Spoilers herein.
I make a hobby of films that are folded, self-referential, self-ware, about films. Many of these are intelligent, a few life-altering. Either way, we have an absolute flood of films of this type.
So it is no surprise that some of them are not just failed experiments, but films that lack any sort of intellectual life, the life one usually associates with self-reference.
The device is simple: a film about making films; a collection of synthetic characters who support the creation of a synthetic character; a filmmakers project about a filmmaker's project. This type of construction can be rich; `Heavenly Creatures' is one that I have recently seen that is among the best. But we are hampered by a few things here: this filmmaker is talentless, Pacino is continuing his long slide into uselessness, and the story itself is as flat as they come: a watered down `Parent Trap.'
Pacino's Prospero does what Greenaway's does with the simultaneous voices, but the similarity stops there. See `Prospero's Books' instead.
Another film that does this same folding in spades and works: `Full Frontal,' of the same year which incidentally also features Catherine Keener as the lost wife, attracted by the screw of the film person. In both projects, she returns to a folded happiness. But in `Frontal,' she glistens with intelligence and risk. Here, she takes her place with the other cardboard figures.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 4: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
I make a hobby of films that are folded, self-referential, self-ware, about films. Many of these are intelligent, a few life-altering. Either way, we have an absolute flood of films of this type.
So it is no surprise that some of them are not just failed experiments, but films that lack any sort of intellectual life, the life one usually associates with self-reference.
The device is simple: a film about making films; a collection of synthetic characters who support the creation of a synthetic character; a filmmakers project about a filmmaker's project. This type of construction can be rich; `Heavenly Creatures' is one that I have recently seen that is among the best. But we are hampered by a few things here: this filmmaker is talentless, Pacino is continuing his long slide into uselessness, and the story itself is as flat as they come: a watered down `Parent Trap.'
Pacino's Prospero does what Greenaway's does with the simultaneous voices, but the similarity stops there. See `Prospero's Books' instead.
Another film that does this same folding in spades and works: `Full Frontal,' of the same year which incidentally also features Catherine Keener as the lost wife, attracted by the screw of the film person. In both projects, she returns to a folded happiness. But in `Frontal,' she glistens with intelligence and risk. Here, she takes her place with the other cardboard figures.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 4: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.