Film Review: PAST MIDNIGHT (1991, Jan Eliasberg)

Stars: 3.5 of 5.
Running Time: 100 minutes.
Tag-line: "Past Passion. Past Terror. Past Murder. Past Midnight."
Notable Cast or Crew: Rutger Hauer, Natasha Richardson, Clancy Brown (HIGHLANDER, BLUE STEEL, EXTREME PREJUDICE), Paul Giamatti, Tom Wright (EXTERMINATOR 2, THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET), Guy Boyd (FLASHPOINT, THE EWOK ADVENTURE: CARAVAN OF COURAGE). Written by Frank Norwood (DRIVEN TO KILL, THE SURVIVAL OF DANA). Script doctoring by Quentin Tarantino. Music by Steve Bartek (CABIN BOY, SNOW DAY, former member of Strawberry Alarm Clock and Oingo Boingo).
Best exchange: "146 I.Q...." –"Ted Bundy had 150."

Before I even begin, three things: PAST MIDNIGHT is far better than it has any right to be. Second, I'd heard this described as a wanna-be Eszterhas, when, in fact- it's wanna-be De Palma. There's a big difference. Third, Quentin Tarantino did do a rewrite of the script, which gained him that nebulous "associate producer" credit, and yes, you can tell. More on that in a bit.

The main thrust is that Rutger Hauer has been released from prison after fifteen years for the murder of his wife and unborn child- a crime which he claims not to have committed. (And he's Rutger Hauer, so he's pretty persuasive.)

Natasha Richardson becomes his social worker and then a little bit more than his social worker, and breaks the fragile heart of Clancy Brown in the process.

But the thought continues to gnaw at the back of her mind...what if he did do it?

Now, to me, this sounds a lot like De Palma did a TV movie remake of IN A LONELY PLACE, and it was indeed the only theatrical foray by television director-for-hire Jan Eliasberg (CAGNEY & LACEY, L.A. LAW, SISTERS, EARLY EDITION, PARTY OF FIVE, et al.). The surprising thing is that it works. Well, at least until the third act. Some of you might be attributing this to the Tarantino rewrite, but I've gotta say most of the commendations belong to the actors and composer Steve Bartek. Tarantino does bring a certain degree of idiosyncratic dialogue to the table, and while it's immediately identifiable as Tarantino's, it doesn't quite qualify as razor-edged or quotable, per sé.

For example:
"Maybe Jordan isn't a natural born killer."
"I'm not a sex maniac! I'm not some Son-of-Sam asshole!"
"It makes Nightmare on Elm Street look like Charlotte's Web."
"What's the difference between a whore and a bitch? A whore'll sleep with anybody, and a bitch'll sleep with anybody but me."
"If we were to have this kind of an exchange in the joint, one of us would end up with a shank between the ribs."
"You can say 'maybe' all goddamn day, and I don't think you believe that."

Composer Steve Bartek's music is great- it's melodramatic, over-the-top, and punctuated with enough frightening strings to be worthy of Bernard Herrmann (or at least Pino Donaggio). One of the more bombastic, overdramatic scores of the 1990's for sure, and I've always said that anything which nearly approximates Max Steiner, even bad Max Steiner, maybe especially bad Max Steiner, is worth a few points in my book.

The acting is top-notch. Rutger Hauer is, as always, phenomenal. The entire movie hinges upon his ability to appear as 'the killer' and 'not the killer' at the same time- and by gum, does he pull it off.


There's a terrifying ambiguity to everything that he does, and in more than one scene, he tugs on the heart-strings while simultaneously creeping you the fuck out. He even gets to do a ridiculous (intentional? unintentional?) replay of the "tears in rain" scene from BLADE RUNNER, which makes this feel almost like a Rutger Hauer's Greatest Hits compilation, with bits and pieces taken from the Ridley Scott, the psycho in THE HITCHER, and the love triangle from A BREED APART.



Tears in rain

At one point, he's referred to as "white trash," which is, of course, a bit of a stretch, but he wears enough turtlenecks throughout to maintain his intellectual integrity.

Then we've got Clancy Brown, camping outside Richardson's house and watching the new lovers from his fishing boat with a mixture of jealousy and disdain.


He gets to wear some hideous early 90's cravats as well,

but that doesn't prevent us from liking him just the same.

Stuck in the middle is Natasha Richardson, who besides being caught in a love triangle with two of the best action hero/villains of the 1980's, has the difficult task of holding her own against a flashily-written and acted Hauer role. Naturally, she succeeds, and, in the end, does it with shotgun-blastin' panache.

But who are we supposed to be rooting for here? Clancy Brown or Rutger Hauer? This is like SOPHIE's choice. This is asking me to choose between children.

The Kurgan or Roy Batty? EXTREME PREJUDICE or WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE? This is sadistic, the way that you're toying with my emotions, PAST MIDNIGHT.

The lush, fog-enshrouded, overcast, and isolated Pacific Northwestern locations fit the material well, and on more than one occasion, there's palpable suspense.

There are some nice bits that are reminiscent of the best giallos, and a recurring device which involves a killer using a 16mm camera

which recalls Dario Argento's "black-gloved murderer POV" as well as the camera-spike killer from PEEPING TOM. We've got a solid enough early 90's thriller with enough faux-De Palma (never thought I'd say that) street cred and solid performances to make it enjoyable, but it severely bungles the ending, going for some boneheaded, 'Gotcha!,' clichéd action. Ordinarily, I'd be okay with that, but I think that it actually earned some complexity points along the way. It could have ended as a slowly racheted, chilling character study, and, given the caliber of actor, I would've been more than satisfied. Regardless: three and a half stars.

-Sean Gill

Film Review: GOTHIC (1986, Ken Russell)

Stars: 4 of 5.
Running Time: 87 minutes.
Tag-line: "Conjure up your deepest, darkest fear... now call that fear to life."
Notable Cast or Crew: Gabriel Byrne (THE USUAL SUSPECTS, EXCALIBUR), Natasha Richardson (PATTY HEARST, THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS), Julian Sands (NAKED LUNCH, BOXING HELENA), Miriam Cyr (SPECIES II, I SHOT ANDY WARHOL), Timothy Spall (WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART; SECRETS & LIES), Kristine Landon-Smith (a playwright, and a mime in LIFEFORCE). Cinematography by Mike Southon (LITTLE MAN TATE, MXP- MOST XTREME PRIMATE). Music by Thomas Dolby (HOWARD THE DUCK, ROCKULA). Production design by Christopher Hobbs (ARIA, THE NEON BIBLE).
Best one-liner: "And here I thought you that contradiction in terms: an intelligent woman!"

Somewhere in a darkened alleyway, populated by men in trench coats and festering piles of garbage:

"Pssst– hey buddy. You like train wrecks?"
–"Watcha got?"
"Got a couple'a lesser De Palmas, some Alex Cox, a few Doris Wishmans, I even got STEEL, with Shaquille O'Neal."
–"Eh, maybe something more high-brow."
"Are you kidding me, man? De Palma ain't high-brow enuff for ya? Have you seen MISSION TO MARS?"
–"Look, I gotta go. I really can't be seen here."
"Hey- not so fast- I got somethin' for ya- check it out, jack- some Bava."
–"Which one?"
"Lamberto."
–"I gotta go."
"N-n-no- wait! I got some second-tier Nic Roegs."
–"I said, no thanks."
"Hold it right there! I've got the ticket– Ken Russell. Feast your eyes on GOTHIC..."



–"Hmmm. Now that looks intriguing."
"Shit yes, it looks intriguing. You like Mary Shelley? FRANKENSTEIN? Lord Byron? Speculative historical fiction?"
–"That's what this movie is about? I mean, I guess I'm in the mood for something high-brow, but it sounds a touch stuffy."
"Eh, put that out of your mind for a segundo. Lemme rephrase those questions. You like gory, sexualized Christian imagery? You like maggots? You like fish flapping around in empty birdbaths, goats at the top of the stairs, barking dogs, muddy skulls, symmetrical compositions, and lots and lots of SNAKES?"
–"Now you're talkin' my language! But how does Lord Byron play into this?"
"Forget that Romantic poetry shit. THIS Lord Byron's the sleazemastah-general. Dude was a total fiend. Satanism, hallucinogenic drugs, beatin' the shit out of people who gave him lip. Ladies, even. Especially ladies."
–"I believe those were merely salacious rumors circulated by the jealousy-stricken Lady Caroline Lamb."
"No way. Dude was a dick. His friends show up at his mansion, and he's all like 'That you should follow me one thousand miles says something about you... and something about ME.'

He even had a lewd Turkish belly-dancing robot-mannequin, if you can wrap your head around that."

–"Oh, wow. This sounds pretty good."
"And it is. It's just sorta unfocused. A good example is the cacophonous soundtrack, by Thomas Dolby. Imagine Aaron Copeland's RODEO battling Modest Mussorgsky's NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN in an 80's big-time wrestling ring."
–"Hot damn!"
"Oh, but you ain't seen nothin' yet. It takes the whole 'haunted mansion' thing and runs with it. Like THE OLD DARK HOUSE meets HAUSU in a Rembrandt painting or somethin'.




Nonstop insanity. Byron's estate is like a psychotic's idea of a funhouse- labyrinthine, canted hallways; knights in shining armour- covered in snakes!; drugs and dildos and rats and fire and lightning and night terrors and blood-drinking and boobs with eyeballs for nipples and stigmata and seizures–"
–"Wait, I'm gonna be having seizures?"
"Well, no, not you– well, probably not you."
–"Uh-huh."
"Well, allow me to paraphrase Bill Macy in HOMICIDE: 'It's better than an aquarium- there's somethin' happenin' every minute.'"
–"Alright. Sold. Sign me up."
"Good, good."
–"But this is the last time."
"Oh, yeah, I'm sure."
–"No, I'm serious."
"Well, the next time you need a Weng Weng flick or a Golan-Globus that never made it to DVD, somehow I think you'll still know where to find me..."
–"Yeh, yeh... "

Film Review: PATTY HEARST (1988, Paul Schrader)

Stars: 4.5 of 5.
Running Time: 108 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Natasha Richardson, William Forsythe, Ving Rhames, Dana Delany (LIGHT SLEEPER, TOMBSTONE), Frances Fisher (UNFORGIVEN, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN), Jodi Long (THE EXORCIST III, ROBOCOP 3).
Tag-lines: "Heiress... kidnap victim... turned urban terrorist... bank robber ."
Best one-liner: "It's just like pigs to glorify a mouse."

Yet another extraordinary biopic from writer/director Paul Schrader, whose biographical output includes MISHIMA, AUTO FOCUS, the screenplay for RAGING BULL, and, to some extent, his screenplays for THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST and BRINGING OUT THE DEAD. Schrader's biopics stand alone, in my mind, as he not only epically and completely immerses you into his subject's lives, but also into their very minds. And despite this complete immersion, he also manages to involve you in HIS mind, HIS thought processes. His narratives unfold with at once the simple asceticism of Bresson and the slam-pop-bang mise-en-scene of Scorsese. Yet there's a sense of claustrophobia to all of this as well; almost an imprisonment, and indeed, almost all of Schrader's films end with a psychological or literal incarceration- and PATTY HEARST is no exception.

Her first confinement is brilliantly illustrated- you can almost feel the heat of the sun baking down on the California rathole that is Symbionese Liberaton Army headquarters, even as we, like Patty, are cramped, constricted, and entrenched in darkness.

Her eventual coercion, collaboration, and arrest are just natural steps along the path wrought by her initial trauma, seemingly par for the tragic course. Natasha Richardson (RIP) is terrific as Patty; she is our gateway into the film, and indeed into the mind of Patricia Hearst herself.

Bill Forsythe showcases his abilities as a powerful chameleon, as at ease here as a self-loathing white revolutionary as he is as the nerdy buddy in CLOAK AND DAGGER or as the government flunky in THE ROCK. He's one of Americas greatest underrated working actors. Ving Rhames, as always, is robust and frequently terrifying as the commanding leader of the SLA- until, that is, you realize there's no wind in his sails- only the rotely memorized cliches of revolutionaries past. A top-notch examination of one of Americas most notorious pariahs, and a criminally unavailable American classic.

-Sean Gill