Freeze Frames
The Monitor Movie Guide
JUNE 23, 1995
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Movies that contain violence, sexual situations, nudity, and profanity are denoted V, S, N, and P respectively. Evaluations do not constitute a Monitor endorsement. Further guidance is supplied by full reviews on the Arts pages.
EVALUATION SYMBOLS
David Sterritt Staff Panel Meaning
O\ O\ Don't bother
u u Poor
uu uu Fair
uuu uuu Good
uuuu uuuu Excellent
New Releases
BALLOT MEASURE 9
uuu Engrossing documentary about the political fight over a 1992 ballot measure in Oregon designed to curtail civil rights for homosexuals, with attention to the horrific rise in antigay violence that accompanied the campaign. Includes nudity and sexually blunt language in material circulated by conservative groups supporting the measure. Heather MacDonald directed. (Not rated) V N P
BANDIT QUEEN
uuu Drama based on the real-life exploits of Phoolan Devi, who allegedly committed a series of explosive crimes - or revolutionary acts, depending on one's perspective - before her arrest in 1983. Directed by Shekhar Kapur, the Indian production characterizes Devi as a sort of female Robin Hood whose rage is aimed at an unjust social system based on systematic oppression of poor people and women. The film's indignation is righteous and vivid, although Kapur's weakness for repetitious violence tends to lengthen his social indictments without deepening them. (Not rated) V P
CITY UNPLUGGED
uu Mindful of the responsibilities his new baby will bring, a young man gets involved in a plot to steal a fortune in gold from the treasury of Estonia by causing a temporary blackout in the capitol of the newly independent country. The scathingly sardonic story was filmed in Estonia by Finnish director Ilkka Jarvilaturi, from a screenplay by American writer Paul Kolsby. Also known as "Darkness in Tallinn." (Not rated) V S N P
SAFE
uuuu A woman develops health problems, decides chemicals in the environment are to blame, and contacts a cultlike self-help organization that leads her to progressive isolation from the everyday world. This thoughtful, chilling film is at once a poignant psychological drama and an incisive study of two complex issues: the growing pollution of natural resources, and the dangerous paranoia this induces among some fragile individuals. It examines these with compassionate care, allowing even the most misguided characters an integrity and authenticity that make the film's critical perspective all the more persuasive. Directed by Todd Haynes with a brilliantly controlled visual style that conveys great emotional power while purposefully avoiding the manipulative cues that conventional Hollywood movies rely on. Julianne Moore heads the superb cast. (R) S P
Currently in Release
ARIZONA DREAM
uu A young man visits his eccentric Arizona family, whose members include a high-pressure automobile dealer, a self-destructive woman with a gift for music, and an aging widow who can't think of anything but aviation. The cast is just as varied, with Johnny Depp and Jerry Lewis playing opposite Faye Dunaway and Lili Taylor, plus other famous faces in smaller roles. It's all barely held together by Emir Kusterica, the respected Bosnian filmmaker, who seems slightly at sea in his first English-language production. (Not rated) V S N P
BAB EL-OUED CITY
uuu The theft of a loudspeaker from the rooftop of a mosque in Algiers sparks a string of dramatic events in a working-class neighborhood where poverty and intolerance are everyday facts of life. Directed by Merzak Allouache, who turns authentic locations and a largely nonprofessional cast into the makings of an urgent and compelling tale with much to reveal about urban life in Algeria today. (Not rated) V
THE BASKETBALL DIARIES
