Synopsis: In London, a tennis instructor starts to socialize with one of his rich pupils, and date his sister, and flirt with his fiancée.
Appraisal: It has a nicely flowing first hour (or a little more than that, I think), then gets a little repetitive, with Nola acting naggingly and naively beyond belief, and surreal, with Chris constantly talking on his cell phone without a reasonable explanation and no one suspecting anything. The story is clearly a variation on the widely known novel "An American Tragedy" by Theodore Dreiser, first published in 1925; it is also a reworking of the director's own "Crimes and Misdemeanors". The movie develops the theme of luck as related to an object in motion which must pass a given barrier; four physical instances are analyzed: a tennis ball must go beyond a net; a wedding ring must fly over the rail of a bridge; Chris's spermatozoid must reach Nola's egg; and Chris's spermatozoid must reach Chloe's egg. Some of these events are considered good luck, others bad. They are all metaphors for social ascension, in a way; also, for the director's career, from stand-up acts to gag-oriented comedy to philosophical melodrama as in here. Some say it was bad luck for us that he made it through; others, quite the opposite.
Rating: 60
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment