Reviews

The "love that dares not speak its name" is now in Surround Sound. Who could have dreamed that a movie about a couple of "gay cowboys" would be so beautifully done and gain such wide and avid acclaim. The director, Ang Lee, must be given much of the credit, as well as the two fine actors you've probably read so much about. And while this story is generally a first for the silver screen, there seems to be no agenda here. It's a tragic story, beautifully told and, since the time period is the early sixties to eighties, it could be linked with another "gay themed" film, The Boys in the Band, which was generally denounced by the gay community for portraying gays as a sad group of outcasts. No parties here. No romps in the sands of the Hamptons. Don't go looking for gay porno. There's little actual sex in the film. However, if there are teenagers in the audience, beware of sniggers and a wide variety of audible comments.

Tango may well be the greatest dance movie ever made. Its stunning dance sequences, relentless tango music (orchestrated by Lalo Schiffrin)and throbbing sexuality place this film in a class by itself. There simply has never been anything like it. And, if you have any male hormones left and do not fall immediately head over heels in love with Mia Maestro than something is definitely wrong with you. She is what Audrey Hepburn might have been had Miss Hepburn been Latin and had a spectacular dancer's figure. But the entire cast is wonderful and the lighting and color are explosive. Go see it, then take the next plane to Buenos Aires. I did.

Almoldovar movies count. They are films that examine the many and infinite varieties of love and loss. This one, however, presents love or lust in ways that some might find hard to take. This is love between very young boys, love or lust of a man for a boy, love in drag, and love obsessive and brutal. It is love confused and like the movie, often confusing. There are no heroes in this film and no one comes away the victor. Almoldovar pulls few punches yet doesn't descend into exploitation or soft core porn. The film just goes 'way beyond anything you'll see made in Hollywood. If you're easily shocked it just ain't the movie for you. The plot twists, turns and takes dizzying leaps, so you'll have to pay rapt attention to what is something of a movie within a movie, where fantasy and reality commingle and shatter. The acting is as brilliant as the direction, and special note should be made of the musical score.

This unflinching look at the former Soviet Union just after WWII should be seen by all those who might still harbor some romantic feelings for the communist past. There is an almost Orwellian atmosphere to the film, which is supposedly a true story of a group of Russsian émigrés living in France who are invited to return to the USSR to help rebuild the war torn country. As soon as these ostensibly Russian patriots disembark on Soviet soil they are hurled into the madhouse world of Stalinist Russia. The similarity to the Nazis as families are separated, manhandled and killed is obvious and terrifying. The rest of the movie is concerned with the survivors' attempt at escape. The acting is first rate and the mise en scene on the button. This a truly harrowing and credible film, all the more so for being a French production. See it and tell some of your far leftist friends to see it as well.

This is an epic film; greater in scope than most foreign films, with a remarkable cast that includes, oddly enough, Jodie Foster, speaking, it seems, very beautiful French. It is an anti war film in the tradition of Paths of Glory and All Quiet on the Western Front,both graphically depicting the horrors of WW I and, in the case of Paths, the arrogance and vile character of the French officer corps at the time. I can understand the French not allowing "Engagement" to compete in their movie awards. Too bad, because it also depicts the lives of the everyday Frenchmen and their women who were the victims of the conflict. And, being a French film, there is also quite a bit of sex served up with the "food as life" happier moments. The movie is beautifully filmed and scored, with some of the most devastating battle scenes ever created. The destruction of an army hospital and its patients and staff by an exploding indoor dirigible is truly horrifying. This should be a huge award winner, if only the French would honestly deal with its past.