June 2005
Deep and Meaningful
These latest releases will give you plenty to think about
LAWS OF ATTRACTION***
Though June is purported to be when the most couples decide to tie the knot in holy matrimony, this month a romantic comedy about the trials and tribulations of marriage from the point of view of New York City’s two top divorce lawyers turns our attention to couples wishing to declare the sacred union null and void. Pierce Brosnan (
The Thomas Crown Affair) stars as Daniel Rafferty, a suave but sloppy divorce attorney new to the Big Apple who has not yet lost a case. Julianne Moore (
The Hours) plays his counterpart as the stilted, uptight divorce lawyer Audrey Woods, whose secret love for coconut snowballs is about as crazy as she feels she can get. After a few chance meetings they are finally pitted against each other when they accept a high-profile divorce case in which Daniel represents a flamboyant rock star (Michael Sheen) and Audrey supports his fashion designer wife (Parker Posey). But the laws of attraction also apply to the two attorneys and a reluctant relationship forms between them. Both lawyers act like awkward teenagers when the topic of love applies to themselves and, when an accidental marriage finds them both tied to a commitment they weren’t quite prepared for, they are faced with the deeper and darker meaning of divorce. The first third of the film has Brosnan suppressing his James Bond image, and his charisma and charm on the screen is overshadowed by his silly, childish attitude. Moore, on the other hand, plays a woman who is so lost in herself that she has no love to give. The script is average and the direction by Peter Howitt (
Johnny English) is rather pedestrian, but the message of the film is what’s important. There’s a reason why marriage vows contain the words “for better or for worse, in good times and in bad” and it’s something the film communicates well.
German Release Date (subject to change) June 16,
US rated PG-13
www.lawsofattractionmovie.com
THE STATEMENT***
The film opens in a haunting black-and-white flashback sequence, which takes place just before dawn on June 29, 1944. Here, in the French town of Rillieux-la-Pape, the cold-blooded murder of seven Jews is carried out by the Nazi-supported Vichy Regime. The man responsible for this particular atrocity is Pierre Brossard (Michael Caine), who spends the next five decades avoiding capture and a trial. The film is set in present-day France, where Brossard lives a peaceful life of anonymity, but it’s not long before that peace is shattered by an attempt on his life. Not only is he being hunted down by mysterious hit men, but the ambitious judge Anne Marie Livi (Tilda Swinton) opens a new investigation into his crimes against humanity and begins her own search for justice with the help of Colonel Roux (Jeremy Northam). Brossard’s flight from justice is supported by individuals within the Catholic Church and he desperately runs from one priest to the next as his friends become fewer the closer his enemies get. He is a man who now renounces murder and only wants absolution for his sins as the weight of guilt manifests itself in a debilitating heart condition. Michael Caine (
The Cider House Rules) plays yet another controversial figure, managing to portray a monstrous figure sympathetically, as a human being. Canadian director Norman Jewison (
The Hurricane) tries to present a taut political thriller, but the two-hour film drags out at certain points, especially when Caine is absent from the screen for too long. There are some scenes that just don’t seem to fit into the flow of the film, but thankfully the filmmakers decided to resist the temptation of including an overt romance between the judge and the colonel. It’s an important film, but perhaps sags a bit from its own weight.
German Release Date (subject to change) June 23,
US rated R
www.sonyclassics.com/thestatement
New release on DVD
FINDING NEVERLAND***
Nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Actor, this adaptation of the play by Allan Knee tells the story of the Scottish playwright J. M. Barrie and what inspired him to write his most famous play, Peter Pan. Johnny Depp (
Pirates of the Caribbean) stars as the nervous playwright who watches from the sidelines as his latest play proves to be a flop in turn-of-the-century London. Desperately in need of a hit, he stumbles upon a widowed mother (Kate Winslet) and her four boys in the park one day, and the child inside him is unleashed as his relationship with the family deepens. While Barrie’s long-time producer Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman) grows increasingly skeptical of any chance of success, and Barrie’s distant wife Mary (Radha Mitchell) becomes jealous of his relationship to the family, Barrie’s own imagination expands. Depp serves up another thoughtfully thrilling performance as the magical playwright, and the children are simply charming. Directed by Marc Forester (
Monster’s Ball), it is, on the whole, a sparkling production—a sentimental journey of perseverance, hope and following one’s dreams.
German Release Date (subject to change)
June 23, US rated PG
www.miramax.com/findingneverland
