••*•• REVIEWS
I REVIEWS Kazuyoshi Okuyama centers on a far more cryptic literary figure, making its fact-to-fiction transitions seamlessly and thus challenging and ultimately blurring the line between reality and Rampo's own furtive psychology. Naota Takenaka turns in a subdued and textured performance as the angstridden author. Wounded by the official censure of his latest novel (about a murderous wife) as an "endangerment to public morality," which means none can read it, Rampo retreats into the recesses of imagination, willfully drawing himself into a torrent of conflicting emotions and uncontrollable fantasies. The peculiar discovery of a real-life drama that perfectly mirrors the plot of his novel adds fissures to an already tenuous psychological state, leading him to seek out the accused woman (the staggeringly beautiful Michiko Hadaj — for whom he develops an almost otherworldly obsession. As Rampo insinuates himself into the woman's life, seeking a cure for his inner demons, his perceptions of reality and fantasy become twin threads in one narrative tapestry, leading him toward the brink of madness. Rarely has a film so convincingly allowed audiences entry into the workings of a human mind, laying naked one man's obsessions and repressions. Hypnotic and dreamlike, "Rampo" is a sumptuous visceral experience entirely unlike any else on this year's film slate. That "Rampo" is an easier film to comprehend than explain attests to its effectiveness on the purely personal level — no small achievement for any filmmaker. It's a testament to the narrative strength of the material and to the allegorical power of its imagery that Okuyama can flirt so closely with selfindulgence without being consumed by it. An astonishing, first-rate achievement on all fronts, "Rampo" is not to be missed. — Wade Major THE CURE *••* Starring Brad Rcttfro, Joseph Mazzello and AnuabeUa Sciona. Directed by Peter Hoi-ton. Writteti by Robert Kidm. Produced by Mark Burg and Eric Eisner. A Universal release. Etrania. Rated PG- 13 for eniotionai thmnatic clmneitts and for langiu^e. Rioining time: 98 uti)i. "You'd be crazy to stab me," a pintsized 11 -year-old. Dexter ("Shadowlands'" Joseph Mazzello), tells a knife-wielding adult. "One drop would kill you. My blood is like poison." And it is; Dexter is slowly dying from AIDS. Aside from this one scene of peril, which itself is more horrific in emotional than physical terms, this film is fashioned of sinall, intense moments, where an even greater menace hovers just offscreen. The story of one summer in the life of one boy —Erik ("The Client's" Brad Renfro), who's grown antisocial due to his divorced mother's alcoholism— and the final summer in the life of another. "The Cure" is a moving look less at society's AIDS crisis than its consequences in purely human terms. Because the sick person is a young boy who caught the virus via a blood transfusion, the baggage that often accompanies the AIDS debate is left behind. Which leaves room for a number of marvelous sequences, like the movie's strongest, which finds the two boys Huck Finn-ing down the Mississippi in search of Dexter's cure. Awaking on a riverbank one night, Dexter tells Erik he's often scared when he opens his eyes in the dark, because it's "like I'm not there. And I'm never coming back. " To calm his only friend's fears, Erik gives him his tennis shoe to hold, so that Dexter knows he's nearby— an act that later becomes the film's moving coda. As Dexter's single mom, Annabella Sciorra ("Mr. Wonderful") gives the film a warm and compassionate center. "The Cure" is less successful with the supporting cast, especially Erik's harsh mother (Diana Scarwid), who symbolically stands in for those among us who would wish AIDS victims to suffer in silence; as a single mother abandoned by her husband for a younger model, working two jobs to support herself and her son, she's unfairly called on to bear that extra burden on her fragile shoulders. However, the intelligence of Robert Kuhn's quiet script and the intimate work of debut director Peter Horton ("thirtysomething") with his three main players make "The Cure" a powerful experience.— KiiH Williamson REVIEWS Amateur R-49 Bad Boys R-50 Billy Madison R-52 The Cure R-47 The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain R-48 Farinelli R-49 A Goofy Movie R-50 The Hunted R-52 Jury Duty R-50 Kiss of Death R-46 A Little Princess R-46 Major Fayne R-51 Man of the House R-52 The Mystery of Rampo R-46 Panther R-48 The Pebble and tlie Penguin R-50 The Postman R-48 Rob Roy R-50 Roommates R-52 Stuart Saves His Family R-49 Tank Girl R-51 While You Were Sleeping R-46 Wigstock: The Movie R-48 ENTERTAINMENT INSURANCE FOR THEATRES • PRODUCERS PERFORMERS A^ MAROEVICH O'SHEA & COGHLAN Insurance Brokers 425 Market Street, 10th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 (800)951-0600 (415)957-0600 Fax(4 15)957-0577 Response No 70 T0t quality spare parts Spare parts for 35 & 55/70 mm Westar, Century, Westrex, Cinecita, Monee, Cinemex, Simplex, Brenkert, Motiograph, and many other projectors, soundheads and sound systems. 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