Little White Lies - 03.2020 - 04.2020

REVIEW 089

e do not treasure the singular talent of actor Jennifer Jason

Leigh half as much as we should. Her ’90s run alone cast most

contemporaries into the deep shade. Robert Altman’s insidiously

effective, low-slung crime caper Kansas City takes its good sweet time

to lay out its stall, though it’s quite clear from the opening frames that

Leigh has gone all-in and more for her role as the motor-mouthed moll

who can’t stop gabbing through a pair of crooked, rotting teeth. The story

takes place in 1934 across a flagrantly corrupt election day, in which

transients are bussed in under the gun to vote early and vote often. Harry

Belafonte’s sage-like jazz club owner Seldom Seen has taken Dermot

Mulroney’s Johnny prisoner for attempting to rob a bundle of cash from

a colleague. Leigh’s Blondie then takes Miranda Richardson’s society

dame and druggie Carolyn Stilton hostage, in the hope that her husband

Henry (Michael Murphy), who is running for office, can square things

with Seldom and have Johnny released unharmed.

Imagine a Mexican stand-off with kidnapping in place of guns, and

you’re almost there – each party waiting for the other to slip up first. It’s a

grindingly pessimistic film, a portrait of an American Midwest fired up on

the juices of artistic creativity ( jazz), but in dire need of moral salvation in

all other areas. The fascinating relationship between Blondie and Carloyn

develops to a place where the shackles ,of their gender almost begin to

supersede their disparities in class and social upbringing. Almost, but

not quite. As the ensemble all slide that little closer to oblivion, Altman

also highlights a more acceptable and pleasurable brand of interpersonal

warfare, as two riffing sax soloists enter into an extended face-off.

DAVID JENKINS

Kansas City

Directed by 1996

ROBERT ALTMAN

Starring

JENNIFER JASON LEIGH

MIRANDA RICHARDSON

HARRY BELAFONTE

Released 2 MARCH

Blu-ray

W

he great French filmmaker Eric Rohmer mostly made films which

were individual fragments of a wider series. His first grand project is

referred to as the ‘Six Moral Tales’, and his second is called the ‘Comedies

and Proverbs’. Later he would make the ‘Four Seasons’. This box set

collects together the work from that second cycle, starting with 1981’s

The Aviator’s Wife, and finishing with 1987’s The Girlfriend’s Boyfriend.

Lack of space and the need for brevity force me to highlight two pristine

gems in a set full of them: the first is 1984’s Full Moon in Paris, which

is powered by an extraordinary, subtly emotive lead turn from Pascale

Ogier, who tragically died aged 25 before the film was released. It’s a

study of city versus suburb, and wryly comments on the different types

of men associated with those distinct urban spaces. Ogier’s Louise flits

back and forth, trying to decide where and with whom she attains the

greater feeling of contentment. The writing and the staging are typically

masterful, and the film also introduces one of the director’s pet motifs:

the dramatic possibilities of indecision.

The idea of being tragically unable to articulate the impulses of your

heart is the premise of 1986’s The Green Ray which, from certain angles,

is a film about an annoying woman (improvised by Marie Rivière) who

can’t decide where she wants to go on holiday. It is also one of, if not the,

greatest film ever made, as it manages to parlay a host of trivial domestic

and romantic concerns into a story which ends up revealing the true nature

of spirituality and, quite possibly, the meaning of life. The bottom line here

is that every individual film here is worth the asking price alone, so do not

dally if you’ve yet to experience these wonderful, life-enhancing works.

DAVID JENKINS

Eric Rohmer: Comedies

and Proverbs

Directed by

ERIC ROHMER

Starring

MARIE RIVIÈRE

PASCALE OGIER

AMANDA LANGLET

Released 20 APRIL

Blu-ray

T

1981-87