THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2010
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THE CITY OF YOUR FINAL DESTINATION
Perhaps better never than late
by Michael O’Sullivan
Film versions of books are tricky things.
Words — and people — that live on the page are often dead on arrival on the screen. That’s why such operations are best left to seasoned pros such as director James Ivory and his longtime writing partner Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, whose artistic partnership has produced such art-house hits as “A Room With a View” and “The Remains of the Day.” “The City of Your Final Destination,” I sus-
pect, will not be among them. Based on Peter Cameron’s 2002 novel, the
film has been languishing without a release date since it was finished in 2007. Three years later, it has finally arrived in theaters, but its story, tone and, alas, its characters re- main firmly stuck to the page. Take Omar Razaghi (Omar Metwally), the literature grad student who is the film’s
JUAN QUIRNO/COPYRIGHT MERCHANT IVORY PRODUCTIONS 2009
Anthony Hopkins and the other stars of James Ivory’s visually beautiful film can’t rescue it from a swamp of bizarre plotlines, stilted conversation and clumsy metaphors.
main character and who has come to Uru- guay from the United States to charm the family of late author Jules Gund into allow- ing him to write Gund’s biography, despite their reservations. Not long after arriving at the Gund estate of Ocho Rios, where several family members indulge in amateur bee- keeping, he’s asked by Gund’s mistress, Ar- den (Charlotte Gainsbourg), whether he knows anything about bees. “I know they live in an apiary,” he says, “a word derived from ‘apis,” which is Latin for ‘bee.’ ” Okay, the character of Omar is supposed to be a little awkward — he is, after all, an
academic — but they all talk like this: Gund’s prunish widow, Caroline (Laura Linney); his depressive brother Adam (Anthony Hop- kins); Adam’s lover Pete (Hiroyuki Sanada), who is also, at least legally, Adam’s adopted son; Arden; and Arden’s illegitimate daugh- ter Portia (Ambar Mallman). Despite the crazy setup, which seems ripe for drama, it’s a house, and a movie, filled with stilted, bloodless conversation. And not much else. What’s worse, the movie, though beauti- fully shot, relies too heavily on clumsy meta- phor. In an opening scene, Omar is shown almost getting stuck in quicksand, after which he develops a bit of a phobia about it.
Upon arriving at Ocho Rios, he asks Arden if there are any such dangers down there. Of course, she tells him, the whole place is a swamp you could sink into. Which is, of course, exactly what ends up happening to Omar, figuratively speaking. Even as he persuades Gund’s family to slow- ly come around about the biography — first Adam, then Arden agree to be interviewed — he finds himself less invested in Gund, and more and more mired in his bizarre family. And maybe, just maybe, falling in love with Arden, despite having a girlfriend back home (Alexandra Maria Lara). Did I say bizarre? Secondary plotlines in-
clude jewelry smuggling, a beekeeping acci- dent and subsequent coma for Omar, along with a not especially compelling mystery about whether Caroline is hiding an un- finished memoir by Gund, who published only one book — presumably a masterpiece, though this is never stated explicitly. In this “City” of dead ends — and deadlier
chitchat — the destination they all lead to is nowhere.
osullivanm@washpost.com
PG-13. At AMC Loews Shirlington and Landmark’s Bethesda Row. Contains brief,
B
partial nudity. In English and some Spanish with English subtitles. 118 minutes.
LIVING IN EMERGENCY
Pushing doctors past their limits
by Rachel Saslow
The first 15 minutes or so of the power-
ful documentary “Living in Emergency” could be a recruitment video for the hu- manitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, as it is known in the United States. The film starts with news footage of wars in Congo and Liberia: Bloodied, moaning civilians are carried through the streets while machine-gun-wielding reb- els posture for the cameras. Statistics flash on the screen: “There are MSF missions in 70 countries.” “MSF created the Mamba Point Hospital at the end of the [Liberian civil war in 2003]. It is the only free emer- gency hospital for a city of one million people.” Just as the viewer begins to wonder if “Living in Emergency” is merely a promo for MSF, filmmaker Mark Hopkins in- troduces the troubling central message of the film, eloquently stated by MSF veteran Christopher Brasher: “The demand is pretty much infinite. It’s just a question of choosing what you can do. They’re tough choices, but you have to make them.” Brasher is an Australian anesthesiolo- gist who joined MSF in 1996 and one of the five central doctors in the film whose bravery is likely to make viewers feel in- spired or inadequate. He alludes to some- thing in his past he is running away from, but that something remains a mystery. The same goes for all but one of the volun-
teers, many of whom smoke and have cre- ative facial piercings: We never learn their back stories, a frustrating shortcoming of this otherwise moving film. “Living in Emergency” also suffers from
structural problems. The narrative jumps around, never committing to a location, doctor or patient. Just as our hearts are breaking for the baby whose face and belly are mysteriously swollen, the story moves away. There are other story lines we’re happy to escape, such as the woman with the basketball-sized tumor on her ab- domen and the gruesome scene of a brain surgery in Congo done with a hand-crank drill because a motorized one never ar- rived. The idealistic doctors are beaten down
by practicing medicine under extreme cir- cumstances: too many patients, never enough supplies, time or staff. Most volun- teers never advance past their first nine- month mission. Davinder Gill, in Liberia on his first MSF mission, reaches his limit during a team meeting and rants about the shortage of clean gloves. “The anger is good,” responds Chiara
Lepora, the level-headed mission leader. “The anger is a part of the process, but they are fighting the wrong thing. If I am working in the middle of a war and I get upset, get angry at the war.” By the end of the film, the overwhelm-
ing urge is to send gobs of money to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization so that it can help more people. While “Living in Emergency” might fail as a re- cruitment video, it might well succeed as a fundraising tool.
saslowr@washpost.com
Unrated. At Landmark’s E Street Cinema. Contains profanity, smoking, intense situations and gory surgery scenes. 93 minutes.
BBB
splice from 26
told me you had a farm!”) in the how- not-to-write-a-screenplay book. Horror movies have always been de- fensible for offering either catharsis or camp value. “Splice” boasts neither, even though a scene of a bunch of stock- holders getting splattered with mutant guts could have qualified as a kitsch classic. Instead, “Splice” joins Warner Bros.’ similar offering from this time last year, “Orphan,” as a singularly cyn- ical enterprise, exploiting our anxieties about reproduction, parenthood, con- trol and betrayal while engaging in the crudest forms of sensationalism. (The movie contains not one, but two scenes of interspecies sex, each with its own in- cestuous overtones.) It’s difficult to know who the film-
makers hold in more contempt in this goopy, gory, grotesque exercise: the characters or the audience. Either way you slice or dice it, you get the same re- sult: Yuck.
hornadaya@washpost.com
No stars
R. At area theaters. Contains disturbing elements, including strong sexuality, nudity, sci-fi violence and profanity. 104 minutes.
ALSO OPENING
Killers
Jen (Katherine Heigl) is living a happy newlywed suburban life when she dis- covers that her husband (Ashton Kutcher) has kept his true occupation from her: He’s a spy, and hired killers are after him. This movie did not screen for review. PG-13.
At area theaters. Contains violent action, sexual material and profanity. 90 minutes.
Also Playing
Capsule reviews of recent releases playing in area theaters. Movies not reviewed by The Post will be marked "NR" for not rated. For older movies, see the Movie Directory.
BBBALICE IN WONDERLAND
Tim Burton has wisely avoided producing a mere pop-up illustration of Lewis Carroll’s books, in- stead finding inspiration in Alice (Mia Wasikow- ska), the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and other familiar characters and putting them into a brand-new story. His most nervy decision — making Alice a 19-year-old young woman on the verge of a tire- some marriage — also proves to be his best. Bur- ton’s signature gnarled, gothic aesthetic runs throughout, and it’s worth the price of admission if only to hear Depp give sonorous voice to Car- roll’s slithy toves and borogoves, but it’s the women who steal the show, from the somber, self-possessed Wasikowska to Bonham Carter’s scenery-chewing tantrums, to Anne Hathaway’s very funny turn as the White Queen. Most impor- tant, Burton honors the more tender subtexts of the Alice stories, having to do with isolation and
loss. (PG, 109 minutes) Contains fantasy action/vio- lence involving scary images and situations, and a smoking caterpillar. University Mall Theatres and Arlington Cinema ‘N’ Drafthouse.
BBBBABIES
A portrait of four infants, “Babies” invites view- ers simply to revel in babies being babies while chronicling childhood throughout the world. Two affluent couples raise their daughters with no ex- penses spared. In Tokyo, Mari’s father talks on a cellphone while fiddling with a mobile over her crib; in California, Hattie’s mother responds to bad behavior with parenting books. Far away, a Mongolian boy who shares bath water with a goat is tied to a bedpost when left alone; a girl in a Africa pounds red clay from dirt. Through these sequences, “Babies” suggests privilege and dep- rivation are relative and highlights the grand uni- versals of growing up. “Babies” shows every child reaches the same milestones of learning to walk and talk with feelings of triumph and hope, all while telling the most high-stakes story of all: the drama of bonding and letting go. (PG, 79 minutes)
In English and Japanese with English subtitles. Contains maternal nudity throughout. Area thea- ters.
BBB1
⁄2
CITY ISLAND
Vince Rizzo (played by Andy Garcia, who also
movies continued on 30
— Ann Hornaday
— A.H.
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