LOVE AND HUMAN REMAINS
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 5.9
Canada, 1993 U.S. Availability: widely variable (1995) Running Length: 1:39 MPAA Classification: No MPAA Rating (Nudity, sex, profanity, violence) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Thomas Gibson, Ruth Marshall, Cameron Bancroft, Mia Kirshner, Rick Roberts, Joanne Vannicola, Matthew Ferguson Director: Denys Arcand Producer: Roger Frappier Screenplay: Brad Fraser based on his play "Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love" Cinematography: Paul Sarossy Music: John McCarthy U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
LOVE AND HUMAN REMAINS, the first English-language feature from Canadian director Denys Arcand (JESUS OF MONTREAL), is a curious hodgepodge of drama, comedy, and murder mystery. Its success is sporadic at best, but, too often, the film completely misses the mark. We are presented with seven characters, all interesting as individuals, who are jumbled together in a series of relationships which seem contrived and plotted. Then there's a serial killer subplot that continuously undermines those things that LOVE AND HUMAN REMAINS gets right.
At the center of this movie is David (Thomas Gibson), an ex-actor turned waiter who has contact, one way or another, with the six other characters. David is a thirtyish gay man with an almost-religious disbelief in the existence of love. "There's no such thing as love" might be his mantra -- he repeats it often enough. David's roommate and ex-lover (he used to be straight) is Candy (Ruth Marshall), an emotional cripple desperately in search for any sort of love. To that end, she's willing to try dating a bartender with a secret (Rick Roberts) and a lesbian schoolteacher she meets at a local gym (Joanne Vannicola). One of David's closest male friends is Bernie (Cameron Bancroft), a hard- worker who has sex with a different woman just about every night. Another mate is seventeen-year old Kane (Matthew Ferguson), a busboy who works with David, and is beginning to have fantasies about the older man. Then there's Benita (Mia Kirshner), a psychic dominatrix who specializes in all sorts of kinky stuff -- like reading a client's mind before deciding how to please him. Meanwhile, the entire unnamed Canadian city is being terrorized by a serial killer who, more than likely, is one of these people.
The acting in LOVE AND HUMAN REMAINS is uniformly good, and results in several compelling characters. Even Benita, the strangest of the bunch, attains a level of believability as a result of a fine performance by Mia Kirshner (this part is not unlike the one she took on in EXOTICA). Nevertheless, this film illustrates that more than interesting people are needed to formulate a solid motion picture. Brad Fraser's script (which he adapted from his off-Broadway play) is completely unconvincing when it comes to developing love or sex-based relationships (the platonic friendships are just fine). Characters are forced into unnatural roles and emotions come to the surface too quickly. In real life, relationships take time to build, but not in LOVE AND HUMAN REMAINS. Here, they sort of spring into existence in full blossom, and ring false as a result.
The story is further hampered by the need to incorporate a murder mystery. Numerous red herrings highlight amateurish attempts to keep the audience guessing at the killer's identity. The truth is actually pretty obvious despite the misdirection -- there are really only two legitimate suspects, and it's not hard to eliminate one of them. Of all the things that don't work in the movie, this element strikes the most discordant note.
Although LOVE AND HUMAN REMAINS is billed as a drama, it's real strength is its comedy. With snappy one-liners and perfectly-timed longer sequences, the film is ripe with hilarious moments. The humor functions as Arcand's lighter counterpoint to the dreary isolation suffered by his characters. Now, if only the dramatic foundations had been better established... The characters are there, as is the insight, but the situations aren't right, and that makes for a film that, while watchable, leaves the impression it should have been a whole lot better.
- James Berardinelli (jberardinell@delphi.com)
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