Stigmata
1999 • MGM

Having recently watched the repulsive time-waster piece-of-stinking-garbage hackneyed copycat rat-vomit film-wannabe End Of Days, I thought of throwing out a similarly-themed but much better title that is hitting video stores February 29th. Stigmata stars Gabriel Byrne as Father Andrew Kiernan, a priest (he was the Devil in End Of Days) who investigates claims of miracles and sightings for the Vatican. Father Kiernan is sent to Pittsburgh to review the case of a Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette) who has been going through some weird things lately, like writing in languages she’s never learned, bleeding from her hands, and speaking in voices. Frankie is going nuts not understanding why these things are happening to her and at first Father Kiernan has no explanation. Jonathan Pryce is Cardinal Houseman, also based in the Vatican, who is monitoring the situation and trying to keep a lid on what Father Keirnan may reveal.

Shot like a music video, the film is worth watching just for the wonderful cool-toned cinematography. First-time feature film director Rupert Wainwright knows how to keep the visuals interesting and is an up-and-coming talent. The pseudo-Christian mythology angle of the film, which propels the plot, actually gets more interesting as the film enters its third act. Unlike End of Days, where the religious lore was taken out of a Religious Thriller Movie Clichés book, Stigmata at least knows to throw some fresh tricks onto the pile, even treating us to some fascinating factual details.

Breakfast of Champions
1999 • Buena Vista

Critically hated and barely in theatres for even a full showing, Breakfast of Champions, deserves to be unearthed for another chance. Based on Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s book of the same name, it had an uphill battle to climb before the cameras even rolled. It was long said to be unfilmable. For purposes of reviewing the movie (without slipping into a comparison between the two media), I stayed away from the book. What I saw was a delightful and surrealistic romp into the breaking mind of Dwayne Hoover (a very good Bruce Willis). This film is what American Beauty might have been if it had been done by Kafka and Terry Gilliam.

Dwayne Hoover runs a car dealership in a fictional Midwest city stocked with strange characters (including a hysterical Nick Nolte who’s petrified of having his secret exposed) and his family doesn’t help much. His wife Celia (Barbara Hershey) is a pill-popping drunk. His son ‘Bunny’ (Lukas Haas) lives under the lawn in a bomb shelter and has a burning desire to be a lounge singer. While Dwayne is a successful man, he is losing his mind and is looking for answers. Enter Kilgore Trout (a Vonnegut regular), a mumbling drunk of a failed writer who is invited to come into the city for an arts festival, where his work will finally be recognized after years of obscurity. Trout is a wreck of a man whose path will cross with Hoover’s, changing things for both of them.

Filmed in a heightened sense of reality and surroundings, Breakfast never becomes a ‘normal’ movie. Here, director Alan Rudolph teams up again with Nolte, (Afterglow) and Willis (Mortal Thoughts), and from all accounts he has been trying to get this adaptation made for over twenty years. This film, however, is not for the masses and won’t be a typical viewing experience. While perhaps not as socially significant today as in the early 1970s, when the film’s social commentary would have been more striking, it still provides entertainment.

Not knowing what to do with this strange piece of work that Disney had on its hands, it quickly shelved the film and will quietly dump it in video stores. As strange as the movie is, Disney didn’t know how to market it or to whom. Now is the chance for a cult following to spring up and save it from utter obscurity. You may watch it and say ‘what the Hell was that about’ or ‘I don’t know what the Hell that was about but I liked it anyway.’ Either way, stretching the conventional perceptions of movies and what we typically watch can be rewarding. Taking a break from the usual formulaic film barrage can be a real treat and good exercise for the mind.

The Muse
1999 • USA

February isn’t stacking up as being the most promising month for video releases, but there are some decent entries that, nonetheless, manage to make the grade as good, not great, films.

In The Muse, funnyman Albert Brooks plays Steven Phillips, a Hollywood screenwriter who is at the point of being told by people around him that he’s “lost his edge.” Obviously no writer likes to hear this and Phillips is no exception. Turning to Jack, a writer friend of his for advice (played by Jeff Bridges), Steven soon learns the secret to Jack’s recent success. As it turns out, Jack tells Steven he has found an honest-to-goddess muse right there in L.A.

After some convincing, Steven decides that he needs to do what he can to get his edge back, even if it means something as silly as believing in muses. The muse in question, Sarah, is played with charm by Sharon Stone. Stone once again proves that she can act and act well at that. Sarah is a very high maintenance sort of gal and it isn’t easy to keep up with her demands. Brooks’ dorky everyman quality serves him well with his exasperation at the energy he spends trying to appease the muse. Andie MacDowell plays Laura, Steven’s wife, who begins to benefit from the muse herself. She does a good turn as a woman who begins to realize (with the muse’s help) that she is capable of much more than she’s thought.

Brooks knows comedy and timing very well. Even in his more recent broader comedies (Defending Your Life, Mother) there are moments of hilarity. Unfortunately, this film never rises to a high laugh-inducing level, but rather maintains its course at a medium grin-inducing one. The satire on the Hollywood culture is becoming more accessible to the mainstream, unlike the in-ness of The Player but still there are some funny cameos that might be lost on those who don’t recognize film directors. Despite not being at the high level Brooks can usually reach, the film is rather enjoyable.

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