Reviews

Sadly disappointed in this film by a director I admire. The characters seem like they are refugees from the entertainments industry in Los Angeles who have been propped up against Seattle backgrounds. The women in particular are so flawlessly featured and coiffed that it is hard to believe that they are anything other than aspiring stars even when filmed against posters announcing grunge bands and environmental organizations. The biggest problem with the script is that it doesn't settle on one story but rather covers a number of stories of young "singles" who aren't interesting enough to hold the film together. Except for perhaps Matt Dillon, none of the characters seem to carry any special charge or reason for why they are living in Seattle. Perhaps that's an unintentional comment on what the early 1990's youth movement to Seattle really was like in reality. It still leaves one with a rather sad feeling of a film that could have been a record of a unique time and place but feels more like a tourist's visit to a place that could be anywhere at anytime.

The cast is well chosen and does what it can with a weak adaptation. "Northanger Abbey", though delightful, is one Austen's least adaptable novels because much of the action is inside the heroine's head. The book is about how Catherine's romantism is always being thwarted by mundane reality. This adaptation tries to remedy the issue by staging the heroine's fantasty sequence. It's a good choice but the film doesn't stick with it. Instead when the action shifts to Northanger Abbey itself, the film tries to pretend that the Austen material is actual gothic romance rather than a sly parody of it. The whole comic logic of Austen's tale thus falls apart. The lush green locations that were shot in Ireland are breathtakingly beautiful but they also confuse the adaptation by being too romantic for a story about the shortcomings of romanticism. Still, the choice and direction of actors here is good. Costumes are beautifully done and nicely restrained. It's not a silly adaptation of Austen like the recent "Emma" but that in itself is not enough of a reason to recommend it.

Barrymore and Mary Astor give great, deeply touching performances in this rather sentimental adaptation of the Clyde Fitch play. Barrymore's broad range of talents is here on full display, from comedy to pathos. If you want to know why millions of viewers adored Barrymore, see this movie. Willard Louis, as the Prince of Wales is also a delightful standout. When actors perform this well as an ensemble it's usually a sign that the director was helping them get to their best. The film has peaked my interest in director Harry Beaumont. My only criticism is the script which I found effectively sentimental but overly so. At a certain point sentimentality, in this case the longing for innocence, interferes with the truth of the historical characters who were creatures of society. Still, this is a movie with emotionally affecting performances.

I haven't seen the film since it opened in the late 90's and I can now see that this is one of Mike Leigh's best. There is the somewhat stagey acting for some of the scenes that comes out of Leigh's improvisatory technique but it all adds up to some of the most powerful characterizations and performances I've ever seen in a film. Stay with the film until the final moments. "It's not fair," is the final momento that the film leaves us with, even if we try as as hard as we can to be human.

The film starts as a conventional, if rambling, portrait of photographer Robert Frank but soon turns into a study of how the single-minded pursuit of the artist can affect the people around them. In Robert Frank's case, the loss of his two and only children feels like a consequence of an artist who turned himself into a camera, one that was empathetic but also dispassionate. It's also a study of a master growing old and being haunted by his own past. I would highly recommend this film but it wasn't easy for me to watch. As many people have said, it's often better to experience the art than to meet the actual artist.