Sex, Lies, and Videotape
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Movie Reviews of Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Movie Review: Phenomenal film, but the DVD version doesn't work!!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
A true masterpiece that is at once beautiful and stunning. But does anyone own a DVD version that works properly? (On both copies I bought, the audio was screwed up).Movie Review: Interviews about sex
Summary: 4 Stars
The story is about a married couple named Ann and John, portrayed by Andie MacDowell and Steven Gallagher. The marriage lacks any sparks plus the fact that John is having sex on a regular basis with Ann's sister, Cynthia, played by Laura San Giacomo.
John is a lawyer moving up the ladder, Ann consults her therapist regularly, with whom she discusses her lack of interest in sex and compulsive ways. Cynthia tends bar at some dive with one regular customer that gets on Ann's nerves.
One day an old college buddy of John's appears wanting to face his past and find a place in town to live for an unspecified period of time. Graham is played by James Spader and spends a night or two at Ann and John's place before apartment hunting.
While John sends Ann off to look at apartments with Graham, he calls Cynthia for a quick romp before heading to the office. There is an interesting scene in a restaurant with Graham and Ann afterwards where the topic turns to sex. For some reason Graham confides in Ann that he is impotent.
What I found funny is the number of times Ann and Cynthia are talking on the phone and then Cynthia and John planning their next tryst. Once Graham moves into town the talk between these three at separate times is based on what they know and want to know about Graham.
Each time Cynthia and John are together it becomes apparent that once the sex is over Cynthia wants him gone. They really have nothing in common but the sex is intense after Cynthia relays the videotaping incident.
It sure looked like Cynthia spent more time with Ann and John separately than Ann and John were together. I did not see why they were even married in the first place. Ann seemed to be attracted to Graham in an off sort of way.
The ending left gaps for me because the sisters discussed their Mother's birthday and I did not see the significance of this discussion. The drunk in the bar got on my nerves always saying the same thing. I could not tell what line of work Ann was interested in pursuing or involved in.
I still sat glued to my couch watching Sex, Lies and Videotape wanting to see something that never came to light. I hoped that Ann and Graham would connect because I never saw a relationship between her and John. The sisters had a bond but also were jealous of what the other had. Graham mentioned spending nine years structuring his life, which was not really explained.
It was an interesting movie that was on the dark side with sexual undertones but never showing anything sexual but the language was of adult matter. I liked the brutal honesty of the characters and how they were all motivated in some way by sex.
Movie Review: Still a voyeur's delight
Summary: 4 Stars
The name of this Cannes Film Festival award winner belies its age in the digital era. Still, this talky little film -- far more European than American -- seduces its audience with its gentle tales about people, their sexuality and, ultimately, their views of their own lives.
What I found most remarkable watching this film 16 years after its release is how potent is the "videotape" message in an era when people have trashed their video technology. Second most remarkable is how little Andie McDowell has aged in more than a decade and a half. The woman must have some of nature's best genes or one of Hollywood's best surgeons!
If you've never seen this talkfest, it involves the reunion of two old friends, nine years apart, that ignites a fuse of passion, understanding and exposure of lies, sex and emotions that distrubs the life of the four main participants -- a man, his disturbed wife, his mistress and the friend. These discoveries all revolve around the friend's impotence and its replacement, his involvement with videotape.
The aura of this film most reminds me of "The Swimming Pool", a more recent entrant in the drama-sexuality sweepstakes with an equally European feel. That movie was European, of course, but shares an aura and similar cinematic likeness to this one. While "sex, lies & videotape" is no mystery, it arrives at conclusions similar to those in "The Swimming Pool".
So watch this little movie to see how something seemingly based in yesterday's technolgoy can be germane to a new era of techheads. It's an inventive film and one not for all tastes, but you can't say it's boring. You may hate it for pretension but you won't fall asleep watching.
Movie Review: Fascinating Debut
Summary: 4 Stars
Steven Soderbergh's now legendary debut was the first his film I saw. It was in 1989, during the Moscow International Film Festival. Only later I found out that Sodebergh was 29 when he wrote the screenplay in eight days during a trip to Los Angeles and made the film for $1.8 million. His independent movie was a real hit that was selected for Cannes Film Festival and won the Palme d'Or and the best actor prize for James Spader.
The film concerns four attractive and intelligent young people. Ann (Andy MacDowell in the best role I've ever seen her) is married to John (Gallagher) but their sexual life is practically non-existent since Ann finds sex over-rated, and to simply put it, she does not enjoy or even need it. John is having an affair with Ann's sexy younger sister, Cynthia (San Giacomo) who seems to resent Ann. Enters Graham (Spader), John's college friend with the unusual hobby of videotaping women while they describe their sexual fantasies and very important skill - he knows how to listen.
I had seen many movies before "sex, lies and videotape" and I've seen plenty since but it has a special place in my memory. It was the first film I had seen that dealt with and talked about very intimate topics of sexuality, satisfaction, jealousy, sisters' relationship, marital problems and loyalty, the secret longings in all of us, and the ever mysterious nature of erotic desire with such level of honesty, openness, and intelligence. The writing, the dialogs, and the acting are superb with James Spader and Laura San Giacomo simply outstanding and Andie McDowell very convincing.
4.5/5 or 9/10
Movie Review: Nothing Nude; Yet Something Lewd
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw this movie yesterday with lot of anticipation, for it is the first venture for Steven Soderbergh. His Traffic was a wonderful movie that captured the essence of drug dealing from the views of diverse people, from mongers to parents. And of course Erin Brockovich was outstanding too. But this is a very different plot, which revolves around four people and the lack of communication between them, their lives, their lies and a voyeur's videotapes. <Spoilers herein>
Ann is pent-up sexually and her husband John has an affair with her sister, of course without ann's knowledge. In the meantime, Graham, a college friend of John comes into the lives of the three and changes it rather dramatically. Everyone lies about their interpersonal lives and Graham happens to drive the two women out to reveal their secrets and change their lives with the women agreeing to talk about sexual relations. He videotapes them. Admitting that he is an impotent in the presence of a girl, Graham gets excited by watching the videos of women talking and doing whatever they want to do.
Alhough the characters are not necessarily the best choices, in my opinion (I am not a great fan of Andie MacDowell by the way), they blend into their assigned roles pretty well. Its indeed amazing that the movie could be achieved without any nudity. Awkward and repelling, nevertheless well-made with the Soderbergh's touch.