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Reviews
The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000)
Jennifer Love Hewitt answers her critics
I was pleasantly surprised, if not amazed, by Jennifer Love Hewitt's performance in "The Audrey Hepburn Story." Her detractors have been carping for months about how she possessed neither the physique nor the talent to effectively portray the cinematic icon. I'm happy to say they were wrong.
Hewitt wisely chose not to impersonate Ms. Hepburn, per se, but rather convey a suggestion of the look, mannerisms, and presence that made her so endearing.
The 21-year-old teen queen undergoes a remarkable transformation in the film, so effective that despite the enormous narrative gaps in Marsha Norman's script, I soon forgot that I was watching Jennifer Love Hewitt portray Audrey Hepburn and believed that I was watching Audrey Hepburn.
As a film critic, I have suffered through Hewitt's previous performances in drivel such as the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" films, but I think "The Audrey Hepburn Story" has finally given us an indication of the enormous potential she has, and truly marks her arrival as an actor.
No, Hewitt wasn't quite able to maintain the illusion seamlessly throughout the film; as a 21-year-old who has apparently led a rather sheltered life, she had no possible frame of reference to draw upon to convey some of the more difficult passages in the actress' life.
But what Hewitt does succeed in doing is capturing the PRESENCE of Audrey Hepburn, not with Movie-of-the-Week histrionics but with subtle moments, such as the one in which she finally wins over the bile-spewing Truman Capote on the set of "Breakfast at Tiffany's."
The film as a whole is less impressive. It ends at the filming of "Tiffany's" -- the midway point of Hepburn's career -- and only tells half the story of her remarkable life.
I was also a bit bewildered by the casting of Eric McCormack as Mel Ferrer. McCormack is a fine comedic actor with a great sense of irony and timing, but he comes across as far too young and earnest as Ferrer -- who was a good ten years older than Hepburn and arrived with four children of his own, a fact not even addressed in the film. The "Will and Grace" star conveys none of the oily charm Ferrer has displayed in his wildly uneven film career, and emerges as a stalwart, monochromatic cheerleader for Hepburn, giving us not even a hint of Ferrer's enigmatic presence that left millions asking "Is she really going out with HIM"?
So the film's not perfect. It won't go down in the annals of television history alongside "Lonesome Dove" or "Rich Man, Poor Man," but when it is rebroadcast or released on video, it is worth seeing for one startling revelation -- Jennifer Love Hewitt's performance.
Fearless (1993)
One of the best films of the 1990's
WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD
I see this film once about every six months, simply to remind myself that I am still alive when the ***t really hits the fan, so to speak.
"Fearless" is one of those rare films that has relevance to everyone who has seen it (unfortunately, that's not many). Peter Weir ("Dead Poets Society," "Picnic at Hanging Rock," et al.) has crafted a beautiful, haunting, and inescapable examination of what happens when an ordinary person stares Death in the face, and emerges victorious.
Jeff Bridges (in the performance of a lifetime, which should have won him an Oscar) plays Max Klein, a cosmetically happy San Francisco architect who survives a plane crash which claims the lives of over 100 people, including his best friend.
In the aftermath, Max adopts an almost fatalistic state of mind; having cheated death once, he feels himself to be invincible.
What transpires after this is patently indescribable, but suffice it to say that Bridges heartbreakingly conveys a subtle, wounded megalomania after this tragic event, establishing a touching rapport with the mother of a child who died in the crash (Oscar-nominated Rosie Perez) while his connection with his son and wife (Isabella Rosselini, never better) grows ever more slight.
This film is deeply personal to me, as my father is a recent cancer survivor and I, myself, narrowly escaped an attempted murder along with two of my friends.
"Fearless" is a remarkable film -- not only in that it tries to establish an order, and purpose, in the seeming randomness of events, but in that it also underlines what a fragile condition humanity is; how a life can be saved, or lost, in a single moment.
For those who have some perspective on brushes with death, "Fearless" is a poignant examination of how we deal with it. For those who don't, it's a poignant examination of how to deal with those who have.
For those who don't care, it's still one heck of a good movie. Treat yourself to the best film of 1993 -- one that blows "Schindler's List" out of the water.