UNSTRUNG HEROES (1995) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge
Director: Diane Keaton Writers: Elizabeth S. Barton and Richard LaGravenese (based on the autobiography of Franz Lidz) Starring: Nathan Watt, Andie MacDowell, John Turturro, Michael Richards, Maury Chaykin, Anne De Salvo, Celia Weston
There's a scene late in "Unstrung Heroes" when the father (John Turturo) and his son (Nathan Watt) sit in a giant darkened room, watching film reels of their wife/mother (Andie MacDowell), who had recently died of cancer, and for the first time in the film, bond. Maybe it was because I was a tad depressed when I watched this, but I cried hysterically. Now, I usually don't cry at films, so to me, if a movie strikes an emotional nerve that isn't triggered solely for superficial reasons, it's an excellent film. But this is more than just a tear-jerker. This is a film with a true heart, which tells of real people, and their realistic troubles.
The film tells the auto-biographical (I guess) story of writer Franz Lidz, born Steven (Nathan Watt), who had a very unusual late childhood. His father, an eccentric inventor (John Turturro), barely speaks on a human level to him, but treats him as an adult, raising him to believe that religion is a "crutch," all while inventing bizarre things he doesn't need. Then there's his chain-smoking, loving mother (Andie MacDowell), who, in the beginning of the film, is diagnosed with cancer.
On the other side of his family, as well as the dimension, are his bizarre-as-hell uncles (Michael Richards and Maury Chaykin), who make Steven's father look average compared to their eccentric quirks. They live in a run-down apartment building, hiding from the landlord, and stacking all the newspapers they never read all over their apartment. Seeing this apartment is one of the great sequences of the nineties.
After a little bit of pain in seeing his mother dying, as well as his father becoming more and more intolerable, Steven runs away from home, and finds himself at his uncles' apartment building. He decides he will shack up with them until his mother is fine (um...), much to the immeadiate dismay of his parents, who don't want him being raised by his paranoid uncles, but at the same time, not wanting him to remain unhappy and in the emotional hell that he was in at home.
"Unstrung Heroes" is a simple film: just showing us little human quirks, and painting a wonderfully realistic story in a surreal way. Director Diane Keaton's humor is not like that of friend Woody Allen's: her humor is more like the Coens, and is very off-beat. While I prefer the Woodster's humor to hers, she shows that she has a great sense of humor, that stands alone from that of Woody's.
In a lesser film, the humor and pathos that comes in this film would feel uncomfortable, like that of, say, "Liar, Liar" (well, I couldn't think of another example off the top of my head). But Keaton perfectly mixes sadness and comedy into this film, giving it a truly human feeling. The scenes where Turturro narrates his experiments, only to see them go ineptly wrong are hysterical, but then the scenes where Turturro lays his head on his dying wife's belly is one of the most poignant and beautifully sad images I've ever seen. Just thinking of the former makes me laugh; thinking of the latter brings a tear to my eye...well, maybe not a whole tear, but it makes me kind of sad in that good way.
The acting is excellent. Nathan Watt makes a wonderful protagonist: someone we can associate with in this kind of situation, even if we never felt nearly as kafkaesque as he did. Turturro gives one of his best performances, showing us a man who is complicated, all while sometimes seeming overly-mean. But when he sees his wife in the old reels, we feel his pain. Andie MacDowell, who is usually criticized for her acting, gives the best performance she has since "sex, lies, and videotape," presenting a woman who is strong although she is dying, and is loving towards her children. And Michael Richards and Maury Chaykin are priceless as the overly-eccentric uncles. Who else could have played these roles? I think the production would have had to shut down if either of these two would have denied the roles.
Diane Keaton's direction is beautiful, the acting is incredible, and the script by Richard LaGravanese (of "The Fisher King" fame) and Elizabeth S. Barton is poignant, and full of great dialogue. While it didn't do much at the box office, this is a fantastic film, and is definitely worth a viewing, especially for that scene at the end. Never underestimate the power of a film that can actually make someone as unemotional as me cry.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***1/2
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