Film depicts battle with death
‘Postman’
delivers
high emotion
By Mark Baldridge
Rim Critic
Watching a man wither and die on
the big screen can be a painful experi
ence. In Michael
Radford’s film
“The Postman,”
which opens to
night at the
Movie
Review
Mary Riepma
Ross Film The
atre, it also can
be moving.
“Postman” is
a film best
known for
CVCilld Ull
screen. A current nominee for Best
Picture and Best Actor at the Acad
emy Awards — an interesting devel
opment on several fronts — the film
is notorious for the death of its princi
pal player the day after photography
was completed.
Massimo Troisi, renowned as a
comic in his native Italy, was plagued
by heart problems throughout the
shooting ofthe film, able to walk only
a few steps before having to sit down
and rest. His suffering is palpable on
the screen; it’s not hard to imagine one
is watching a future corpse.
And though that very vulnerabil
ity is what makes his character appeal
to many critics, it would be consid
ered overdone had it not been so real.
The ironies of “Postman” are sev
eral. Ostensibly a film about unlikely
friendship and the seductive nature of
poetry, it is also a film about early and
senseless death. This aspect of the film
isernphasized unnaturally by Troisi’s
off-screen death.
For some viewers, a minority, the
death of an actor makes all his or her
films harder to watch. But Troisi’s
dying is undoubtedly the best thing
that could have happened to this
movie.
photo courtesy of Miramax Films
The late actor Massimo Troisi, who was nominated for Best
Actor in this year’s Academy Awards, stars in the Italian film
“The Postman.”
But the film has many virtues that
may go unnoticed in the hype: the
understated and masterful portrayal of
maestro Pablo Neruda (infamous, sur
realist poet of love and communism)
by Philippe Noiret (“Cinema
Paradiso”); the stunning sensuality
(underdeveloped in the film, unfortu
nately) of Sicilian supporting actress
Maria Grazia Cucinotta; and an almost
hallucinatory intensity of story.
Director Radford (“ 1984”) worked
marvelously with Troisi’s physical
limitations to create a film that’s re
ally sadder than it wants to be.
The Facts
Film: “The Postman”
Star: Massimo Troisi
Director: Michael Radford
Rating: unrated
Grade: B+
Five Words: Love, sensuality, po
etry and death
This is a film that should have been
more about humor and love and the
power of beautiful words. It is all that,
but it is also more. It’s a movie drown
ing in its own context.
‘California’ in state of boredom
By Patrick Hambrecht
Senior Reporter
The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery
has themed and trotted out a selection
of its sculpture collection in “Califor
nia Color,” to be displayed until some
thing better comes along.
The reserved and bare-bones men
tality of the artists, all exhibited in a
series of no-risk, professional state
ments, adds up to a sedate and gentle
bore.
While some of the pieces are inter
esting by themselves, these California
objects are much more likely to
complement an up-scale Hollywood
office than stir any feelmg.
The unobtrusive “The Lake in the
Mountains is Frozen After the Snow”
by Sam Richardson shines with the
unmoving “California Color” spirit.
The smooth fiberglass and plastic
relief map seems to have been chis
eled out of a tediously mature cartoon
for the PBS crowd, the type that is paid
for by an obscure industrial founda
tion and used to fill up space between
“Upstairs, Downstairs” and “The Star
Hustler”
If Richardson had hurled his pan
orama on the floor and stomped on it
a few times, the piece might be more
interesting, if not improved.
“Glass Cube Cal #8,” “Shame it
Isn’t Soft” and “Zeno” alone seem to
emanate energy with differing imper
sonal presences.
The mirrored glass cube seems to
have the most chutzpah, reflecting
light and imposing its grand, vacuous
personality on everyone around it.
Unlike the other California pieces,
Larry Bell’s cube is paradoxically
gleeful with its own austere
depthlessness.
“California Color” is now on dis
play at the Sheldon. Gallery hours are
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through
Saturday, Thursday through Saturday
evenings from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and
Sunday from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Time Warner to invade England
LONDON (AP) — Saying it aims
to bolster the British film industry, a
British TV station has teamed up with
the American media group Time
Warner to propose building a film and
television complex with a theme park
in northwest London.
The $344 million complex on more
than 150 acres cm the western outskirts
of London would be called Warner
Brothers Movie World and showcase
Looney Tunes characters and movie
heroes such as Batman.
It would have film andTV studios,
theme rides and stage shows based on
English andAmerican films and char
acters — plus a history of the British
cinema.
Lord Hollick, managing director of
MAI, said: “Movie World will provide
a major boost for the British film in
dustry by giving the United Kingdom
the capacity to meet the demands of
an increasingly global film and TV
industry.
“The studios will also reinforce
West London’s concentration of spe
cialist media skills and help to retain
the nation’s wealth of film and televi
sion-making talent.”
Many film and television workers
live in the area, which is close to both
Pinewood and Shepperton film studios
and the BBC Television Center.
Sandy Reisenbach, Warner Broth
ers’ executive vice president for mar
keting and planning, said the concept
would be based on the blueprint oper
ating since 1991 in Queensland, Aus
tralia. Warner Brothers and MAI each
pledged $ 1.07 million to fund the ini
tial phase of the Movie World project,
The partners, seeking permission
for the complex, expressed confidence
that the complex would open by spring
1999.
Shortly after the plans were an
nounced, however, three legislators
from the governing Conservative Party
whose Parliamentary constituencies
are in or near the proposed site an
nounced their opposition to the
project.
Tax info
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
http://www.ustreas.gov
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