Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 21 September 2000

The film stars Nathalie Baye as a lady in need of having her fantasy fulfilled.  She’s been with many men in the past but none have satisfied her ultimate dream.  Determined not to let it escape her, she submits an ad is a pornographic personals magazine and waits for a reply.

That reply comes from Sergi Lopez and the two agree to meet at a cafe.  After small introductions, the two head to a nearby hotel room where they disappear.  The two continue for months, meeting every week and escaping to the seclusion of the hotel.  Everything was “good”, until things got complicated and the two find themselves falling in love.

A Pornographic Affair is a superb film for what it doesn’t tell us rather than what it does.  Hollywood films are always compromised by studio executives thinking the public has a single digit IQ.  Movies are oversimplified, contain no thought process and wrap up in a nice neat package.

It is the intrigue factor that makes this film worth watching.  There is a man who interviews the two all during the film and listens to them as they comment on the relationship.  We never see who he is or why he does what he does.  The names of the two lovers are never revealed as they never during the whole film refer to each other by name.  And then, there’s the question of the fantasy...

This is what storytelling in the real world is all about.  Two characters dominate the entire 80 minutes and there is no room for any other characters.  Romance stories are churned out every week in cinemas but this is totally different - it’s enchanting.

Winner of the best actress award at the 1999 Venice Film Festival, A Pornographic Affair is a film to be seen to be completely understood.  Disregard the misleading title because this film has more plot than any “porno” could provide.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 14 September 2000

From here the story follows the standard method.  Jody struggles at first and is almost booted out of the Academy before finding her true self.  There is the guy she lusts after, Cooper (Stiefel) and the guy who lusts after her, Charlie (Radetsky).  There’s the gifted, yet uptight Maureen (Pratt) whose mother pushes her hard to get results.  Throw in a few other notables - the foreign student, the gay student, the wild student and all stereotypes are covered.

Although this gives a negative impression, Centre Stage is a very entertaining film for one main reason - the musical numbers.  There are many of them during the film with emphasis on the big finale and the choreography is reminiscent of classic musicals that these days are seldom seen.  It must have taken weeks of effort to pull off the two wonderful stage productions prominent in the film’s final climax.

The producers have not succumbed to casting Hollywood big names and have selected their cast from Ballet schools across the United States.  Schull is a member of the San Francisco Ballet and Radetsky hails from the American Ballet Company.  In an even bigger surprise, Ilia Kulik, who won the men's figure skating gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, plays Sergei the Russian student.

Having a cast with such a wide knowledge of the subject material helps the film immensely and creates passion for the characters.  You get the impression they’ve all felt these pressures before and can strongly relate to what this film has to say.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 21 September 2000

The film opened to very poor reviews is the United States and the public were in agreement.  A check of the Internet Movie Database reveals over 800 people have cast a vote on the film with the average score being 3.9 out of 10.  Rumoured to cost $60m, the film made a total U.S. gross of $14.2m creating a massive write-off for the struggling MGM Studios.

So with all this negative publicity, there’s nothing I can really do to improve it as I was equally disappointed.  It’s a rip-off of all previous science fiction films.  The crew of a rescue ship travels to a distress call only to find that the person rescued carries a hidden secret and wants to kill the inhabitants of the ship.

The special effects look very mediocre, the acting is poor and the script is lacking interest beyond recognition.  This is the sort of film that should never have received a release in Australia and would have been best suited to a straight-to-video release.  It super...sucked.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 14 September 2000

Determined to prove their lecturer wrong, the three set out to create a rumour and then monitor how far it goes and by how much it changes.  Their victims are Naomi (Hudson) and Beau (Jackson) who are a well-known couple in college circles.  Naomi has a fierce reputation of being a virgin and never “giving out”.

When Derrick spies both Naomi and Beau in a romantic moment at a party, Naomi, who is drunk, refuses Beau’s advances before passing out on the bed.  Beau promptly leaves but gives the indication to his mates that he may have just scored.  This gives Derrick’s his rumour to spread - that Naomi, despite all her ethical behaviour, “gave out”.  The experiment becomes a fascinating insight at first but things start to get carried away with people’s lives being put on the line.

Lena Headey gives the film’s best performance and should score some great future roles.  The young cast should be given high praise for all their performances that seem to gel much better than other “teen flicks”.

Director Davis Guggenheim is a newcomer to cinema having worked on TV shows such as Party Of Five, NYPD Blue and ER.  He has created a very dark film right from the intriguing opening scenes in the bar.  Greg Poirier should also be commended for his intelligent screenplay.

Gossip has a lot to say about modern day culture and the power of rumours, whether true or false.  There are plenty of twists and turns and the illusion of what is real and what isn’t will have you guessing all the way to the end.  Just like life.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 14 September 2000

With four screens in action, it’s hard to keep up with everything going on but here’s my interpretation of events as the story begins.  Lauren (Tripplehorn) and Rose (Hayek) are lovers with Lauren giving Rose a lift to an audition for a new movie.  Emma (Burrows) is at her therapist (Headey) discussing her relationship problems.  In a boardroom, a meeting is to about to take place but the boss, Alex (Skarsgard) is late and is suspected of drinking again.  Finally, we meet a security guard at the front entrance of an office complex who doesn’t seem to be doing much at all.

I won’t reveal any more because this film does call upon your intelligence to keep track of all the cameras, all the characters and all the interaction.  The sound fluctuates from camera to camera depending on which has the more important action but if you listen closely, you can follow any particular camera you desire.  It’s not as difficult to watch as you might think.

The utmost praise has to go to Mike Figgis for pulling this off.  He controls one camera and Tony Cucchiari, James Wharton O’Keefe and Patrick Alexander Stewart control the other three.  Just think of the logistics of the whole creation.  All four cameramen have to make sure that none run into each other and appear on screen.  They also are on the run for the full 90 minutes without any break whatsoever.  All the actors have to be aware which camera they’re talking to and know all their actions and lines for the full duration.  Jeanne Tripplehorn has to be singled out for her dazzling performance that is emphasised by the fact she appears on screen for the entire movie.  It’s not easy and yet everything flows so well that you don’t notice the lack of editing.

Figgis has publicly stated that this film is designed for DVD usage.  When released early in 2001, you’ll be able to watch the whole movie from one camera if you like.  If watching all four, you’ll have the option of turning up the volume on whichever camera you choose.  It’s very overwhelming but it shows just what can be done in today’s world.  Technology has arrived and it’s time to move forward...