Page 8 DTH Omnibus
Thursday April 2, 1992
'Veronique' abstract yet thought-provoking
The Double Life
ofVeronique
Irene Jacob, Philippe Volter
directed by Krzyszlof Kielowski
Chelsea
968-3005
fhose of you who have been
weaned on a healthy diet of
horror movies and flimsy
Hollywood fluff and have a
pre-conceived notion of for
eign films to show for it may want to
steer clear of The Double Life of
Veronique, as (a) it's full of impossible
coincidences which ultimately go
unexplained, (b) its story is left com
pletely wide-open and unresolved, and
(c) it's visually vague and abstract. In
The Cutting Edge
D.B. Sweeny, Moira Kelly
directed by Paul Glaser
Plaza Mil
967-4737
oug (D.B. Sweeny), dumb
jock incarnate, can no longer
play hockey when he loses
some peripheral vision in the 1988
Olympics.
Kate (Moira Kelly), rich figure
skater, is too bitchy to keep a part
ner. As her Russian coach says of
the world-class skater, Before he
skate with her, he wear garlic at
neck and sleep with cross."
A match made in heaven, or at
least in Hollywood.
The Cutting Edge is movie with
two plots. One, an ex-hockey player
learning how to figure skate. This is
good for lots of yuks. Doug asks,
"You want my hands where ?" as the
camera shoots Kate's inner thighs.
To defeat the Unified Team,
the couple learns (read: Doug flings
her across the rink a lot) an impos
sibly complicated trick which turns
Kate into human numbchucks.
The other plot is opposites at
tracting. Despite Kate's Harvard
alum beau, you know she and Doug
will get together because when Kate
gives him a New Year's kiss on the
cheek, it's in slow mo.
The two plots come together as
he professes his love'ust before they
go on in the Olympics. She cries,
they almost miss their cue, they
decide to do the dangerous cen
trifugal force move after all, and at
the end, when they're frozen in the
dip position, she admits she loves
him too. They kiss. Aw.
And the sad thing is, I was root
ing for them on the ice.
Put me on the list to stop going
to see movies with amusing pre
views and bad-sounding concepts.
Mara Lee
NedDirlk
other words, it follows virtually every
unfortunate stereotype of the "for
eign movie," and ends up as thought
provoking as it is infuriating.
Directorwriter Krzystztof
Kielowski presents the lives of
Veronika and Veronique, two "differ
ent" women who were born on the
same day, and are both played by the
same actress, Irene Jacob. One lives
in France and the other in Poland,
but they are both talented singers
with similar lifestyles, and there is
clearly a deep metaphysical connec
tion between the two. Though they
never actually speak to each other,
each seems somehow aware of the
other's existence, and the film's most
meaningful moments come as they
explore the mutual sensation that they
are somehow not alone in this world.
The first part of the film concerns
the Polish Veronika, as she goes to
Krakow to stay with her aunt, wins an
audition to perform with an orchestra
and then dies in mid-performance
from an inherited heart condition.
This initial "act," which is dominated
by shadow and filmed with a purveyant
darkness, is forebodingly suggestive
of death; Veronika seems to exist on
the edge of a perpetual twilight, and
her death comes as no real surprise.
As the last bit of dirt is thrown on
Veronika's grave, the locale switches
to France, and the life ofVeronique,
B-ball comedy addresses social
White Men Can't Jump
Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes
directed by Ron Shelton
Ram Triple
967-8284
00
any directors have themes
that recur throughout
Urii their films Oliver
j II Stone and the '60s, John
f"!nrnpnrpr nnrl isnlarinn.
r - -
James Cameron and inner strength.
Relative newcomer Ron Shelton now
joins this impressive list with his fa
vorite topic, relationships and sports.
Shelton's latest film, White Men
Can't Jump, like its predecessor, Bull
Durham, focuses on a relatively ob
scure sport and a stormy romance.
The sport is high-stakes playground
basketball, and the romance is be
tween Billy (Woody Harrelson) and
Gloria (Rosie Perez).
The film opens with Billy Hoyle
arriving at the Venice Beach courts.
He challenges local hero Sidney Dean
(Wesley Snipes) to a game. Thinking
Bi lly is an average white player, Sidney
accepts and is shocked when Billy
wins. Sidney realizes that he's been
hustled. This gives. Sidney an idea.
who is inexplicably overcome by a
feeling of mourning at the moment of
her "twin's" death. She immediately
quits her singing lessons (as if learn
ing from Veronika's "mistakes"), only
to become embroiled in an obsessive
relationship with an elusive puppe
teer (Philippe Volter) which takes
her to Paris. Her search for him mir
rors her search for a true identity, and
as their relationship progresses, she
understands those feelings that she
has never been "alone," though no
explanation of the connection be
tween the two women is ever given.
The presence of the beautiful, vul
nerable Irene Jacob saturates the
screen with an emotional need, and
her performance is easily the high
light of the film.
Kielowski's directing is admirable
in its own right, however he films
in rich, amber tones, creating a world
perhaps a bit more akin to the realm
of the soul than our own. He's a direc
tor who likes to take chances; his
images either work (coming across as
sensitive, effective and profound) or
they don't (ending up blatant and
pretentious). The complete absence
of subtlety from his directorial style
leaves no middle ground. His bravery
in tackling a cerebral, metaphysical
theme with various cinematic tricks
can be commended, but sometimes it
only adds to the confusion.
An example of this is the death of
Veronika, as she hauntingly sings
before the orchestra. The initial scenes
of this sequence are among the most
beautiful in the film; the camera per
fectly captures the power of the event,
Mike Long
mm
Sidney approaches Billy with a pro
posal. Working together, they can
hustle playground players for a lot of
money. Here's the set-up: Sidney goes
on the court, runs his mouth, gets
everybody mad and then challenges
two guys to a two-on-two game, let
ting them pick his teammate. Billy
sits on a nearby bench looking like a
chump. Billy is picked to be Sidney's
teammate and they win.
This arrangement works perfectly
for Sidney, an out-of-work carpenter
with a family. Basketball hustling is
an easy way for him to make grocery
money. Things aren't so good for Billy.
Billy lives with his girlfriend Gloria
Clemente. They are both on the run
from the Stucci Brothers, to whom
they owe $8,000. Gloria is relying on
Billy hustling money while she waits
for her dream phone call from Alex
Trebek. She studies the almanac,
learning useless information like foods
that start with "Q," while Billy plays
ball. But Billy has a little problem. He
can't hold on to money for more than
five minutes without betting it on
something else.
.The film explores the lives of both
ryyiiiaiM W mt
Irene Jacob as Veronique ... or
the almost desperate intensity of the
voice singing out to an impending
doom. Suddenly, though, the camera
takes Veronika's point of view, as it
twists, turns and contorts wildly be
fore finally crashing down to a final
resting place on the floor. How em
barrassing it would be, to share the
private moment of death with thou
sands of people! Though it's a coura
geous attempt, this cuts through the
poignancy like a butcher knife.
This is a film of such images, how
ever, and if Kielowski didn't take his
chances, some of the film's most beau
tiful images wouldn't have been pos
sible. The haunting puppet show of a
men and raises some serious social
issues. Writerdirector Shelton is
making a definite statement about
the connection of money and happi
ness. After they win a big tourna
ment, Sidney and his wife celebrate
and seem happy. But after they are
robbed and brought back to reality,
the short-lived joy that money brings
becomes apparent. Gloria sticks with
Billy even though he can't hold onto
a dollar, but after they strike it rich,
she leaves him. Shelton's message is
that love is stronger than money.
The topic of racism is also touched
on. Billy's basketball abilities are
looked down upon simply because he
is white. This helps the scheme work.
That the three main players are white,
black and Hispanic makes a state
ment about different races living and
working together. Although the races
constantly interact in the film, no
racial tensionis shown. In that sense,
the film operates in a dream world.
But the whole movie isn't a lecture
on romance and legal tender. The
film is quite funny in some places,
especially the first scene where we
meet Sidney, Billy and Junior
(Kadeem Hardison), Sidney's side
kick. Hard ison's cameo supplies some
of the best lines of the film ("I told
your momma to act her age and the
bitch dropped dead.")
The leads all do fine jobs.. It's sur
is it Veronika ... or is it Felix?
ballerina who breaks her leg and turns
into a butterfly; Veronika stumbling
through a downpour, pursued by a
dreadful, nameless fear that only she
can perceive; Veronique's dreamy
vision of her dying "twin" all are
stunning images, and they bring the
metaphysical message, not easily re
produced, successfully to the screen.
This film is not easy to understand ,
and the mystery is at times too much
Kielowski creates an excessive
number of similarities between the
two, and doesn't explain them. Still,
the film has too many good qualities
to ignore; it will linger on in your
mind for some time after you see it.
concerns
prising that after playing Cheers' stu
pid Woody that Harrelson would take
a role as someone who wasn't totally
competent. But Woody isn't playing
Woody here. Billy is confident in his
basketball skills and his love skills; he
just can't handle money. Wesley
Snipesshines in his multi-faceted role
of the devoted husbandbasketball
hero. Snipes has true movie-star po
tential which shows here.
While some may see White Men
Can't Jump as a companion piece for
Bull Durham, it surpasses Shelton's
earlier effort. It handles more impor
tant topics and the characters are
more down to earth. Whereas the
baseball scenes in Bull Durham were
more or less filler, the basketball scenes
in White Men are impressively cho
reographed and exciting.
The film has its shortcomings, but
at this time of year when people are
taking organized basketball far too
seriously, this movie is a nice change
of pace.
wait for the video
go to Hie dollar theater
only pay matinee price
pay full price
take your sister, too
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