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Hurlyburly - DVD
Director: Anthony Drazan
Writers: David Rabe (based on his play)
Producers: Anthony Drazan and Richard N. Gladstein
Studio: New Line Cinema
Characters:
Sean Penn - Eddie
Kevin Spacey - Mickey
Robin Wright Penn - Darlene
Chazz Palminteri - Phil
Gary Shandling - Artie
Anna Paquin - Donna
Meg Ryan - Bonnie
Features: Interactive Menus, Animated Menus, The Love Meter Game: How Do You Rate?, Original Theatrical Trailer, Cast & Crew Biographies, Filmographies, Widescreen 2.35:1, ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC], ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Surround [CC]
Review:
'Accessible' is not the first word that jumps to mind when one tries to
describe Hurlyburly.
Fortunately for fans of any of the numerous great things about this DVD,
neither, certainly, is 'bad'.
If you found that sentence difficult to follow, Hurlyburly may not be
for you, cause that was
nothing. This movie has the most dense dialogue I have heard in quite a
while -- fast, too.
New Line's Hurlyburly was the result of the reworking of Rabe's
critically acclaimed play of the
same name, and though the dialogue feels a lot like a stage production, the
movie as a whole has
escaped this fate and manages to stand quite well as a film. Credit in this
department is due equally
to Drazan (director) and Changwei Gu (cinematographer), who really manage to
bring an open quality to
a movie that could have been overly claustrophobic -- at least 80% of the
film is shot in 1 room of
Eddie and Mickey's home. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, though.
I found out about this movie when I was checking IMDB
(the Internet Movie Database) for upcoming Sean Penn projects (of whom I
consider myself a fan). When
I saw the rest of the cast list, I rapidly grew excited, as should anyone.
Oh, while I'm thinking about
it, everybody really should make a point to see She's So Lovely --
it's a Cassavetes movie starring
the spouses Penn that I feel was cruelly overlooked... See State of
Grace too -- It's got the two
of them and Gary Oldman and Ed Harris to boot... Anyway, that's enough of
that.
My point was that I saw the movie without knowing exactly what to expect.
All I was sure of was that
the acting was going to be brilliant, which I feel is the case. Actually,
the execution of the movie
is brilliant in every way -- it all works exactly as it should.
Unfortunately, no matter how brilliantly
it's executed, the movie is not for everyone. It's definitely two hours and
three minutes of ceaseless
quasi-philosophical rambling. It's definitely full of constant drug use,
misogeny, and violent and/or
abusive language. And it's definitely dark dark dark. Not like Very Bad
Things dark, either...
I would definitely call it the type of movie that should be seen before a
purchase if the DVD itself
weren't so damn good.
New Line always does a good job with their films, and Hurlyburly is
far from an exception. The
sound (5.1) is great, though a little yelling is about the most exciting
sound in the movie. The video
(16x9 enhanced) is quite nice, showing off Mickey and Eddie's glass and
metal apartment (among other things)
to great effect. There are also two commentaries -- one with Drazan and
Rabe, the other with Penn, Rabe,
composer David Baerwald, and extensive input from 'social commentator' Janet
Brown. Of course, we also
get the trailer (which presents the movie as more straight comedy than it
is) and cast/crew bios. Other
than the Snapper case, I have no complaints, and that is pretty
insignificant in the grand scheme of
things.
I know I never really said what the movie was about, and for that I
apologize, but it's not very easy
to explain. If you want the actual plot events, it's mostly about
'relationships', to be rather vague.
If you want to know about the social subtext to the whole thing, I don't
feel fully qualified to answer.
As they say, though, there is as much between the lines as one would care to
look for.
In summary, anybody who is excited by the cast should give Hurlyburly
a rent. Anybody who is
excited by the cast and isn't intimidated by 2+ hours of high-octane,
coke-fueled ranting for $24.98
(retail) should probably buy it
(Reel.com
has it for $17.99 as of 8/30/99)...
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