A Farsa

I just read a review that said, basically, that this movie had too many questions. Don't get the wrong idea by reading reviews (even mine--we're all biased): this movie means to keep you guessing. Don't worry--it doesn't leave you confused at the end. It wraps everything up tidily, and ends in a believable fashion, but all through the movie, you never know who is really the bad guy. This is an intelligent, highly underrated movie. It's one of my favorites.

This is one of those movies that I'm glad I saw when it first came out. I remember that the theater was almost empty, but when I was leaving I heard people saying things like, "I never expected to like it that much". Rob Lowe gained credibility as an actor in my eyes with this film(and with another film called Bad Influence).

Masquerade is a nifty tight thriller that's fun, and wonderfully packaged as one with kick, and some real big shocks, nasty twists that sting, all done in an impressive duration of 88 minutes, in an '88 hit surprise, in which so many things happen. Lowe is well cast, and does do the role justice, as a born yachtsman/playboy, trying to work his way up the ranks, by sleeping with hot young wives, and resorting to some deceptive and selfish motives, even graduating to murder. He falls for this young heiress (Tilly) who's very good, hitting the role with honest to god, truth, as an innocent, naive young girl, who's just lost her mother, and is fighting over her fortune with his last pig of a stepfather (excellent, the film's firey star, bedding floozy, Delaney). Yeah, greedy motives, interwoven with jealousy on and betrayal make for this impressive little thriller. Savant is the other second best performance, as the jealous ridden cop, and childhood friend of Tilly's. There's an even aftershock on Lowe's part, an act of retraction, you might say, which was another feature that impressed me like every surprisingly good performance from the cast, in a thriller that's fun, where at the end of the too short duration, we're kind of sad the ride is over.

Masquerade is a psychological thriller which aspires to be a 1980s Hitchcock rejuvenation, and thanks to nice pacing and delicate acting, it largely succeeds for two thirds of a movie. The writers, Larry Brody and Dick Wolf, combine a knack for the clever with an inclination for the soapy, but fine direction by Bob Swaim keeps it together. At times, the film is confidently elegant, almost timeless, set in the idyllic Hamptons on Long Island and shot in a colour palette which almost convinces us of its Hitchcockesque affinity. Much of the trick is the combination of raw beauty and talent in the lead roles. Compared to today's over-glossed, photoshopped young stars, it's a delight to see Meg Tilly and Kim Cattrall stripped to the bone (both literally and metaphorically). Tilly revels in her role as the naïve, dreaming Olivia. By her side, a stunningly good-looking Rob Lowe is all right for the part - veiling his performance as the title suggests.

While Masquerade may have resembled something from Hitchcock's hand for an hour or so, the final part is more like something out of Dynasty. Whether it was the 1980s disease or just bad judgment, the writers go over the top with plot twists, and we start thinking about logic instead of being seduced by the initial playfulness. The final climax, which is particularly stupid, was arguably the main reason for the many bad reviews this film received, but if you're willing to ignore that, Masquerade is as enjoyable and perceptive as any film in the psy-thriller genre.

Masquerade is a really good Hitchcockian type of thriller, a combination of Suspicion and The Heiress in which sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia DeHavilland brought aspects of Meg Tilly's character in their Oscar winning performances. It was shot on location in the ritzy Hamptons of Suffolk County, in fact the plot is about the haves and have nots of the area. And that's an area where the haves have PLENTY.

One of those haves is Meg Tilly heir to a $300,000.000.00 fortune. She's a nice kid who properly wonders whether the men who court like her for her or bank account.

She's got one leach of a stepfather in John Glover, a character you just love to hate. But by the terms of her mother's will she can't get rid of him until she's 21. And he's a guy who's used to a very high lifestyle.

Tilly's also got two men in her life. Local boy Doug Savant whose father works in the shipyard on the yachts of the rich and famous who has joined the town police force. He's been crushing out on her since he was a little kid. But the Hamptons do have their own caste system.

And then into her life comes Rob Lowe, the handsome and mysterious stranger who captains Brian Davies yacht and on the side kanoodles with his wife, Kim Cattrall. He puts the moves on Tilly and since its Rob Lowe, who could blame a girl.

Tilly's the innocent here, that's a constant, but as the story continues and several murders take place, she doesn't know who to trust. You won't know because the plot takes several twists and the motives of the persons in the cast change over the course of the film.

For those of you Rob Lowe fans of both genders you can have ample opportunity to see him in several stages of undress with Kim Cattrall and Meg Tilly. He's also got an interesting scene with Doug Savant who looks pretty good himself that takes on some homoerotic overtones. What beautiful children those two would have if possible.

The title Masquerade refers both to the name of the Tilly family yacht and the fact that except for Tilly, a lot of these characters are not as they appear on the surface. Masquerade is a really good thriller of a film, don't miss it when it is shown.