4The Daily Tar HeeirTuesday, April 10, 1984
Moscow' shows humor and pathos
An American stars as a Russian immigrant. A Venezuelan
plays his Italian girlfriend. And Munich doubles for Moscow.
This cultural jumble stands at the heart of Paul Mazursky's
new film Moscow on the Hudson, a double-edged comic look at
the modern American melting pot.
Robin Williams plays Vladimir lvanoff, a saxaphone player in
a Russian circus. Sick of Moscow's endless waiting lines for
toilet paper and shoes, of feeling like "an artist without wings"
because of KGB pressure, he defects during a New York City
circus tour.
The setting for Ivanoffs defection is Bloomingdale's, a site
also used in the recent Splash. In both films the department
store seems to symbolize the height of American culture. One
Russian tourist gushes delightedly about the place, "More
decadence!"
After sketching a grim, gray Moscow, Mazursky lets his
camera spin like a giddy top through the so-called corruption of
NYC: fleshy Calvin Klein ads, breakdancers, mohawks.
In satiric contrast to the reverential portraits of Lenin in
Moscow, one billboard stands out, depicting Abraham Lincoln
wearing headphones.
The sequence recalls Nicholas Meyer's Time After Time, in
which Victorian H.G. Wells acquaints himself with modern San
Francisco. Even if it's no more original than a mirror; it's an
amusing look at our skewed society.
This could be said for the entire movie. The pace and editing
are smooth, and the acting is fine. Robin Williams is particularly
good, delivering a warm, sustained performance and a
believable Russian accent.
The Italian girlfriend, Lucia, is played by Maria Conchita
Alonso. Cleavant Derricks portrays Lionel, the black Bloom
ingdale's security guard who gives lvanoff a place to stay. And
Steve Murray
Review
Alejandro Rey handles the part of the defector's Cuban lawyer.
These three characters and actors provide a strong support
group for IvanoffWilliams as he discovers jazz bands, bars and
a collection of jobs ranging from busboy to street vendor.
Luckily, Mazursky doesn't make the crowd-pleasing mistake
of setting lvanoff down on the sure-fire, get-rich-quick path of
the American dream. lvanoff struggles with the new country
and soon comes to realize that his boast, "I'm free like a bird,"
is easily shot down.
He can get a job and pay his own way, but he learns that emo
tional freedom isn't bought, and loneliness can't be drowned by
the wail of his sax.
At times, Mazursky overstates his message to the point of lec
turing on the abuse of freedom. And sometimes his symbolism
and plot devices are too obvious.
Ivanoffs first pair of American shoes, for instance, are made
in Italy. He rides the Liberty Lines bus. And he loses his
girlfriend and faith in America simultaneously (and
temporarily).
Still, the message is important, and the movie is pleasant.
Maybe it's too pleasant. Like a circus mirror, it throws back a
funny image of the world.
By making his film so smooth and entertaining, Mazursky
runs the risk of letting audiences walk away believing the mirror
is distorted, not the world itself.
Zemeckis finds success with 'Romancing
Once upon a time there was a
screenwriter-director named Robert
Zemeckis. His first feature film, 1977's
Wanna Hold Your Hand, was a master
ful comic send-up of Beatlemania that
was every bit as good as A Hard Day's
Night itself.
Then something went wrong. In 1980
he co-scripted Steven Spielberg's mega
bomb 1941. A year later Zemeckis hit
rock bottom as director and co-writer of
the dismal, idiotic Used Cars. The once
promising filmmaker now seemed destin
ed for obscurity.
Zemeckis' latest directorial offering,
Romancing the Stone, represents a rever
sal of this trend. The movie is no Citizen
Kane, mind, but it is nevertheless a light,
well-paced comedy-adventure.
Romance novelist Joan Wilder, played
by Kathleen Turner, leaves New York
City and heads for Cartagena, Colombia,
where her sister is being held for ransom
by a couple of small-time American
hoods, Ralph (Danny DeVito) and Ira
(Zack Norman).
What Ralph and Ira want from Joan is
the treasure map her brother-in-law mail
ed to her shortly before he was murdered
Ed Brackett
Review
by Zolo, a crooked Colombian cop who
is privy to the secret of the treasure but
does not know where it is buried.
Arriving in Colombia, homebody Joan
takes the wrong bus and winds up in the
middle of a huge jungle instead of in Car
tagena. There she meets, jungle-wise
adventurer Jack Colton (Michael
Douglas), who, for a fee, promises to
take her back to civilization.
Meanwhile, Ralph and Ira continue to
hold Joan's sister, and Zolo stalks Joan
and Jack in his quest for the map. Jack
soon discovers the existence of the map
himself, and the ensuing romance bet
ween he and Joan raises the question:
What is Jack after, Joan or the treasure
(a gem called "El Corazon")?
The script, written by Diane Thomas
(an aspiring romance novelist herself and
until now a waitress in Los Angeles),
travels at a quicksilver pace, and
Zemeckis' direction moves right along
with it. Inundated with a mixture of ac
tion and light-heartd self-criticism,
Romancing the Stone never reverts to the
wow-look-at-me heroics of its distant
celluloid cousin, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Kathleen Turner, in only her third film,
does nothing to dispel or downplay her
sexual on-screen persona, which she
developed with her sizzling debut in Body
Heat. Although she keeps her clothes on
in this movie, Turner's latent sensuality is
nevertheless apparent.
Michael Douglas proves himself an apt
foil for Turner's talent, and he has all the
suavity and sophistication of his old man,
Kirk. He does, however, have a tendency
to overact a bit.
Clearly the funniest cast member is the
diminutive Danny DeVito, formerly
Louie of television's Taxi. Much of the
"comedy" part of this comedy-adventure
comes from him.
Even though its ending is somewhat
predictable and its content is less than
earth-shattering, Romancing the Stone
emerges as a no-holds-barred story racing
to its finish. And for the most part, it's a
race worth watching.
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Robin Williams is a Russian who learns about life in the U.S. in 'Moscow on the Hudson'
. !i
'Reuben' combines comedy, sensitivity
What can be said about a film whose
main character is a boozing poet who
seduces middle-aged nymphomaniacs and
is finally defeated by a livid dentist and a
hairy sheepdog? One thing Reuben,
Reuben is the year's best film, a film with
more wit and sensitivity than The Big
Chill and Terms of Endearment combin
ed, and a character study that actually ex
plores its character.
At the helm of Reuben, Reuben, is
relative newcomer Tom Conti, a native
Scot. Although Conti has appeared in a
number of British films, this is his
American debut.
No one else could have played this
Dylan Thomas clone who lives by lec
turing along the East coast and stealing
waiters' tips. Conti makes the most of his
part, replete with rolling eyes and
drunken verbal attacks.
Actors love to play drunks and au
diences love to watch them. They live out
fantasies by being uninhibited. Conti,
however, makes his performance special
by defining his character's' sorrow and
depression. In one scene on a nam he
mimicks a rather stuffy old lady reading
the New Yorker, then goes into the
Steve Can-
Review
bathroom where he. breaks down Into
tears.
In another scene, a housewife undoes
her bra, whereupon Conti wickedly com
pares her breasts to hanging men. Conti
manages to leave New England in
shambles, but he also reveals a certain
self-loathing that is crucial to the plot.
The rest of the cast, while not as well
known as Conti, is very effective. The
players practically match Conti in their
depth and control. Standouts are Joel Fa
biani giving the definitive portrayal of
. middle-class revenge and E. Katherine
Kerr as his voracious wife.
The people behind the camera read like
a Who's Who of film. Robert Ellis Miller
is most famous for the television plays he
directed during the 1950s. While his
theatrical output leaves something to be
desired, Reuben, Reuben is an adroit mix
of the outrageous and the subtle. Conti' s
suicide and train scenes are particularly
well-handled.
Walter Shenson was responsible for
bringing Peter Sellars to public attention
aim aisu piuuuicu me iwu oca i ics nuns,
A Hard Day's Night and Help! Although
Reuben, Reuben looks like a modest film,
it uses every bit of its resources and loca
tion. Some of the film was shot at the
Earl Owensby Studios in Shelby, N.C.
The real star of the film, aside from
Conti, is veteran writer Julius J. Epstein,
who worked on such classics as Casablan
ca and Arsenic and Old Lace. Epstein
manages to blend a character study with a
satire on American mores. Usually the
two genres work at odds with each other,
but Epstein skillfully manipulates them so
they complement each other.
The secret of Reuben, Reuben is its
script. The suburbanites who inhabit the
region are little more than cardboard
cutouts. Conti takes pot shots at them
I 1 L
auu wc laugn.
Conti's character, however, is a real
one, and we are made to identify with his
isolation, his creative impotence, his ram
page through American culture. The
characters mafce us identify all the more
with Conti, and his viewpoint is what
gives the film its drive-and-emotion
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