Twilight (R) ** (out of ****)
Three, count 'em, three Academy Award winning thespians in prime form--Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, and Gene Hackman--lead the cast of Robert Benton's Twilight. While that would appear to be enough to distinguish the film, Twilight is curiously missing the one element that should be a mystery-thriller's stock-in-trade: the element of surprise.
But I suppose Twilight _does_ hold some surprise in its lack thereof. The story is not without promise. Burnt-out former cop, ex-private investigator, and recovering alcoholic Harry Ross (Newman), has been in the exclusive employ of married actors Jack and Catherine Ames (Hackman and Sarandon) ever since rescuing their rebellious young daughter (Reese Witherspoon, whose character's major contribution is appearing topless) from an illicit Mexican getaway with an older lover (the ubiquitous Liev Schreiber) years before. As the poster's tagline goes, "Some people can buy their way out of anything. Except the past." This dark past starts to come to light when the cancer-stricken Jack enlists Harry to drop off a stash of money to a woman at a seedy apartment. Instead of finding the woman, Harry finds a gravely wounded, gun-toting man, which leads to the reopening of the mystery behind years-ago disappearance of Catherine's first husband.
Benton and co-scripter Richard Russo run into trouble once the set-up is out of the way. While they infuse the proceedings with an appealing sense of humor, and Newman's Harry is an unconventionally self-effacing hero, the story's would-be twists are obvious and telegraphed, and to call its resolution a "payoff" is to suggest a satisfaction that it does not deliver. Benton and, surprisingly, cinematographer Piotr Sobocinski (who created the gorgeous palette of Krzystof Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy) botch the atmosphere, which is much too light to create an appropriate aura of mystery; only Elmer Bernstein's evocative score generates the right effect. At the very least the top trifecta of Newman, Sarandon, and Hackman turn in terrific work, but, again, where is the surprise in that?
It is nice to see three fine actors in the upper reaches of age headline a major project from such a youth-obsessed industry. As refreshing as that fact is, though, it is dispiriting that the film they are given to carry is as unsatisfying as the dull (and dully titled) Twilight. (opens March 6)
Michael Dequina mrbrown@ucla.edu | michael_jordan@geocities.com | mj23@the18thhole.com mrbrown@michaeljordanfan.com | mj23@michaeljordanfan.com mrbrown23@juno.com | mrbrown@iname.com | mst3k@digicron.com
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