SIN Entertainment 'The Portrait Of A Lady" Everyone Says I Love You is set in New York City and features a diverse ensemble cast, includ- or anyone at all familiar with ing Alan Alda, Goldie Hawn, Ju- the work of Woody Allen, it lia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, should not come as a total Edward Norton (from The Peo- surprise that his latest film ple Vs. Larry Flynt), Itzhak Perl- is a musical. Music has man and, of course, Allen always played a promi- himself. While stalwarts MOVIES nent role in Woody's like Alda and Hawn fit films, affecting the mood naturally within Woody's and meaning of a given scene as neurotic universe, even more much as the actors, lighting and satisfying is Allen's knack for location. Given his past utiliza- coaxing engaging performances tion of tunes by George Gersh- out of ordinary talent. For ex- win, Cole Porter and Louis ample, in the abstract, it is dif- Armstrong and his recent use of ficult to imagine Drew a chorus to reflect and fore- Barrymore blending into the shadow in Mighty Aphrodite, Woody Allen nervous operandi; Everyone Says I Love You real- but, surprisingly, Barrymore ly is the logical next chapter for comes across more lovely and Woody's collective body of work. likable than ever before. The As with most of Woody's films, same can be said for Julia Roberts. And Woody? He's, well, Richard Halprin practices law Woody, more likable than love- when he isn't watching movies. ly. PH OTO BY JOHN CLIFFORD Rated R But enough with the opening accolades. What is this musical about? In a nutshell, passion, fi- delity, morality and mortality. In other words, the same issues that Woody Allen ponders in all of his films. And, alas, therein lies the problem. Twenty years ago, Woody's bumbling misfit had an endearing quality that women found cute and men could either relate to or laugh at. These days, Woody is on the up- per rungs of middle age and that same inept character doesn't seem quite as amusing as before, more pathetic than sympathet- ic. That is not to say that the film lacks humor overall, and some of the funniest sequences do involve Allen using the world as a banana peel. But at the same time you can't help wish the Woody Allen persona would show a little personal growth. So, is Woody Allen, the film- maker, in a rut? Infidels would argue that he has been in a rut for his entire 26-film career, with nothing new to say and so he's singing it instead. For those who feel like Woody is akin to a fam- ily member who visits once a year or so, Everyone Says I Love You is funny business as usu- al. , (t Q) * — Richard Halprin *Woody loses a half bagel for singing and for asking us to be- lieve that he and Julia Roberts could be lovers. Icky! Drew Barrymore and Ed Norton are in tune in Everyone Says I Love You. In lieu of interior monologues which are central to the novel, Campion makes liberal use of as Isabel Archer this trag- double images, grainy slow-mo- ic of a heroine in Henry tion shots and freeze-frames of James' The Portrait of a Isab.ers face or the swishing hem Lady? Jamesian scholars of her dress as she runs away have apparently taken umbrage from yet another marriage pro- at this portrayal of a single Amer- posal — devices that draw us al- ican girl abroad who becomes most violently inside the heir to her uncle's fortune, be- character's psyche. She drops one lieving it a feminist subversion montage in the middle of the of the novel's true inten- film, before Isabel finally tions. marries, in which a frown- MOVIES But contemporary ing young woman rides a audiences might feel more • camel near the pyramids comfortable with this Isabel with the woman (Barbara Her- Archer, who has a lot more com- shey) who inadvertently becomes plexity and resonance than the her nemesis. World travel is not original. Director Jane Campi- all it's cracked up to be? Isabel on's stark intepretation turns Is- only wants to be in the arms of the man she loves? Perhaps the latter. Portrait opens with the voices of women chatting about the intimacy and the beauty of a kiss, and then lights on images of young mod- ern women dancing, braiding each other's hair and lying beat- ifically in the grass. Campion right away draws the parallel be- tween their innocence and pas- sion and Isabel's, showing us hers is no ordinary adaptation of a 19th-century literary work. Indeed, early on in the film, af- ter rejecting her first suitor, Is- abel fantasizes about three men caressing and kissing her in her bed. She later marries Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich), a Svengali who lures her into mat- rimony with a kiss. Even after he hits her and her tears soak her cheeks, there is a frisson of sex- Nicole Kidman in Jane Campion's The ual passion as she passes him on Portrait of a Lady. her way out the door. But much about Isabel's ac- abel (Nicole Kidman) from an tions are left to the viewer to openhearted sophisticate to a judge. Like any finely drawn por- full-bodied human being—frag- trait, what lies behind the face is ile, callous, coquettish, loving, a glorious mystery. worldly — rebelling against so- cietal conventions while she searches for her own soul. This — Julie Edgar version concerns itself with the desires of women, and the con- current punishment they endure to fulfill them. As in the Oscar-winning The Piano, Campion's last portrayal of a woman's journey of self-dis- covery, Portrait is shot in darkly sensuous hues that heighten the tension and add a compelling lush- ness to the landscape. The story is set in England and Italy, where the visual murkiness is caused by either incessant rain or the baro- queness of decaying splendor. Rated PG-13 W PHOTO BY JUERGEN TELLER 'Everyone Says I Love You' ® 00 The fact that she's on a pilot- less plane with a storm brewing outside is an additional source of discomfort. Flying instructions via the radio of pilot Sam Bow- den (Ben Cross) prove the sole glimmer of hope amidst the Weaver-wrought chaos. As he demonstrated several years ago in Scorcese's Goodfel- las , Ray Liotta has a knack for the thee-guy killer role. In Tur- bulence, he emphasizes both — but primarily the latter — ex- tremes as a very energized and impressively loud individual, and without a doubt, the thriller's most striking moments occur when he pushes Weaver's insan- ity to the forefront. Lauren Hol- ly is up to the action, and looks good even with gore smeared all over her face. Ultimately, it's not the crew but engine failure that proves the film's weakness. The all-out adrenaline pumping madness upon which Turbulence thrives shows up in sporadic spurts and peters out sans a suitable climax. In other words, cabin pressure is lost just a bit too quickly. And since this flight doesn't even include frequent-flyer miles, there's probably a better bargain for your money. 0 Q) —Dan Zimmerman Bagel Barometer Outstanding Very Good Q) Good Fair Julie Edgar is senior writer at The Jewish News.