Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by clarkjohnsen (R) on July 01, 2005 at 12:35:18

Yes cries out for a one-word review: No.

In fairness, however, we probably should specify some of the things we're saying no to.

No, first and foremost, to the formulation of modern-day dialogue in rhyme (yes, rhyme, as in "So many lies" answered by "I guess that's what happens when love dies" or "I can't go on like this" answered by "Why? What did I say, what did I miss?" as well as uncollaborative rhymes such as "Is it me you're talking to? What do you know of my point of view, and come to that, of what I do?" and "I'm not the lying kind. What can I do to purify your mind?"), as if to elevate, to Shakespearean heights, the earnest talk about the battle of the sexes, the clash of cultures, the conflict of religions, Mideast vs. West, etc., but having the effect instead of getting the viewer to listen more for sound than for sense. No, too, to the insistence of "invisible" working women on inserting themselves in front of the camera, looking directly into it, and addressing it aloud in catty, confidential, conspiratorial tones. No to blown-up digital video which, while worrying the viewer that he is going blind, will no doubt look better in the DVD release, and which, in the meantime, reduces the big-screen theater to a mere way station en route to the store shelf. No to a postmodern patchwork of visual styles and textures. No to outsized ambition outrun by pretension. No to Sally Potter, the writer-director (and sympathy to Joan Allen, Simon Abkarian, Sam Neill). No, no, no.

Duncan Shepherd

[Emphasis added]

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