Mascara

Mascara is one of those vanity projects which look and sound good on paper, a movie to be written and directed by a woman, starring three talented women which will explore the trials and tribulations of women...well you get my drift.

Anyway this is a story about three women and the lives they lead and how it affects their family and you know, this is pretty standard, paint by numbers kind of stuff which Ms. Kandell doesn't leave too much new interpretation for.

The most that can said about this venture is that it was shot well but the queasy obviousness of the handheld, 'let me be of the moment' shot compositions torpedoed this overwrought affair even before the credits rolled out.

The songs on the soundtrack had that god awful stench of leftover material that Eric Schaeffer, star, writer, and director Fall, (which Amanda De Cadanet was the lead in), decided to leave on the cutting room floor.

Am I stretching here? Probably but at least I'm admitting it and not pushing it on late night cable viewers in the form of this wispy enterprise.

That is not an understatement. I have seen bad movies, but this one takes the cake. I was stationed in India, it was a rainy Sunday afternoon and I was craving anything in English. This movie was on Z-MGM. I decided to give it a try. That was my first mistake.

My second mistake was not turning it off after the first 5 minutes. Whne If I wasn't yelling at the TV, I was sleeping in front of it during this snooze fest. It's movies like this that hinder the feminist movement. I would rather be kicked in testes than watch this movie: Both are painful, but I'll have fonder memories of getting kicked squaw in the nads than watching this piece of estrogen laden garbage.

There weren't many of us in the theatre to begin with (late Monday night on Sunset), but about half of those in attendance walked out before the finish. It was very aimless and character development was non-existent. Visually, in my opinion, there were some merits but that was primarily because I have just moved to LA and I was trying to pinpoint the locations of many of the scenes. Also, some nice footage during their trip up the coast and in San Francisco.

Overall though - it was pretty empty. Save your money.

This small scale film is worth seeing for Ione Skye fans. I've had a crush on her ever since SAY ANYTHING and I can't get enough of her. She's great but the film is a little slow. Worth renting but just fast forward thru the parts she's not in if the story doesn't grab you. She does have a topless scene so for the guys that is reason enough to rent it.