Die Kunst des Sterbens

This is a mystery/thriller with a sexy twist provided by exciting new comer Sung Hi Lee. Story involves the tangled lives of a married couple and a possibly deranged artist played by Lee. Obviously a low budget venture with some marginal technical credits but clearly good intentions. Joe Montenga is miscast as the struggling art dealer but carries on gamely. The very brightest moments of this movie are created by an extraordinary beauty namely Sung Hi Lee. She makes this middling drama a film worth watching. Lee is the straw that stirs the drink, so drink up!

This movie was surprisingly good, considering I had expected a bad movie when I first saw it come up on the TV's preview screen (cable). If you get the chance to see the movie, consider it, I think it's better than other movies of the same genre.

How could this film be so dismal and forgettable? Joe Mantegna is miscast, Kate Jackson is wasted, Joanna Pacula sleep walks through her role, and Paul Dooley's performance is a rehash of multiple previous performances.

The only person that seems to be interested in this project is Sung Hi Lee, as Toni. In comparison she fairly leaps off the screen, each scene she's in. Too bad the other actors aren't half as enthusiastic as she is.

No pun intended - sometimes talking about things would resolve them. On the other hand if that would be the case you would probably have half the movies you have right now. We have to suspend our disbelief and just go with the flow. And accept that as a "flaw" in the story building - and then you can have fun and enjoy the suspense.

Also enjoy the actors. Whether it is the beautiful but obviously crazy Sung Hi Lee or the seemingly helpless Pacula. Or any of the other ones - quite a few interesting faces and names involved in here. Not the best thriller (with some minor erotic touches and some nudity), but also not the worst either ... also quite predictable, but you don't need me to figure that out for you.

This film features a competent cast: Joe Mantegna as an apparent nice-guy art dealer with a shadowy past; the rangy, smoky-eyed Joanna Pacula as a soft-voiced psychotherapist; and hardbody Sung Hi Lee as a struggling, possibly disturbed young artist. The movie is shot like an erotic thriller, but there is essentially no sex (although Lee has a prolonged solo nude scene). ERROR IN JUDGMENT is really more of psycho-thriller, with much of the action related in third person by Lee to Pacula. The buildup is rather slow, but the writer does successfully keep you guessing until the final few minutes. After all that the resolution is somewhat rushed and cursory, but most will find the ending satisfying. The film would have benefited by more heat between Pacula and Mantegna, who seem a little mismatched romantically, she an exotic, distant persona, and he more of an affable everyman.