Na lanterna da vida

A few years ago, I went to the video store full of joy. The Matrix had been recently released and I was aching to see it again. My girlfriend of the time made me choose this instead claiming it was more the kind of thing we could both watch.

I have still never forgiven her. It has been six years.

The plot, as I recall, opens with a long anecdote about a scorned woman. It almost (but not quite) looks like it could be funny. Then the whole film becomes lazy and badly written. It has the feel of a really cheap novel, or something a teenager might write. There is little plot, little dialogue and less interest.

This is very poor film making, and I want those 90 minutes of my life back.

Telling You (1999) Peter Facinelli, Dash Mihok, Gary Wolf, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Matthew Lillard, Gina Phillips, Jennifer Jostyn, Frank Medrano, D: Robert DeFranco. Two brother-like buddies (Facinelli, Mihok) get hard luck running the local pizzeria in this teen-comedy. Not even a good-looking cast can salvage this turkey from being worthless, boring, and plain as the nose on your face. Running Time: 94 minutes and rated R for language and brief sexual content. * ½

Saw this on Comedy Central last month. Some of it is downright silly but throughout there was something sad and honest about it. Facinelli and Mihok are great together. Scenes with the old man (who apparently is the Ancient Mariner of Coleridge's epic poem) are compelling but kind of seem out of place. Or maybe not- that's what I mean by weird. The movie has a confused leading character and the story doesn't exactly clear things up, but in a way, that's the point. The actors get to be outrageous but everyone knows these types of people so it's a believable world. Kinda reminds me of that idle time right after college, back at home, and not knowing what, if anything was going to become of life. Good parts, good ending, but it makes very amateur mistakes.

Films are like fires, they start with a spark, warm up and build up the heat or they splutter out and die. This film is somewhere in between; there is a fire burning but it is just that someone comes along once in a while and throws cold water on it. To begin, the film is not really a comedy, it is a serious drama with light-hearted moments. Without the lighter moments you fear the story would be too heavy. What it really comes down to is whether you can empathise with the perfectly cast Dash Mihok as Dennis Nolan. If you've ever found yourself alone out in the yard at night wondering where life went wrong you will click in with Dennis and enjoy the story. So often Mihok manages to convey his pain and confusion without words, so you either understand him or you don't. The film so neatly sets out his problems and then neatly provides the answers. But like all films, there are the scenes we would like removed; the opening monologue by Peter Facinelli is painful and Jennifer Love Hewitt grossly over acts her minor part. The worst is a scene in a club where glamorous females sit alone at tables awaiting for any male to come up and sort out their life. This scene should be put back in the Male Fantasy file where it belongs, but apart from that it offers an original story and some brilliant acting (especially Jennifer Jostyn) though Facinelli's character is too shallow to show his great ability. I might add the original title 'Telling You' is perfect; I cannot believe that anyone who saw it would name it 'Love Sucks as it is marketed in the UK.

Although everyone else who commented detested this movie, I liked it, a lot. I rented it a few months ago, and decided to buy it cheap last week. I think that the slow movement of it was a positive factor, and that it didn't overload or bombard the viewer. It was a lazy, relaxed, detached attitude; the perfect kind of movie to watch on a Sunday afternoon when feeling down on your luck. I think it might be better suited to interpretation as a play, because the action is more verbal than visual. It does make some attempt at developing characters, within its short runtime. The only part I disliked was the ending--unexpectedly abrupt and brief. I will also say, that this movie holds a "spot in my heart" for having perhaps the saddest moment I have ever seen in a movie. After Howard (the weird, smart, and nice guy of the five) spends much time and effort into interacting with a girl at the bar, he is brushed off in a terrible and heartbreaking manner that hit home because I know I'll be hearing the same line someday. . .