Boxoffice-March.2000

•••
written by Majid Majidi. Produeed by
Mehdi Karimi. A Sony Pictures Classics
release. Drama. Not yet rated. Running
time: 95 min.
There's a startling scene in "The Color
of Paradise" in which a bitter man screams
at his mother about how God has abandoned
him and questions why he should
follow a pious path. One would be hardpressed
to think of another Iranian film
that has ever directly assailed religion—the
Mullahs must be furious—but it's not surprising
coming from the director of
"Children of Heaven." That powerfully
tough criticism of Iran's capitalist system
showed that writer-director Majid Majidi
may be the most hard-hitting of Iranian
filmmakers. Unfortunately, he's also cinematically
cruder than his talented colleagues
and "The Color of Paradise." more
than "Children of Heaven," suffers from
his technical ineptitude. His tale of a
bright blind boy (Mohsen Ramezani) and
the father who no longer wants to care for
him shares some of Francois Truffaut's
attention to childhood detail. But it lacks
lyricism and just jumps from one sloppy
scene to another. Only its fine performances
and fierce honesty save it from
med i ocri t
y.— Shlomo Sch wartzberg
WHIPPED *•
Starring Amanda Peet,
Brian Ian Holt,
Jonathan Abrahams, Zorie Barber and
Judah Domke. Directed and written by
Peter M. Cohen. Produced by Anthony
Armetta and Taylor MacCrae. A
Destination release. Comedy. Not yet rated.
Running time: 85 min.
Hostility between men and women is
Struggling to find new variations on the
overworked theme of guys and girls dissing
each other verbally, physically, in reality,
imagination and dreams, it spares few
vulgarities and makes the whole searchfor-a-mate
process seem so unappealing,
unromantic. unsatisfying and ugly as to be
pointless.
Amanda Peet, with her minor-league
Julia Roberts look, is an attractive target
for if not the affections then the distorted
desires of a trio of pretty stupid single
men a writer (Zone Barber), a money
broker (Brian Van Holt) and an actor
REVIEWS
THE COLOR OF PARADISE
(Jonathan Abrahams). Judah Domke is
stuck with the role of their even more
Starring Mohsen Ramezani, Hossein
Mahjuh and Salime Feizi. Directed and unfortunate pal who happens to be married.
Peter Cohen's script has a very harsh
viewpoint which his-in-your face direction
only heightens, and there is little
room left for any of the actors to find the
nuances which might have made the movie
more insightful despite its crass attitude.
—Bridget Byrne
THE CLOSER YOU GET ***
Starring Ian Hart, Sean McGinley,
Niamh Cusack and Ruth McCabe. Directed
by Aileen Ritchie. Written by William Ivory.
Produeed by Uberto Pasolini. A Fox
Searchlight release. Comedy. Rated PG-U
for brief language and some sexual material.
Running time: 1 15 min.
In a homely hamlet on the craggy coast
of Donegal, the menfolk are like the martians
of the old B-movie: They need
women. But they have a simple (or simpleminded)
plan: They will place an ad in a
Miami newspaper publicizing their interest
in making matrimony with American lasses.
(Although, of course, matrimony is not the
first, and barely the last, act on their agendas.)
Having thus posted their availability
with full references to their supposed
virtues and potencies,
they make preparation
for a village party a few weeks hence to
welcome the waves of womanhood they are
sure will pour onto their shores.
The local women, knowing the true
intent of the testosterone natives, and feeling
more than a bit ignored, plot their
revenge: They will invite particularly hirsute
foreign fishermen to the affair, to
which they expect will come zero femmes
from afar, leaving the Irish lads to stand
about like wallflowers at the dance while
exotic seamen carouse the night away with
full-throttle in "Whipped," yet another dark the local ladies. Which indeed, and predictably,
comedy about modern-day dating habits.
The plot's minor surprises and one major
twist and the in-the-moment acting of the
is what transpires, with the equal-
ly expected character transformations following
thereafter.
With "Waking Ned Devine" and especially
cast raise the film a tad above its overall
level, which is slung pretty low. Some of the "The Full Monty," Fox Searchlight
unpleasant moments are funny, some not, previously found success with light-hearted
visits to the lands of isle and glen, and
but it isn't realistic enough to have an
impact and not stylish enough to be seducfive
"The Closer You Get" looks to continue
even at its most amusing.
that streak— if, due to the film's
predictability,
closer to the "Devine" level of'
boxoffice. As always, Ian Hart is effective,
making his lead, the lustlorn and headstrong
butcher Kieran O'Donnagh, a focus
of audience affection, in part due to his
increasingly obvious desperation, which
includes the dying of his dark hair to
blonde. Among those playing the rest of
the burg's cutely idiosyncratic (of course)
souls are Sean McGinley (who previouslj
teamed with Hart in "The Butcher Boy"
and "Michael Collins"). Niamh Cusack
("The Playboys") and Ruth McCabe
("Talk of Angels"). Working from a story
by Herbie Wave. actor-turned-BBC comedy
writer William Ivory peoples his village
with an interesting menagerie of characters,
and director Aileen Ritchie keeps her
camera for "The Closer You Get" just distant
enough to keep audience involvement
with this war-of-the-scxes affair of the
gentle, easy-going-down variety. Kim
W iIliamson
COTTON MARY
••*
Starring Madhur Jaffrey, Greta Scacchi
and James Wilby. Directed by Ismail
Merchant. Written by Alexandra Viets.
Produced by Ismail Merchant, Gil
Donaldson and Nayeem Hafizka. An
Artistic License release. Drama. Rated R for
a scene of sexuality. Running time: 123 min.
The title character of Ismail
Merchant's movie is the symbol of a deeprooted
love-hate relationship between ruler
and ruled, pre- and post-Imperialism, culture
and heritage, truth and desire and
myriad other emotional and factual consequences
— particularly race relations—of
Britain's colonialism in India. It is also a
disturbing study of a woman whose best
qualities manifest themselves in evil ways
which cannot be so easily excused as madness
or self-delusion.
Alexandra Viets' script, set post-
Independence, centers around Mary, a
middle-aged hospital worker who insinuates
herself into a household where a
British family struggles to deal with
changed times. Mary's key to entry is her
ability to use her sister to breast-feed a
sickly new baby with whom the depressed
mother is unable to cope. But Mary's own
mixture of foolish pride and painful illease
at her mixed race heritage adds poison
to family lives (both her own and her
employers') which are already seeped in
sorrows and misunderstandings, the legacy
o\' the failure of East and West to find a
happy common meeting ground.
Madhur Jaffrey. probably best known
in recent years for her excellent cookbooks
rather than her acting, is profoundly
disturbing as Mary, stripping away all
personal vanities to reveal the character's
own in a shocking portrait which can be
viewed for both its individuality and its
larger meaning. Greta Scacchi as the
British postpartum mother is stuck with
the problem of making gloomy introspection
interesting and doesn't quite manage
it. but she fares better than James Wilby,
handed an unfaithful absentee husband
role which is more plot point than fullydeveloped
character.
Merchant's direction is not as smooth
as one might imagine after all his years as
James Ivory's producer, but the understanding
of the subject matter brings resonance
and authentic surprise to main
scenes. Bridget Byrne
March. 2000
(R-17)