Stunning imagery in 'The Cell'

By STEVE PERSALL

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 21, 2000

NEW RELEASES: The Cell

Jennifer Lopez and director Tarsem Singh have created a fantastic-looking movie. But that doesn't make it entertaining.

(R) Foxy psychologist (Jennifer Lopez) uses a cyber-facecloth to enter the mind of a comatose serial killer (Vincent D'Onofrio). What she finds are arbitrary hallucinations having little in common with each other except kinky dread. Undaunted, she searches for the location of a missing kidnap victim. Directed by music video ace Tarsem Singh.

First impressions: "Imagination runs grotesquely amok in The Cell, a thriller taking viewers inside the mind of a serial killer/torturer/pervert. What does he know that we don't? Obviously, a great costume designer and interior decorator.

"We immediately know that anything is possible in this film, so the direction Singh envisions is disappointing. The killer's warped fantasies include a showroom of autopsied corpses posed obscenely, a horse that gets sliced into precise horizontal pieces and variations on bondage. It's all imaginary to the characters, but that comforting thought doesn't make it entertaining.

"The Cell is a fantastic-looking movie, but to what end? Being John Malkovich did so much more with the concept of brain invasion with so much less. Sure, you can say it's unlike any movie ever made, but that doesn't make it a masterpiece. Just strange."

Second thoughts: Worth a peek just for Singh's amazing vision. Just a peek.

Rental audience: Puffy Combs; Starlog magazine subscribers; nobody you want to be alone with.

Rent it if you enjoy: Seven, Dark City, S&M.

Where the Money Is

(PG-13) Charming thief (Paul Newman) fakes a coma to stay out of prison. His nurse (Linda Fiorentino) figures out the ruse and hires the old guy to pull one last heist for her benefit. Inspired by the later years of celebrity criminal Willie Sutton, who died in Spring Hill in 1980.

First impressions: "Where the Money Is won't be remembered for much except for Newman's inimitable style playing an anti-hero, in this case, a retired bank robber named Henry Manning.

"He might as well be named Hud or Butch or Henry Gondorff for the unceremonious charisma Newman brings to the role. Every pregnant pause, smug expression and mumbled final word in a discussion is familiar and always a treat.

"The film runs only 88 minutes, a thrifty length for such a slim tale. Other directors could learn from his judgment, since so many films are at least 10 minutes too long. Like a good thief, (director Marek) Kanievska is smart to get in, get the job done and get out."

Second thoughts: Newman is aging finer than wine.

Rental audience: Isn't everyone a Newman fan?

Rent it if you enjoyed: The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or any of Newman's rascally roles.

The Virgin Suicides

(R) Sofia Coppola made an impressive debut as a director with this story of the five Lisbon sisters, suburban teenagers living -- not very happily -- in 1975. The title and an opening narration reveals the tragedy to come, but the question is: Why? Kirsten Dunst is very good as the eldest sister, an example of independence at an age and era when it won't happen.

First impressions: ". . . a haunting, confident labor of love and dexterity . . . as alluring as Lester Burnham's American Beauty doom. Why they die isn't fully explained, as many suicides go. Coppola is more interested in whatever romance the girls represent, and therefore what is lost.

"The film's point of view is from down the street and across classrooms where boys idolize the sisters from afar. They can look, but not touch, since Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon (James Woods, Kathleen Turner) smother their daughters with old-fashioned values and restrictions.

"Sounds grim, yet Coppola handles the material with an affectionate blend of gauzy nostalgia and dark humor. Coppola adds playful, poignant touches, never preaching against teen suicide, but making it an obvious waste."

Second thoughts: There may be another Coppola winning awards before long.

Rental audience: Viewers looking for something to ponder, not just watch.

Rent it if you enjoyed: American Beauty.

Small Time Crooks

(PG) Woody Allen returns with his most endearing film in years. He plays ex-convict Ray Winkler, now a dishwasher married to a stripper (Tracey Ullman). Ray devises a plan to tunnel into a bank vault, assisted by lunkheads Jon Lovitz and Michael Rapaport. Good fortune places Ray in higher society where a suave Brit (Hugh Grant) makes moves on his wife.

First impressions: "(Allen) works the audience not unlike Bob Hope . . . playing the wisecracking, weasely weakling, but this time, he isn't an intellectual, to say the least . . . Ullman is once again the best thing in a not-wonderful movie.

"Whatever the size of the budget, this is clearly a "little" film, which makes it perfect for Allen's fans, but it seems unlikely that it will draw any new ones." (Peter Smith, Times correspondent)

Second thoughts: A trifle, but a pleasant one.

Rental audience: Devotees of the Woodman.

Rent it if you enjoy: Allen has made 31 movies now. Take your pick.

DVD: New and noteworthy for digital players

Seven (New Line Platinum Series)

Readers sometimes ask if there are any reviews I'd like to take back. Not many, but a mixed reaction to David Fincher's 1995 thriller is one of them.

Perhaps Seven was too original, more grisly and morbid than previous serial killer flicks. Deadlier than The Silence of the Lambs, which was (and remains) the measuring stick of modern entertaining terror. Fincher isn't interested in entertaining us, and he makes the terrifying part looks almost too easy.

Seven didn't sit well with me then, but subsequent viewings and five years of watching pale variations such as The Cell make me reconsider. This new DVD package should go a long way toward helping me better understand Fincher's pitch-black imagination.

The director contributes the usual alternate audio commentary, along with actors Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, who played Manhattan detectives chasing a murderer. Each victim is killed to represent one of the the biblical seven deadly sins, with sloth looking especially gruesome. Two more audio tracks feature screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, film academic Richard Dyer, composer Howard Shore and editor Richard Francis-Bruce.

Deleted scenes, animated storyboards and still photographs enable viewers to track the killer's spree. Alternate endings are provided, but none can top Pitt's chilling final discovery. Deleted scenes and extended takes are available in other chapters.

Finally, the two-disc set breaks down Kyle Cooper's arresting opening title sequence, a psychotic rush of jittery images that shoved viewers into the madness whether they wanted to go or not. The technique is common now, but in 1995 it was just another reason to feel uneasy about Seven.

-- STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic

REWIND

Videos worth another look

Sundown tonight marks the beginning of Hanukkah. For eight days, Jews worldwide will celebrate centuries of heritage and faith. In honor of the occasion, we offer these heart-warming video favorites:

Avalon -- The best films about the Jewish experience in the United States always seem to come from Barry Levinson. This one harkens back to the turn of the 20th century when an immigrant family moves to Baltimore. A grand reminder of how important such trips were to so many, and why America is great.

Liberty Heights -- Another fine Levinson film, although this one was poorly distributed last year by Warner Bros. Another Baltimore family deals with anti-Semitism compounded by racism when a son falls in love with an African-American girl. Joe Mantegna leads a solid cast.

The Chosen -- Two Jewish teenagers (Robby Benson, Barry Miller) in the 1940s become friends after a playground accident. One is an Orthodox Jew and the other is a Reform Jew, creating a rift in both families. Rod Steiger and Maximilian Schell portray their fathers, debating whose faith is more secure.

Crossing Delancey -- Amy Irving plays a lonely bookstore clerk with a matchmaker leading her to pickle salesman Peter Riegert. Cuddly romantic comedy with tangy Jewish flavor.

Fiddler on the Roof -- Speaking of matchmakers, none is more famous than the one working on behalf of Tevye's daughter. Topol is a bearded dynamo as her concerned father in Norman Jewison's gilded musical. How many of the songs do you know by heart?

Yentl -- Probably more songs than you remember from Barbra Streisand's elaborate dramatic musical. She directs for the first time and stars as a girl posing as a boy to study the Torah at a time when women weren't allowed. Then, she falls in love with a classmate. Stately, reverent entertainment.

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