Equinox

1st watched 9/10/1998 - 5 out of 10(Dir-Alan Rudolph): Strange tale of twin brothers going their separate ways after being adopted. The film leaves too many questions unanswered and finishes so abruptly that it seems to have been cut short in production. A longer and complete story could have been better.

This and Rudolph's "Trouble in Mind" seem, to me, to be companion pieces. They both take place in a future that serves to create a mood around the characters rather than spectacle for the audience. They seem to be almost completely forgotten with no DVDs on the cards, and that is a shame since they are both terrific.

Equinox contains great work from Matthew Modine, Lara Flynn Boyle and Kevin J. O'Connor in particular, but this is a quality production from top to bottom. The twin storyline threatens to drag this into the trash but the script dodges a lot of the tiresome clichés that you would expect from reading the synopsis or tag line.

Please ignore the poor rating and bad reviews on IMDb. This one has been severely overlooked.

Early on in 'Equinox' I felt I might be watching 'Slaughterhose-Five's' Billy Pilgrim, "unstuck in time." The film followed two characters, both played by Matthew Modine. One was a meek soul who was continually being victimized by the rest of the world; the other was his polar opposite , a strong-arming gangster. These two threads finally came together with a third concerning a young woman writing a story suggested by a note found on the body of a homeless woman. Alan Rudolph wrote the script as well as directed. He is to be commended for trying something original here but I found his screenwriting not quite able to deliver his quirky vision satisfactorily. Still, I'd have to give the film a marginal recommendation on a straight yes-or-no vote.

'Equinox' is able to boast of a good cast besides Modine, including Laura Flynn Boyle, Fred Ward, Marisa Tomei, Tate Donovan, Lori Singer, Tyra Ferrell, Gailard Sartain, M. Emmett Walsh and Kevin J. O'Connor. I just felt like the execution was not up to the inspiration.

One esoteric note: the soundtrack prominently features eclectic Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal.

An old woman dies and leaves an unopened letter from years in the past. A morgue attendant takes the letter and finds that it contains information about a trust fund involving twins. She hunts down the twins, figuring on sharing the money and writing a tale based on the proceedings. As she is doing this the separate lives of the twins is unfolding in a jumbled montage. This film reminded me of "Pulp Fiction" in the disconnected way in which it was filmed. Oddball picture, but well worth the seeing.

I almost switched this picture off, because the stylish character of the delivery seemed a bit too pushed, and I did not feel that I was getting any sense that the plot was going anywhere. But stay with it, it turns out to be a satisfying, well-fashioned film. Later on, it seems to roll more comfortably, either because one gets accustomed to the stylish form, or because that aspect of it gets toned down somewhat.