achieve a true Western education, Camille Paglia proclaimed that one must face the ugliness as well as the beautiful in life. The same can be said in defense of Pasolini's SALO. We must never lose the very real and raw emotions that fascism should inspire in us all, no matter how far we seem removed from its chapter in history. SALO encapsulates those frightening and monstrous emotions and preserves them for us all to experience. It is the hope of the film to shock, terrify, and make the viewer wiser so the past will never again be repeated.

This sequel to THE OMEN is a "fun" film. It continues the story of the anti-Christ Damien into his teenage years and his years in military school. Now adopted into the family of his father's brother, an unsuspecting Damien is unwittingly at the centre of a plot to bring Satan's son to the threshold of power. Everyone around him is at risk as the secret of Damien's birth is under threat of exposure by forces emerging from around the world - and at the root of this threat are the mad depictions painted on an ancient wall that reveal the very face of evil.

Jonathon Scott-Taylor gives a commanding and creepy performance as the ultimate misfit son. Looking particularly significant in his military outfit, Scott-Taylor captures - as much as the script allows him - the torment of self-discovery as the truth of his existence is revealed to him. The script could have demanded more from such a fascinating scenario, and tried to make Damien more of a Miltonic Satanic Hero, but the film chooses to go for as much shock value whenever it can. Mysterious and violent accidents - linked by the ever-present shadow of a raven of death - dominate this movie from beginning to end. The scene involving an ill-fated lady on a deserted country road is one of its most grotesque. As death and destruction mount, Damien goes from self-possessed orphan to self-recognized supreme power in the span of two hours.

William Holden and Lee Grant play Damien's surrogate parents, Richard and Ann Thorn. They are not really allowed to display their incredible talents in this film, but Holden does fine trying to duplicate Peck's memorable performance in the original. Grant does what she can with this supporting role, but has a great moment in the film that proves worthy to wait for. The always wonderful Sylvia Sidney makes a memorable appearance as one of Damien's greatest "thorns" - the troublemaking menace Aunt Marion. And the ending is a bit of a shock if you watch the film closely, particularly if you listen to the exposition early on in the film about "The Whore of Babylon."

Another highlight is Jerry Goldsmith's title score - empowering, commanding and downright evil, the opening score is one of my favorites.

Although not as creepy as the first film, DAMIEN: OMEN II has its moments, and is worth seeing for anyone who likes to have a fun time with all this biblical stuff.

This movie plays with the intellect. It is frightening for what is not seen. From the grey overcast that blurs the skies of London and the dead stillness of the great Pereford mansion that houses the ill-fated Thorn family to the deepest recesses of civilization in the hollow underground of an ancient excavation site, the film effectively captures the viewer's interest and draws them into a world that is on the verge of the ultimate disaster - the birth of the anti-Christ.

Born into the world of politics and wealth, little Damien Thorn is the darling of the beautiful and privileged Robert and Katherine Thorn. Mysterious accidents and the overall feeling of death begin to shadow their lives until the horrifying truth of Damien's birth is uncovered millions of miles away in a grave in a decaying pagan cemetery in Italy. Gregory Peck gives a fine performance as ambitious politico Robert Thorn, a man who slowly discovers that his fate is interlinked in ancient biblical prophecy. With escalating horror, he uncovers a grand design that's unfolding under the unsuspecting eyes of the entire world - and he and his perfect family are at the centre of it. His search for the truth is one of the best in films, taking him to the farthest reaches of the globe and climaxing in an exciting and bizarre confrontation between himself and the face of evil.

Lee Remick is ethereal as his beautiful and tragic wife. The rest of the cast - Billie Whitelaw as the creepy Mrs. Baylock, David Warner as the doomed Jennings and Leo McKern as the mysterious archaeologist Bugenhagen - give the movie its singular dark and moody quality. THE OMEN has a few disturbing moments that shock rather than disgust, but the film is loaded with memorable scenes that are ingenious. It's the 'feeling' that the film incites that makes this movie unique. The haunted performances of the actors, the creepy-crawly musical score, the insinuation that doom is slowly creeping into the world with the birth of one lone child, all succeed in making THE OMEN one of the truest horror films.

Sometimes it's the knowing that something is going to happen that is more frightening than actually seeing it happen ...

Emily Bronte must have been rolling around in her grave when this was done. Glamourizing one of the most dysfunctional relationships ever captured in literature, Wyler's version of WUTHERING HEIGHTS makes a mess of Emily Bronte's ingenious story of love and torment. Laurence Olivier is embarrassingly miscast in the role of the bestial Heathcliff, unable to inform the character with the virility and force that such a part demands; he's good at throwing a hissy-fit but he doesn't intimidate. The ineffective - albeit beautiful - Merle Oberon is equally awkward as Catherine; she is unable (or was not allowed) to give the character the full force of fire and complexity that Bronte's original possesses.

Most regrettably, this version only concentrates on the first part of the book - Heathcliff and Catherine's romance - and eliminates the revenge part in which Heathcliff seeks to ruin the lives around him. The end result is an attempt to make Heathcliff and Catherine the "Romero and Juliet of the Moors," and subsequently eliminates the tragedy of their relationship. At most, it is a watered down version of a great story that fails to capture the passion that Bronte's book incites.

Although a complete failure, it is worthy to see for the particular romantic shots, very effective in black-and-white. It also provides a study in what NOT to do when adapting a great piece of literature to screen. And if you are a student who hasn't read the book and you have a test on it tomorrow, don't rent it. Stay up all night and read the book ... you'll be better off.