Review of Before Night Falls (2000) by Jennifer A — 08 Jun 2008

[b]Palindromes[/b], directed by Todd Solondz, is an avant garde psycholgical drama about a girl named Aviva who wants nothing more than to have babies. Aviva, played by no less than eight actors, has little interest in sex, but willfully loses her virginity in hopes of becoming pregnant. When she does become pregnant, her mother Joyce (Ellen Barkin) insists on an abortion. The pregnancy is terminated but complications arise, rendering Aviva unable to have children in the future. Aviva is unaware of this, but still angry over the abortion so she runs away from home. She meets a variety of odd charcters with different beliefs before spending some time at the home of Mama Sunshine (Debra Monk), a fundamental Christian with a house full of unwanted children.

All I can say is damn you Todd Solondz for ruining what shoud have been a very provocative film. The story, albiet controversial, has loads of potential. However the film's biggest problem was the casting of eight different Avivas. Although this might be considered daring or experimental, it ultimately became very distracting, especially since the Aviva performances ranged from good to awful. Solondz actually cast a 40 year old Jennifer Jason Leigh as one of the Avivas. Instead of serious film about abortion, choices pro and con, or even an interesting satire,[i] Palindromes[/i] comes across as a self-indulgent mess.

[b]Bully[/b], directed by Larry Clark, is another sobering look at modern youth. Bobby (Nick Stahl) is a popular high school student with a psychotic edge and a penchant for violence. Bobby loves humiliating his best friend Marty (Brad Renfro), raping young women, and is just an all around asshole. Marty and girlfriend Lisa (Rachel Miner) decide that Bobby needs to die. The two concoct a plan with friends (played by Bijou Phillips, Michael Pitt, Kelli Garner, Leo Fitzpatrick and Daniel Franzese) to murder Bobby, but once the crime has been committed no one can keep quiet.

Once again Larry Clark creates another shocking film about today's youth, but it's less effective than [i]Kids[/i]. A better film following a similar theme was the 1980's [i]River's Edge[/i]. Many charges have been leveled against Clark for the excessive teen nudity, and he certainly makes himself an easy target. Do it once, and you can easily say it's cutting edge realism, but since he relies upon this in every film one can definitely argue he's crossed the line into explotation. The film may be shocking, but it's just not very good. The acting is for the most part subpar (Nick Stahl fares the best in his evil role) but trhe story is porrly written. Once again the similar [i]River's Edge [/i]is the better film.

[b]Before Night Falls[/b], directed by Julian Schnabel, chronicles the life of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. Played by Javier Bardem, the film follows Arenas form his rural, impoverished childhood to the university, where he begins to garner attention in the midst of Fidel Castro's revolution. In Castro's oppresive regime, anything considered subversive was outlawed, meaning most literature and art. Homosexuality was also outlawed, and Arenas was also gay, so he had two strikes against him. Arenas spends time in prison, but continues to write. Eventually in 1980 Arenas is allowed to leave Cuba, and he winds up in New York City where he later dies of AIDS. The film also features cameos from Johnny Depp and Sean Penn.

I waver on whether or not to recommend this film because although fascinating, it's terribly uneven. I felt that the story about the man as a writer was handled better than the story about his sexuality. Although we are shown Arenas having lots of sexual encounters, the film never really fully explores any serious relationships he has, which may reinforce negative stereotypes about gay men. I also felt that the film could have better incorporated the Cuban unrest. We see it only wen Arenas is threatened. Despite the films flaws, Javier Bardem gives a strong performance. It's not an easy film to watch, but some may find it rewarding.

[b]Hotel Rwanda[/b], directed by Terry George, explores the genocide which occured in Rwanda. Don Cheadle stars as Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager and succesful businessman. He is Hutu, and the extremist majority of the Hutus is set to extreminate the minority Tutsis, which is wife Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo) is a part of. As the violence escalates, all foreigners are flown out of the country, and Paul uses the hotel as a refuge for Tutsis. The cast also includes Nick Nolte and Joaquin Phoenix.

[i]Hotel Rwanda [/i]is an important film, albiet not quite as powerful as it could have been. One can make comparisons between Paul Rusesabagina and Oskar Schindler, but Terry George's film never reaches the level of Spielberg's [i]Schindler's List[/i]. That said Cheadle gives a strong performance and it's a very solid film.