Director Costa-Gavras is well known for a filmography that trades in overt political themes, and his English-language debut, 1982’s superb Missing, is no different.
The film unfolds in an unspecified South American country but is adapted, by Costa-Gavras and Donald Stewart, from a book by Thomas Hauser that dramatizes the controversial disappearance of American filmmaker and journalist Charles Horman during the 1973 coup in Chile. Once Charles (John Shea), a thorn in the side of his host country’s military ruling elite ever since his arrival, disappears, his wife Beth (Sissy Spacek) and father Ed (Jack Lemmon) wade into a bureaucratic morass to try to find out what happened to their loved one.
Bold and gutsy, Missing is a political tract that doesn’t pull punches about unsavory American complicity. But it also works just fine as a family drama (“I just want my boy back,” pleads Lemmon’s character at one point). The acting is fantastic (Spacek and Lemmon have an edgy chemistry, highlighting their different tacks of preferred action), but Missing is also a film of small, telling details — whether it’s of a Marlboro man billboard looming in the background as a reminder of American influence, or the lack of a handshake for Beth when first visiting the ambassador’s office. Vangelis’ score, a thin string of dread that occasionally builds to a delicate aria, abets the proceedings wonderfully.
Criterion’s wonderful new release of Missing comes spread out over two discs, in a sturdy plastic case that features a two-spindle snap-in tray on the inner righthand side of the case, leaving room on the lefthand side for a nice color booklet that features an interview with Costa-Gavras, an open letter from Horman family friend Terry Simon, the official U.S. State Department response to Missing, and a new essay by film critic Michael Wood. The restored, high-definition video transfer, overseen by Costa-Gavras, is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, in monaural English and Spanish, with optional English subtitles.
The film itself, along with its theatrical trailer, reside on one disc, while a second disc of supplements is anchored by new video interviews with Costa-Gavras; the real-life Joyce Harmon, mother to Charles; producers Edward Lewis, Sean Daniel and Mildred Lewis; and Hauser, the author of the film’s aforementioned source material. There are also video interviews from the 1982 Cannes Film Festival with Costa-Gavras, Lemmon and the parents of Horman, plus highlights from a 2002 Charles Horman Truth Project event honoring Missing, with Spacek and a variety of other actors in attendance. Rounding things out is a video interview with Peter Kornbluh, author of The Pinochet File, examining declassified documents concerning the coup in Chile and the case of Charles Horman. To purchase the Criterion DVD via Half, click here; to purchase via Amazon, click here. B+ (Movie) A- (Disc)
Daily Archives: October 21, 2008
New Beverly Hosts Clive Barker Two-Fer
Given how royally screwed he and production company Lakeshore Entertainment were by Lionsgate’s air-quote distribution of The Midnight Meat Train, it’s not too terribly surprising that noted horror author Clive Barker would want to talk about it some, and probably drop a few sharply worded H-bombs. Los Angeles audiences will have the chance to reap the benefits of his discontent then, when, on October 29 and 30, under the “IGN Presents” banner, a double feature of the aforementioned film and Candyman, both written Barker, will screen at the New Beverly Cinema.
Barker himself will appear in person on October 29 to introduce the films and conduct a Q&A in between shows. Additional special guests may also appear, and door prizes and other giveaways will also be on hand. As with all shows at the New Beverly, the films are being shown as a $7 double feature, with additional discounts for students and seniors.
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Testing the maxim that happiness can’t be contrived, High School Musical 3: Senior Year sets off a joy bomb, and attempts to charm tween-leaning audiences through an explosion of primary colors, bright production design and sheer, indefatigable force of will. The first film in the Disney Channel’s huge hit TV movie series to receive a theatrical release is a relentlessly chipper toe-tapper, bluntly effective in its staged cathartic moments but powered by a puttering dramatic engine.
Against the spring backdrop of their senior year, a half dozen students at New Mexico’s Eastern High try to juggle competing interests for their time and attention, and figure out the paths for their respective futures. Fresh off winning their second state basketball championship, school hunk and big-man-on-campus Troy (Zac Efron) seems destined to follow in his father’s footsteps to the local university, by accepting a basketball scholarship alongside his best friend Chad (Corbin Bleu). Giving Troy pause, though, is the fact that his girlfriend Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) is headed out-of-state to Stanford.
As they prepare for one last school musical, eagerly anticipated by the self-involved Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and her more open-hearted twin brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), the group’s drama teacher adds a wrinkle to events by announcing that recruiters from Juilliard, the prestigious performing arts academy, will be on hand to observe the award one scholarship to a student at yet to be determined.
Returning series director Kenny Ortega creates an immaculately presented fashion showcase, and places a heavy emphasis on theatrical gesticulation that makes High School Musical 3 seem ever solicitous of its audience’s feelings, in ways perhaps contrived but no less forceful and effective. A couple musical numbers are shot in seemingly hurried fashion, with tight alternating close-ups, but for the most part there’s a nice fleshing-out consistent with the bump in production value from the previous made-for-television movies.
Somewhat unfortunately, the conflict here is of the paint-by-numbers variety, even for teen dramas. Sharpay’s conniving and antagonism is rather blithely dismissed, never carrying over to later scenes. Similarly, because it’s not evidenced by actual friction in their relationship, the emotional drift between Gabriella and Troy as they prepare for different post-high school paths never seems like more than a set-up for song. Troy, too, often seems an incidental bystander in his own unfolding future, the one exception to this being “My Own Dream,” which is the movie’s requisite Footloose-style, solo freak-out number, complete with shifting floor and ceiling dance bits to simulate angsty teen disorientation and confusion.
That said, there’s not much in the film’s look or execution to dissuade embrace by its core audience. Production design and overall packaging are slick, and the performances are sunny and engaging. (Walt Disney, G, 109 minutes)