EQUINOX (director/writer: Alan Rudolph; cinematographer: Elliot Davis; cast: Matthew Modine (Freddy Ace/Henry Petosa), Lara Flynn Boyle (Beverly), Fred Ward (Paris), Tyra Ferrell (Sonya Kirk), Marisa Tomei (Rosie), Lori Singer (Sharon Ace), M. Emmett Walsh (Pete Petosa), Kevin J. O'Connor (Russell), Tate Donovan (Richie),Vincent Curto (gangster), Robert Gould (Mel), Matthew Dudley (pimp), 1992)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Alan (TROUBLE IN MIND, CHOOSE ME, MODERNS) Rudolph's off-beat film has the look and feel of bad melodrama, using over-exaggerated action sequences to spin a convoluted yarn (Maybe a parody) about twins, born to a ballerina who had an affair with a European aristocrat and is forced into giving them up for adoption when he wants no part of her. They are separated at birth, taking different paths in life: Henry Petosa (Matthew Modine) grows up to be a shy, nerdy, fearful, and unambitious garage mechanic in his adoptive (he doesn't know that he's adopted) father's (M. Emmett Walsh) garage, who spends his spare time watching self-defense programs on TV and pining away for his best friend Russell's (nervously played by Kevin J. O'Connor) emotionally insecure sister, Beverly (Lara Flynn Boyle), who reads Emily Dickenson aloud to herself. He modestly lives in a tenement that happens to be in a bad neighborhood. The brother he doesn't know exists, is Freddy Ace, also played by Modine, who is a small-time hood, ambitiously working himself up the ladder of the protection racket run by a vicious hood, Mr. Paris (Fred Ward), doing the driving and also doing a cold-blooded hit job for the boss. He is always seen with a perfectly moussed-hairstyle, and is married to a beautiful but shallow woman (Lori Singer), having two children and living in a luxurious apartment; all these things are status symbols, which show that he has come a long way from the orphanage he was raised in.
An old bag lady, with a tattoo on her arm, saying "To my dearest Helena," dies on the fictional city streets clutching a letter stating that she is the mother of twins and that the father of the children left $200,000 (it is now worth 4 million dollars) for them in a Swiss trust fund that can only be accessed by the password "equinox." The title of the film, as defined, will refer to the equality of the light and dark sides during an equinox. This symbolizes the qualities the twins must confront in their nature, which only Henry is able to do.
The letter is found by an ambitious hospital worker, Sonya Kirk (uninterestingly played by Tyra), who aspires to be a writer and thinks this will make a great story. She weaves this ambiguous tale or spoof, or whatever it is, together. As all the quirky characters will somehow fit into the story and by the end of the film, I guess, there is supposed to be some hidden message as Henry stands alone, looking down at the tremendous depths of the Grand Canyon.
There was also a ridiculous scene with a hooker named Rosie (Tomei), who lives in Henry's tenement and is being abused by her pimp (Dudley). She will service Henry as a payment for watching her baby. There was one stupid line she said to him that made me laugh primarily because it was so stupid, "You're not going to catch nothing from me but your breath."
In fact, the only enjoyment I derived from all the banal dialogue and its embarrassing story (if it wasn't a parody, then it's a horrible script, and if it is a parody, it doesn't work, the story is too ambiguous) was the B- movie one-liners that kept coming throughout the film. Since that's the only thing I liked about this film, I'll drop a few of them on you: Freddy to another gangster, "Never miss a good chance to shut up." One gangster talking to another, "I was so popular in high school, everybody hated me." I'll mention two quotes Mr. Petosa gives us from his vaudeville shtick he seemed to be doing for his characterization, "If money didn't grow on trees, how come banks have so many branches?" and "Chaste makes waste." Henry tritely says, "My whole life seems to be taking place without me in it." Freddy, when asked if he is happy, replies, "I'd be a lot happier with a million bucks and a full tank of gas." Paris says to Freddy after he knocks off their associate, Richie (Tate), "Richie had no brains, and he was stupid." Beverly to Henry, which is the most pertinent line in the film, banal as it is, "Your whole life is searching for one thing, and all that other stuff just fades away."
I don't know what the story is supposed to mean; maybe its just a search-for-identity kind of film; maybe its an updated fairytale about "The Prince and the Pauper," as one critic suggests. But I found it to be muddled, unfunny, and the acting is so lame, especially Matthew Modine's overacting, that it is almost unbearable to watch. But I got a kick out of those stupid one-liners from all the zanies trying so hard to be to be zany, and there was something intangible about the film that made you keep watching it, hoping there was something there that you missed seeing. So, at least, it's an original film; a passable one, at that, with a lot of possibility to it; and, it is done in the bizarre auteur style this filmmaker likes to operate in.
REVIEWED ON 9/29/99 GRADE: C
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
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