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Kl rR.4fi) Rnvrifinfir<br />
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FESTIVAL REVIEWS<br />
much younger Catherine (Otto) to help with<br />
the work on her isolated farm. A surprisingly<br />
close friendship develops. After the<br />
car accident, Hester hides the body in an<br />
unused well; they later discover that money<br />
they had hidden is missing and believe that<br />
the dead man was the thief. One of them<br />
must go down the well to retrieve their cash.<br />
Jones has shot striking scenes set in a staik<br />
Down Under landscape that is an effective<br />
reflection of Hester's repression. Rabe and<br />
Otto are a potent combination as the possessive<br />
Hester and the uninhibited Cathenne, and<br />
the film becomes an absorbing story ofdependence<br />
and manipulation that takes some very<br />
clever and unexpected turns. Ed Scheid<br />
WELCOME TO SARAJEVO ^^^1/2<br />
Starring Stephen Dillane, Woody<br />
Harrelson and Marisa Tomei Directed by<br />
Michael Winterbottom. Written by Frank<br />
Cottrell Boyce. Produced by Graham<br />
Broadbent and Damian Jones. A Miramax<br />
release. Documentary/drama. Not yet<br />
rated. English- and Bosnian-language;<br />
English subtitles. Running time: 100 min.<br />
One of the most acclaimed films at<br />
Cannes, "Welcome to Sarajevo" is a complex,<br />
deeply moving story of Ufe in Sarajevo<br />
during the Bosnian war. As told from the<br />
perspective of several English-speaking<br />
journalists stationed in Sarajevo, and with<br />
the help of actual news footage, the war is<br />
portrayed in its unrelenting and inexplicable<br />
violence. Yet the film never feels like a<br />
documentary; as directed by Michael<br />
Winterbottom ("Jude"), it's an extraordinarily<br />
affecting, personal, at times uplifting tale.<br />
The choice to have the story unfold through<br />
the British and American journalists' eyes is<br />
especially effective; they serve as the<br />
audience's surrogates and interpreters. Not<br />
only do they help to render understandable<br />
much of the Bosnian political situation, they<br />
also draw us into the tale. A motley crew<br />
comprised of seasoned news correspondent<br />
Michael Henderson (stage actor Stephen Dillane),<br />
hard-working producer Jane Carson<br />
("Shallow Grave's' Kerry Fox), novice reporter<br />
Annie McGee ("The River Runs<br />
Through It's" Emily Lloyd) and jaded, cynical<br />
correspondent Flynn (\yoody Harrelson),<br />
the firess corps strive to maintain their objectivity.<br />
When Henderson begins to broadcast<br />
daily from a local orphanage, however, it soon<br />
becomes clear that objectivity is impossible.<br />
And when a young American aici worker<br />
("The Perez Family's" Marisa Tomei) arrives<br />
to help some of the children escape, Henderson<br />
decides to smuggle out a girl to whom he<br />
has become attached.<br />
"Welcome to Sarajevo" is a flawed but<br />
potent film. At times iLs emotional pull (desperation<br />
etched on the orphans' faces) is so<br />
strong it threatens to overwhelm you, vet<br />
Winterbottom maintains a careful balance between<br />
sentiment and fact. And there's a powerful<br />
lesson here. The news footage of the<br />
wounded Sarajevans is bmtally shocking, but<br />
perhaps no more sh(x;king than the fcwtage of<br />
actual politicians and diplomats, showing the<br />
blind eye turned on Bosnia by a world too<br />
basy to help.— Lael Loewenstein<br />
DAYS OF EUROPEAN<br />
FILM FESTIVAL<br />
THE WONDERFUL YEARS<br />
THAT SUCKED ^^1/2<br />
Starring Libuse Safrankova and Ondrej<br />
Vetchy. Directed by Petr Nikolaev. Written<br />
by Jan Novak. Produced by Jiri Jezek. A<br />
Space Films production; no stateside distributor<br />
set. Comedy. Czech-language;<br />
English subtitles. Not yet rated. Running<br />
time: 109 min.<br />
This film ("Bajecna Leta Pod Psa") is<br />
based on a popular Czech novel by writer<br />
Michal Viewegh, and something was lost in<br />
the translation from book to screen. It's<br />
about a family trying to keep it together<br />
despite the indignities and absurdities of life<br />
in communist Czechoslovakia. The movie<br />
covers three decades, which perhaps accounts<br />
for its choppiness: Events occur<br />
whose impacts aren t felt in the next scene;<br />
characters disappear abruptly; chunks of<br />
time elapse at hyperspeed.<br />
The major pleasure is its quirky family<br />
members. Dad (Ondrej Vetchy), a happy-golucky<br />
economist, eventually cracks under the<br />
strain of being "poUtically visible." His modest<br />
wife ("Kolya's" Libuse Safrankova)<br />
schedules herself to give birth on a day she<br />
knows no male doctors are on duty. And son<br />
Kvido (played as a child by Jan Zahalka, as a<br />
teen by Jakub Wehrenberg) uses his preternatural<br />
vocabulary to comment perceptively on<br />
his parents' struggles, even as he's befuddled<br />
by his own life's events.<br />
Melissa Morrison<br />
ANOTHER MOTHER ••<br />
Starring Janis Reinis and Arys Adamsons.<br />
Directed by Paula van der Oest.<br />
Written by Paula van der Oest and Stan<br />
Lapinski. Produced by Rene Scholten. A<br />
Studio Nieuwe Gronden production; no<br />
stateside distributor set. Drama. Dutchand<br />
Latvian-language; English subtitles.<br />
Not yet rated. Running time: 96 min.<br />
The symbolism isn't exactly subtle in<br />
"Another Mother" ("De Nieuwe Moeder"),<br />
which contrasts life in Western and Eastern<br />
Europe. Such crudeness can be forgiven as<br />
long as characters remain flesh and blood,<br />
which they do here until the last fifth of the<br />
movie. But the ending is groan-inducing<br />
mush—which is a shame, because the film<br />
is a Kleenex-clutcher till that point.<br />
Fed up with post-Communist Latvia's scarcities,<br />
a father. Juris, takes off with his mute<br />
young son, Elvis. The two travel to Holland<br />
Juris being fueled by decades-old correspondence<br />
with a Dutch penpal, Marie, who has<br />
told of a country of opportunity. As the pair<br />
draw closer, voiceovers of her letters describe<br />
her life's trajectory. Along the way. Juris and<br />
Elvis encounter Western Values, as embodied<br />
by a .sociali.st hippie, neofa.scists and, finally,<br />
Marie's materialistic family. It's in Juris'<br />
encounter with Marie's Lolita-esque<br />
daughter—those dam sexually rapacious<br />
15-year-olds!—in the inevitable seduction"<br />
of the East by the West that<br />
flees the movie. Melissa Morrison<br />
reality<br />
SEATTLE/WOMEN IN<br />
CINEMA FESTIVAL<br />
WEDDING BELL BLUES •••<br />
Starring Illeana Douglas, Paulina<br />
Porizkova and Julie Warner. Directed by<br />
Dana Lustig. Written by Annete Goliti-<br />
Gutierrez. Produced by Ram Bergman,<br />
Dana Lustig, Carole Curb Nemoy and<br />
Mike Curb. A Legacy release. Romantic<br />
comedy. Rated R for sex-related content.<br />
Running time: 104 min.<br />
"I didn't know turning 30 was terminal,"<br />
declares single, commitment-phobic Jasmine<br />
("Grace of My Heart's" Illeana Douglas),<br />
thus summarizing the impetus for<br />
"Wedding Bell Blues." This first flick from<br />
director Dana Lustig is an above-average<br />
romantic comedy laden with well-delivered<br />
yuks that also has something smart to say<br />
about aging, relationships and the pressure<br />
on women to marry young. Fed up with<br />
men. Jasmine and her two roommates<br />
Micki ("Doc Hollywood's" Julie Warner)<br />
and Tanya (supermodel/actress Paulina<br />
Porizkova, currently in "Female Perversions")—embark<br />
on a road trip to Las<br />
Vegas. Their mission: to find husbands,<br />
marry, and quickly divorce. Their fast-approaching<br />
thirtieth birthdays will be easier<br />
to stomach, they reckon, as glamorous divorcees<br />
than old maids.<br />
"Wedding Bell Blues" owes much to a<br />
ingenious script by Annete Goliti-<br />
Gutierrez. She builds the story not only<br />
upon the protagonists' relationships with<br />
their male counterparts but also upon their<br />
relationships with each another. The benefit<br />
is a fool-proof framework from which to<br />
pull genuine laughs and character development.<br />
Lustig' s direction remains focused on<br />
resolving the women's issues, and her film<br />
generates an engaging momentum; the distaff<br />
demo is likely to chuckle knowingly<br />
about such common topics as bridesmaid<br />
dresses, pregnancy tests, and men.<br />
Also to Lustig' s credit, even such seenit-before<br />
moments as cruising the Vegas<br />
Strip seem fresh rather than cliched, and she<br />
extracts suf)erb performances from the entire<br />
cast. Leading the pack is Douglas,<br />
who's never been saucier, with Warner and<br />
Porizkova not far behind. Each actress slips<br />
with ease into a character she clearly under-<br />
.stands. Rounding out the ensemble is a fine<br />
supporting cast.<br />
Ian Hodder<br />
I LOVE YOU... DON'T<br />
TOUCH ME •••1/2<br />
Starring Maria Schaffel, Mitchell<br />
Whitfield and Meredith Scott Lynn. Directedand<br />
written by Julie Davis. Produced<br />
by Julie Davis and Jennifer Cliaiken. A<br />
Goldwyn release. Romantic comedy. Not<br />
yet rated. Running lime: 87 min.<br />
Surprise reigned at a festival screening<br />
when Julie Davis revealed that she made "1<br />
Love You, Don't Touch Me" for less than<br />
$200,000. Davis, a 28-year-old director/editor/screenwriter/producer,<br />
is a Hollywood<br />
hyphenate who handles each of her
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