Believing he has killed an English officer in a duel, Irish rogue Redmond Barry (Ryan O'Neal) flees his home and joins the army. Through a mixture of cunning and luck, Redmond climbs the social ladder and reinvents himself as the nobleman Barry Lyndon. Based on William Makepeace Thackeray's The Luck of Barry Lyndon, this isn't Kubrick's best movie, but it's certainly his most exquisitely shot movie. Working with cinematographer John Alcott, and using lenses developed by NASA so they could film even in candlelight, every frame is a masterpiece, evocative of the painting of Gainsborough and Hogarth. The first half, which chronicles Barry's misadventures across Europe during and after the Seven Years' War, is stronger than the second, which goes some way to justifying the claim that the film is exceptionally slow. O'Neal, who was forced on Kubrick by the money men, is something of a vacant presence throughout, although it's fair to say that all the actors in the film were more require to pose than act.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
In order to take revenge on a former lover, the Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) challenges the Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich) to corrupt his young fiance, but Valmont is only interested in seducing the religious Madame de Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer), leading de Merteuil to raise the stakes. Based on Christopher Hampton's 1985 play Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which was itself adapted from Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' 1782 novel, this is an elegant looking film about truly wicked people doing truly wicked things in the most elegant way possible. Despite the excess of elegance, the film drags in places, has some serious tonal issues (is it a black comedy, serious drama, or bedroom farce?) and the ending is a little rushed. As is often the case in stories like this, the wicked characters are far more entertaining, and bearable, than their victims, with Close and Malkovich running rings around the rest of the cast, notably poor baby faced Keanu Reeves, who is as misplaced here as Pauly Shore would be in an Ingmar Bergman movie.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
After attempting to take his own life, aging composer Antonio Salieri (Oscar winning F. Murray Abraham) is taken to a sanatorium where he confesses to a priest his role in the downfall and death of rival composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce). Based on 1979 stage play by Peter Shaffer (who also wrote the script), Amadeus is proof that you should never let historical accuracy get in the way of a good story. The people were real, some of the events did take place, but everything else is pure fabrication, pulled together from various apocryphal anecdotes about Salieri and Mozart's relationship to form an absorbing tale of jealousy, obsession and revenge, which is best seen in it's original theatrical form, instead of the unnecessary, overlong director's cut. Alas, there's no cut that saves Constance Mozart from Shaffer reducing her to a nagging, disapproving wife.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tom Jones (Albert Finney) is a charming young scoundrel popular with the ladies, yet his heart (unlike the rest of his body) only belongs his neighbour, Sophie (Susannah York). They wish to marry, but Tom's low birth, and the schemes of his enemies, drive them apart. Amadeus was one of the most deserving Best Picture winners, but Tom Jones was one of the least, only winning because the competition that year was America America, Cleopatra, How the West Was Won, and Lilies of the Field. There were plenty of great films released that year, but seems the Academy members skipped them all. Adapted from Henry Fielding's 1749 novel, this is a lively comedy with a lot of visual flair and a strong cast, but apart from a couple of memorable sequences, like the horniest dinner scene in film history and a hunting scene that shows off the savagery and brutality of the supposed gentry, this is nothing more than a disposable farce about the higher up behaving badly.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
During the French and Indian War, sisters Cora and Alice Munro (Madeleine Stowe and Jodhi May) are travelling to meet their father when they are attacked and saved by hunter Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his adopted Mohican family. Less of a new adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's 1826 novel, and more of a remake of the 1936 film. Mann takes a rare trip away from urban thrillers to create a sweeping historical romance complete with bloody r-rated violence, so there's something for everyone. As is often the case with Mann, it's the skill and professionalism of his protagonists that fascinates him the most, more than the film's central romance, which is fairly formulaic, the typical tale of a high society woman falling for the rugged frontiersman. This was Day-Lewis at the peak of his brief heartthrob phase when Hollywood tried its hardest to mold him into the next big dashing leading man, which he rejected as fast as he could since roles like Hawkeye offered little challenge, beyond the physical requirements. The weaknesses in the characters and romance are easily off set by the stirring scenery, Dante Spinotti's lush cinematography, the memorable score by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman, and Mann's typically detailed craftmanship. Shame then that Chingachgook and Uncas, the title characters, are sidelined in favour Hawkeye and Cora, who is meant to be mixed race, but has unfortunately been white washed.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011 More Mark Greig
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