FILM PREVIEW
MEDICAL NIGHTMARE
Allergic reaction ‘
A disturbing take on environmental sickness. Todd Haynes‘s second feature. Sit/k2, is a quantum leap forward for the writer-director. Trevor Johnston gives a positive diagnosis.
'l‘imely in its subject ltlatter. chilling in its \_ \ _ conception. courageously assured in its form. 'l‘odd ' e i '
llaynes‘s new film Sit/c might just be one of the key a t .-\merican movies of the decade. Sorry to be so blunt i . his“
about it. btlt there are times when evangelical fervour l s ‘ v . i .+ i
sci/es even the most jaded critics. Safe: ‘might just be one of the key American movies of the decade’ l9?" “‘“V‘C‘ g“ “ml” .lel' 3km hkc "‘15 “n93 ” 5 1‘ - audience identification went.‘ he explains, rather Several colllmelltators have pointed out that the film ii” lWm.5“"‘“mi‘blfc‘PWC'WC ‘0 Wald] "WWW ; disconceltingly speaking from beneath a spiky Bay i could be seen as a metaphor for the AIDS epidemic. ( “mmm‘m h‘mwmlc “mam” MW)” Succumb ‘0 1‘ g (‘in Rollers haircut that indicates his current ‘Necdless to say. the film wouldn't have existed
lily-“WY Cilill'O'lmCmill mm“ mm ihrim'h hm hm." ' immersion ill research for a forthcoming project on without AIDS. because I wouldn't have cared so
ml” “mm” “Ml lhc “WM im’lmd hcr- Bl" MW” 7()s glam rock. ‘\\"hat kind of identification can we much about the issues.‘ llavncs agrees. ‘.-\ltllotlgh l HikmU‘ l‘ml‘CS ‘hls (“591150 ' Whld‘ may or mu." “m I expect to make ill a character with no identity.’ This have to say that I didn‘t waitt to make a film L CNN “my l” h” l'l‘il‘c—‘lml‘lim ' and “Xil'llinc‘ "‘0 is a woman who has very little sense of who she is. specificava about AIDS. the material ill Sit/i" that‘s (“hmihmfl NC“ «Mic lliCi‘iiliiC-h' 5"“ *CCkS 0‘” I“ bring l and she‘s suffering a condition that brings everything most rung-specific is the New Age therapies llCl‘C'li “Wk “'l“ L‘ill‘ilil‘l'lulll- hL' "*5 mill—"l " in her life iltto question. We know so little about this Julianne‘s character seeks out. because terminally ill
ilUL'WW“ “11” El” 1“ “W “512‘ WW 0‘ “l” 0““ ‘de'lY-e kind of ailment. that the people who have it can't AIDS and cancer patients are very drawn to those
If “C Cilii‘i m i” ii “h “‘0 liiihiCh “l 0‘” C"C".V(l11." even be sure that they‘re rcall_\‘ sick. treatments. Slii'iUl‘iiilliiflh- “W” “h” 11” “'01) Wiihiilii 21 lifestyle. 'l first came across what was called “20th ('cnttu')‘ ‘lt‘s line to eat macrobiotic food and do voga, btlt ii” “C l'iii U11 lift“? Disease" on a 'l‘\' news ltlagazine show. where there - it's the jargon from these people that really gets me. (“my [hung “mm” Rum) in“) R”! [‘(mwm and “1'5 i' WW)” 0” l‘CUl‘lC “lime lmml'm‘ SNW'HS had the attitude that you're sick because \otl didn't love Belgian minimalist (‘bantal ,‘\i\'Cl'lll(1ll‘S Jeanne but" pcmmnw”) dalmguj by exposure {0 mt, ; WWW”; and if (H, am with W“ m y'mc WWW“- D’IV/WI” 1‘5 l‘lilllc “‘HUKT'WCY llilynfl hi” ill-I'lwd ill ii petrochemical process all around tls. and who faced a {hen “up” kick it. That I” mg.“ “ml und'whwcnc‘ int—ml." “WWII” “.VIL' '0" “‘9 till“ mi“ i’C-‘i-‘ih' 3 future dominated by complete and obsessive isolation , and it um mc w mm”. I had m make H mm “hm” ".- unnccessary close-ups. slows the pace down and adds ht in; in [In-co ptnctto huhhlc\' in the dost-yr [t was : ‘ ‘ ' a brooding. atmospheric score by lid 'I‘omney. like there was no way out. and of course that was ! Sit/c ripe/Ix (I! [he (i/(lsgmt l-l/nl 'I'llr'rm'r' (HUI ‘I wanted to push the envelope otlt so far as something I could relate to.' 3 lit/inbui‘g/l l-‘l/m/must' m1 l’ri 2f).
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i concentrated on Richard’s murderous 1 Shakespeare agreed with the SHAKESPEARE l y - ‘ rise to the throne. in polish his craft ? contemporary view that, if anyone had P I . g .» i i ‘ ' . .. r before the camera, the actor took on a l a physieat deformity, it was an
. semis 0' small Paris in films ranging outward manifestation of an inward from The Shadewio Six Degrees 0' evil, which is a terrible thing to say,’ seflafaiiaflr says McKellen of the hunchback king. Most actors, after a successful stage flight after night on stage, then only rant when you get into the text, you performance, would like to capture one shot for the big screen. Even now find the opposite is true of Richard: he their work on film for posterity. For Sir McKellen’s not sure how he feels hehayes as he does because of other Ian McKellen, his desire to turn the ‘ about putting one of theatre’s greatest people’s reactions to the way he National Theatre rendition of villains back into the wardrobe. It is, ! tooksj Shakespeare’s Richard III into a movie ' however. a commanding PWiOfliiaflce McKellen also stresses that Richard ended up consuming over five years of that's ably batiked by a biilliafli Loncraine’s film, which sets the play his life. supporting cast who have been 7 in England of the 1930s, isn’t simply Richard Eyre’s stage production first
took to the boards in the early 905, ‘_ ‘ . and found itself in Los Angeles some 9
expertly Chose" — the use 0' dressing the themes in fascist Americans Annette Bening and Robert onitonns, Where's as moon Soviet “Wiley Jr as Queen Elizabeth and Earl iconography in the movie as fascistic,’ 300 performances later. During this Rivers underlines the sense that, to he argues, iniehant doesn’t have any time, McKellen had been trimming some eyes, their family is an potitios, |trs ahoot dictatorship, a lost away at the text, writing a tight ' _ O. ._ ‘ unwelcome intrusion into British court for power, and the reasons why he has screenplay that dispensed with the ; circles. that lost) (Atan Morrison) ialky POIiiical P3833995 and l Richard III: ‘commanding performance’ I ‘Some academics argue that Richard I” opens on m 25 4,”, J
20 The List 1‘) Apr-2 May I996