Il tempo di decidere

Return To Paradise is one of the best films you've never heard of. It was buried in the summer of 1998 to mostly positive reviews and was later unsuccessfully reinvented 9 months later here in the UK on the back of Psycho which also starred Vaughn and Heche. Its been unfairly treated by the now defunct Polygram as it is a quite incredible little drama with some superb performances and some moments of great power.

The premise is relatively simple. Three friends on holiday in Malaysia. Two leave. The police arrive and find hash where they were staying. The third is put in jail. Two years later a lawyer finds the two remaining men in New York and tells them that their friend was found guilty of trafficking. They must go back to share the punishment or he will die in 7 days.

Its a frightening dilemma and you can't help but ask yourself the same question. Would you go back? If one goes back they go to prison for 6 years. If both go they will have 3 years each. All of the arguments are put forward, making the answer not seem as clear as originally imagined.

The timeframe is made even tenser with titles reminding us of how many days are remaining. Vince Vaughn plays our hero who doesn't always act in the morally correct way we expect him to do. He doesn't immediately decide to go back, making us question if we would either. Vaughn gives the finest performance of his career as the not completely likeable 'Sheriff'. Anne Heche plays the increasingly desperate lawyer who will do anything to save her client from execution. And her desperation is made completely believable by Heche's multi-faceted performance.

And then Joaquin Phoenix plays the imprisoned Lewis who has little screen time but whenever he's on he totally captivates. His video message to his two friends is heartbreaking. There are numerous twists which serve to further the emotional capital which is placed in the conclusion.

And by the time the suspenseful court scene arrives, you will find yourself nervously hoping for a happy ending. Needless to say the film ends with a succession of unspeakably powerful scenes. Its hard to remember a film which I found as moving as this. It serves as a very poignant anti-drugs message. Its impact will stay with you for days, making it really quite unforgettable. Hunt this down. You will be richly rewarded.

Return to Paradise is what Brokedown Palace should have been. Joaquin Phoenix, David Conrad and Vince Vaughn are 3 friends on a 5 week holiday in Penang. Joaquin stays behind and the others come home. Forward 2 years later a young lawyer tracks down the other 2 and they find out that Joaquin's character has been in prison for the past 2 years and they have 8 years to decide whether to take their share of the blame.

Joaquin Phoenix is the heart and soul of this movie. His performance is so poignant and real, he has truly come a long way since the 80s.

Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche are brilliant in their roles especially Anne Heche, she really took her character to another level and it was sometimes heartbreaking as her performance was so real.

This is one movie to check out if you haven't seen it. I did not know about this movie until 2 years ago when I saw it on cable and after just watching Brokedown Palace I was skeptical as it was really bad and I was so surprised when I watched Return to Paradise as it wasn't toned down or glossed over and all the principle actors were fantastic.

If you haven't seen it you certainly don't know what you're missing.

Sheriff and Tony are taking a hedonistic holiday in Penang, Malaysia. Hooking up with friend of the Earth, Lewis McBride they have a wonderful time and bonds are well and truly formed. Come the time for Sheriff and Tony to return to America, they leave Lewis their respective blocks of Hasish as gifts. The name Lewis McBride is forgotten by both men until two years later a lawyer turns up in New York to tell them both some startling news. After the boys left Penang, the police searched their beach house and found the Hashish, the volume of which got him arrested for drug trafficking. A crime punishable by death by Malaysian law. In 8 days time, Lewis, who has been locked up in dreadful Penang prison for two years, will be hung unless both the guys go back to Penang and accept their responsibility for the Hashish. An acceptance that will get each of them 3 years prison themselves.

Return To Paradise is a remake of a little known and seen French film from Pierre Jolivet called Force majeure. Throwing up a deep moral quandary and no small amount of surprises, it may just be one of the most undervalued films from the 90s. Starring Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix and Jada Pinkett Smith, Jolivet's story gnaws away at the audience as it forces the issue at hand. Namely what would you do in the same situation? To save a friends life are you prepared to spend three years in a notoriously dank and desperate hell hole? Tho the piece is emotionally loaded in favour of doing what most would deem the right thing, the makers sucker us in, only to then steer us in other directions with a triple hander of a finale. There is also the impact of the press here, something that is crucial to the plot, and it's something that thankfully isn't glossed over. This really is a tightly constructed picture.

Vaughn {Sheriff} shows some great dramatic chops, it's refreshing to see him away from frat pack comedy shenanigans. Heche {Beth} looks gorgeous and gives her character real depth, while Phoenix as the imprisoned Lewis is heartbreakingly real. Not faring so well is Pinkett Smith as pesky reporter M.J. Major. Tho only a small part, it's really hard to accept her as a tough reporter who can get things done. Worthy of a mention is the cinematography by Reynaldo Villalobos, the shift in tones he uses between Malaysia to America is very smart and forces the issue of two completely different cultures. This is after all not just about a dilemma, it's also about differing laws on different continents. I found this film to be an emotional roller-coaster that stayed with me for some time after. It's hoped that more people will seek it out and get as much emotion and cranial ponderings from it that I most assuredly did. 8/10

I am not a Fan of Drama/romantic Movies, but This Movie should have been overloaded with awards! smartly written, strong editing and great acting.

Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche are brilliant in their roles especially Anne Heche. I was never a fan of Vince Vaughn, but this was a great performance from Him.

Anne Heche took her character to another level. Joaquin Phoenix performance is very realistic.

One of the strengths of this film are the things in between. Afterwards, you can ask yourself if Beth is an actual Lawyer. Whether the proposal of three years actually has been and not concocted by Beth. And what were the motives of Sheriff. Yet the morally or in love with Beth. The two story lines are beautifully interwoven in each other with surprising twists here and there.

The only down point from this movie is that the director misused Heche by not giving her good camera angles and coverage of her expressive face.

'Return to Paradise' is one of the most underrated films ever. It deserved at least two Oscar nominations. Best actress: Anne Heche, Best supporting actor: Joaquin Phoenix

Even if you do not like this kind of movie, the movie is worth seeing for the performances which unfortunately have pretty much gone unrecognized. Check it out. Score: 9 out of 10

This movie appeals on many levels... smartly written, with seductive cinematography, strong editing and acting throughout (with forays into brilliant). And, yes, the romantic sub-plot and un-"Hollywood" style ending DO make sense! Read on ...

(NO SPOILERS…)

Return to Paradise, a beautifully written, crafted and acted film is one of the few DVDs in my collection that I just keep coming back to.

The prologue in Malaysia begins during the credits and is worth the watch in itself. It grabs our interest, and establishes the dynamic between these three young men, who are off for a post-college fling before assuming their "real" lives. The music, hand-held camera effects, and MTV-style editing evoke the carelessness of youth, of a young man's idea of "Paradise".

Tony (played by David Conrad) is an opaque, friendly, architect/engineer who is Everyman in his pursuit of honor within the bounds of a satisfying, conventional life. Louis (Joachim Phoenix) – a gentle soul - whose plan is to stay in Southeast Asia and pursue Animal Rights ... and "Sheriff", played by Vince Vaughn - a tough, straight talking hustler from Brooklyn. It is Sheriff's journey that we stay with as the action moves over to America, then back to 'Paradise'.

We discover, along with the characters, what has happened to the friends since their idyll on Penang. When we rejoin Sheriff, it is a few years later. He is driving a limo, and living in a seedy NYC apartment, filled with books. He is on a path that stumbles as he irreverently, but wistfully, reaches for inner growth. We know enough about movies to know that SOMEthing interesting is about to happen to this good-looking guy. By the time the story wraps up, the character of Sheriff will have achieved an impressive depth of self-awareness, subtlety and tenderness that is a credit to the delicacy of Vaughn's acting in this piece.

Louis and, in his stead, Beth (Anne Heche), believe that greater things lie inside of Sheriff. In the prologue, Sheriff, brash and careless, teeters when Louis asks him (with confidence in Sheriff's core of selflessness) to join a fight to save the orangutan. Much later, faced with a corresponding request from the compelling and volubly erotic character that Heche creates, Sheriff uses his affair with Beth as a catalyst to reach for the nobility in his soul.

Things do not turn out as we (or they) expect. Character relationships reshuffle a bit near the end, but rather than being devices to surprise and tweak our emotions, these twists and turns of the plot help ensure that Sheriff's decisions are (as he tells his friend in a poignant jail cell meeting ) his own. Like Tony, Sheriff ultimately makes his choices, not on behalf of his friends ... but for himself.

The best thing about Return to Paradise is that there are no bad guys. A life 'hangs in the balance', but the competing forces are, as in the real world, created by the myriad of individuals all acting out their own interests with no real malice, yet perhaps without the purposeful empathy represented by the Louis character. We are absorbed by the compelling interplay between Beth, Sheriff, Tony, the Malaysian officials and MJ Major (the aggressive reporter played by Jada Pinkett-Smith in an acerbic, pivotal, cameo) all the way through to the final, cathartic, conclusion.

Don't miss this one.