Imagine structuring an entire feature-length movie around the constraints of existing symphonic scores and have to use them in their entirety.
That's the challenge filmmaker Richard Horian put upon himself when deciding to make "Williamstowne", a drama built around the musical works of British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The result, not surprisingly, is not so much a film but rather a technical exercise that, at 93 minutes, is in musical terms a dirge; in dramatic terms, it's a drudge. This indie effort essentially has no commercial value beyond the radius of its participants, their relatives and their teachers.
Using Williams' bristling and resplendent musical works -- "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis," "The Lark Ascending", "Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus" -- Horian has painstakingly constructed a drama around these full-bodied compositions.
Unfortunately, his scenario is so bathetic and so overpitched that one soon loses interest entirely. The story -- tucked, fitted and distended to meet the bars of the music -- is monotonously tedious. It centers on Sarah (Deni Delory), who died in 1850 but returns in spirit to visit her survivors on the 10th anniversary of her death.
It's kind of an "ectoplasmic" journey not unlike the "Topper" movies of years gone by. Unfortunately, these swoony visits are maudlin and not particularly touching, and the wide-gesturing, symbolic acting style favored by Horian reduces the "performances" to college-level, experimental session work. The same dramatic refrain is repeated over and over as Sarah descends into the lives of those who were once close to her.
While Horian must be commended for his diligence and careful superimposition of this quasi-drama upon some very rich and emotion-packed music, it comes across as a futile and loopy exercise in aesthetics. In the end, it's the type of innovation that one suspects would be a big hit among arts-council types in the Hudson Valley nattering about which production they'd recommend for an NEA grant.
Still, we applaud Horian for his taste in music and his perfectionism in getting this opus to fit in the required time signature and frame. However, the film might be retitled "Obsession".
WILLIAMSTOWNE
A film by Richard Horian
Credits: Producer-writer-director-cinematographer: Richard Horian; Makeup: Jan Cushing; Costumes: Eaves Brooks Co.; Music: Based on the works of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Cast: Sarah: Deni Delory; Jack: Richard Horian; Sarah's Mother: Lynn Britt; Sarah's Father: Brian Heath; Jack's Friends: Adisa Bankole, Tom White; Rebecca: Cheri Severns; Tom: Noah Bean. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 93 minutes.
That's the challenge filmmaker Richard Horian put upon himself when deciding to make "Williamstowne", a drama built around the musical works of British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The result, not surprisingly, is not so much a film but rather a technical exercise that, at 93 minutes, is in musical terms a dirge; in dramatic terms, it's a drudge. This indie effort essentially has no commercial value beyond the radius of its participants, their relatives and their teachers.
Using Williams' bristling and resplendent musical works -- "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis," "The Lark Ascending", "Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus" -- Horian has painstakingly constructed a drama around these full-bodied compositions.
Unfortunately, his scenario is so bathetic and so overpitched that one soon loses interest entirely. The story -- tucked, fitted and distended to meet the bars of the music -- is monotonously tedious. It centers on Sarah (Deni Delory), who died in 1850 but returns in spirit to visit her survivors on the 10th anniversary of her death.
It's kind of an "ectoplasmic" journey not unlike the "Topper" movies of years gone by. Unfortunately, these swoony visits are maudlin and not particularly touching, and the wide-gesturing, symbolic acting style favored by Horian reduces the "performances" to college-level, experimental session work. The same dramatic refrain is repeated over and over as Sarah descends into the lives of those who were once close to her.
While Horian must be commended for his diligence and careful superimposition of this quasi-drama upon some very rich and emotion-packed music, it comes across as a futile and loopy exercise in aesthetics. In the end, it's the type of innovation that one suspects would be a big hit among arts-council types in the Hudson Valley nattering about which production they'd recommend for an NEA grant.
Still, we applaud Horian for his taste in music and his perfectionism in getting this opus to fit in the required time signature and frame. However, the film might be retitled "Obsession".
WILLIAMSTOWNE
A film by Richard Horian
Credits: Producer-writer-director-cinematographer: Richard Horian; Makeup: Jan Cushing; Costumes: Eaves Brooks Co.; Music: Based on the works of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Cast: Sarah: Deni Delory; Jack: Richard Horian; Sarah's Mother: Lynn Britt; Sarah's Father: Brian Heath; Jack's Friends: Adisa Bankole, Tom White; Rebecca: Cheri Severns; Tom: Noah Bean. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 93 minutes.
- 11/10/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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