Lulu On The Bridge
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Movie Reviews of Lulu On The Bridge
Movie Review: A terrific movie that could have been great
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't want to give away the ending, but this whole movie takes place on the bridge between life and death. I think it may be Auster's best work since the New York Trilogy. It has all the nested levels of reality that those novels had and which sort of got lost in his later books. It also points up an important paradox in Auster's universe of paradoxes: You can accept a world run by chance without being a cynic. This film is all about paradox. There is a blurring or merging of opposites: The magic stone is both a love potion and Pandora's box; Izzy is both a rotten [...] and Sir Galahad; Celia is both a true hearted girl and Lulu; the movie itself is both romantic and existential, etc. In Auster's world--as in the real world--everything contains a little of its opposite, so that in the end no definition holds up.
But this chaotic symmetry is spoiled by the final cut. Celia's dark side is shown in the movie within the movie, a remake of G.W. Pabst's 1928 film Pandora's Box (based on Wedekind's play, as is Berg's opera), and these scenes of the movie being made, with Celia as Lulu, are a prominent part of Auster's script. They were shot and were still in the film during postproduction interviews given by Auster and even the film editor. But between then and the time the movie was released for rental, all those Lulu scenes got cut out! I can easily see how this would have happened in the old Hollywood studio system. Some bottom-line weasle would have considered these scenes a distraction from the rest of the movie and simply whacked 'em out without consulting the director. But in this case Auster and his producer seem to have had complete control over the project, so I can only conclude that Auster himself must have done the cutting, or at least agreed to it. Why, Paul?! If anybody has any info on this, please write to me. This movie is a good as "Smoke"--better in my opinion--but it could have been great without the cuts.
Movie Review: offbeat metaphysical mystery-romance
Summary: 4 Stars
on first vieweing, auster's directorial debut (not counting the co-directing credit from blue in the face) can be easily dismissed as jacob's ladder-via- romantic comedy drama. It's an oddball movie which will have some viewers irritated; the premise is too out there for mainstream, yet the high qoutient romance will put off the cynics. But if you're a devout auster fan, you will enjoy this. His recurring themes of coincidence and chance, and questioning identity, translate well to film, and of course, the kafka influence.I look forward to his next one. hopefully he will fine tune his ideas more. a bit more of his literary tone and depth (see philip haas' adaptation of auster's the music of chance, which is a structurally comparable film). i'd love to see new york trilogy done as a film.
the disc looks good, but it's only shown in full frame. I wonder if it's the correct aspect ratio. The deleted scenes look like its shot 1.85:1.
Movie Review: Lulu is a bridge
Summary: 4 Stars
I've seen this movie twice on cable, Stars or Encore. Maybe HBO. It's a sweet little thing about love unconditional. I like that Lou Reed has a role, Not Lou Reed. Would buy this DVD just to see him on screen (Lou Reed rocks!). The film was good, but best was it introduced me to Pandora's Box, a play and then silent film starring Louise Brooks as Lulu. The play and movie are classics; Brooksie, was a classic beauty. She embodies everything that was the Jazz Age flapper.Movie Review: Great acting, Great story
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a great story with a great cast (refering to Mira Sorvino and Gina Gershon mostly). It was a touching story and I would willingly watch it again. To anyone who remotely likes Mira or Gina and is in the mood for something different, I would recomend this film.Movie Review: Classic Harvey Keitel as well as a different side - however storyline has its flaws
Summary: 3 Stars
Harvey Keitel is one of those actors who might not have a ten million dollar leading role, but he is an actor that has built up a large following. One reason for Keitel's popularity is because he has often been stereotyped as a either a thug or gruff type of character - and has been able to pull off the role very well. However Keitel has proven he is a very versatile actor and has proven this with a very nice portfolio of work over the past two decades. Keitel proves his versatility in what was an unnoticed film in 1998 called "Lulu on the Bridge". Despite some holes in the storyline, Keitel delivers a very solid performance and one that should keep his fans happy. "Lulu on the Bridge" is a modern day romance story with a touch of fantasy added in. While the movie itself will entertain you, I did feel that this movie could have even been better.
In "Lulu on the Bridge", Keitel plays Isaac "Izzy" Maurer. Maurer is a jazz saxophonist in a little-known club band called Katmandu. While not a criminal, we get a picture throughout the movie that Maurer has led anything but a saintly life. While playing a performance at a New York City club, a madman sniper comes into the club and starts firing his gun. In the chaos, Maurer is struck by sniper's bullet. He suffers a major injury and loses a lung as a result of the shooting. The loss of the lung ends the career that Maurer cherished - his musical career. Maurer tries to adjust to life after music, but finds himself going the loner route. In an effort to keep Maurer from being lonely, Maurer's ex-wife Hannah (played by Gina Gershon) and her boyfriend, filmmaker Phillip Kleinman (played by Mandy Pantakin) befriend him. However, Izzy still seems destined for a lonely life. That all changes when one night while walking home, he stumbles on the body of a murdered man named Stanley Mar. On Mar, Maurer finds a napkin with a telephone number scribbled on it and a box containing a mysterious stone. Maurer soon discovers the stone has magical properties. When he dials the phone number on the napkin, this turns out to be the phone number of a much younger woman named Celia Burns (played by Mira Sorvino). Celiat is a struggling actress who also moonlights as a waitress. Maurer goes to Burns' apartment and has a rocky meeting with her. Maurer then shows Celia the stone and its magical properties. An "aura" of good seems to transform the two of them - and in particular Maurer. This leads to an immediate "connect" between the two and they quickly become lovers. Maurer becomes very happy in his relationship with Maurer and begins to see a side to himself he hadn't seen before. However things change when an anthropologist named Dr. Van Horn (played Willem Dafoe) wants to get possession of the stone. While Celia is out of town shooting a movie, Van Horn hunts down and captures Maurer. While Van Horn wants to get possession of the stone, Maurer does everything to protect Celia who is in possession of the stone.
There a lot of positives with this movie. To start with, the performances by Keitel, Sorvino, and Dafoe are outstanding. In particular, Keitel's performance is the one that stands out. Keitel does a great job at showing his stereotypical gruff character when showing the "old Izzy". However, we also see Keitel do a great job with his softer side. I liked how Keitel showed the kinder and gentler Izzy - and he really showed a genuine love toward Celia as the movie went out. There is one scene where Izzy has a "relapse" to his older side. This happens while Izzy is working as a busboy in the restaurant where Celia works in - it's classic Harvey Keitel. Sorvino is radiant throughout the whole movie. Cast as the villain, Dafoe does a great job. The scenes in which Van Horn "interrogates" Maurer are terrific. The part where Dafoe does his own rendition of "Singing in the Rain" is definitely a scene stealer.
Overall, this was a very good romance story. However, there are some things that could have been done better. I thought the beginning of the movie needed to do a better job at establishing Maurer's "bad side". We really don't pick up on this until we are into the meat of the storyline. I did like the whole idea of the fantasy angle involving the magic stone. However, the "instantaneous love" between Maurer and Celia almost happens too fast for my liking. I really feel the movie could have benefited a lot more from showing how the romance grows and blossoms between Izzy and Maurer. The other weak point is the character of Dr. Van Horn isn't developed very well either. We don't get a lot of information on why Van Horn is obsessed with getting the stone - and how he knows so much about Izzy Maurer.
I also really liked the ending of this movie. This is one of these films where it's going to be very difficult to pick things up in the middle of the story. You need to watch this movie from start to finish. I found the ending to have a great twist - and best of all was that it wasn't predictable. While there were holes in the storyline, I'm still surprised that this movie didn't garner more attention - in particular for Sorvino and Keitel. The Sorvino-Keitel chemistry was very evident in this movie. I would love to see these two paired up in another movie someday. It is worth checking out Keitel's performance in this one - even though it isn't quite his stereoypical role. As for the movie - in an era where Hollywood is flooded with remakes and un-original storylines, this is one original movie worth checking out.