Goodbye, polka-dot road
This time without bulldozers, the Heidelberg Project is coming down again….
The Avengers
Warning: Everything that the spy spoof Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery played for laughs, The Avengers treats with earnest, deadly seriousness. This is a mixed blessing. The 1960s television show “The Avengers” was, at its wryly British best, like a fantastical nonsense poem: The most outlandish situations and villains were greeted with slightly bemused…
As above, so below
The ex-bassist of Magazine and Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds, Barry Adamson has slowly mutated over the years into a master of musical suspense. With several instrumental albums of near-Hitchcockian proportions under his belt, this latest interpretation of film-noir intrigue adds another interesting color to Adamson’s sonic palette — his voice. In a cool, low moan…
Under the Skin
British writer/director Carine Adler’s debut film is an edgy character study of a young woman trapped in a dangerously eroticized form of grief. She is a numbed creature recklessly seeking through sex with strangers some sort of return to her senses. Iris (Samantha Morton), who has the face of a 12-year-old waif and a voluptuous…
Pre-millennial clearinghouse
In 1998, accessible and affordable technology means a home theater is no longer the domain of the very wealthy. Yet as home viewing options (and quality) have increased, Americans have not abandoned the experience of cinema. We’ll still sit in the dark, surrounded by other people, being absorbed into the flickering images on a large…
Your Friends and Neighbors
Woody Allen and Harry Jaglom are getting a bit long in the tooth. All too soon, the masters of subcutaneous introspection will move on to greener couches. Not to worry, though. We now have Hal Hartley and Neil LaBute to keep us in portraits of neurotic urban professionals well into the next century. Thank heaven…
