Distractions looks at the new movies
‘Quest’ OK, but no masterpiece
“Quest for Fire"
Everett McGill, Rae Dawn Chong
B CinemaWorld
"Quest for Fire" tries to pass itself off
as a cross between "2001" and "Star
Wars " Well, yeah, it is, sort of
Its similarity to “2001" is that they both
use primeval man to tell about man's
quest for knowledge The link to "Star
Wars' is less direct: neither has a vast,
important message, but rely on sci-fi
detail and action for their success
But that's where the similarities end
"Quest lacks the metaphysical feel and
the space grace of "2001,” and the
compelling adventure and humor of
"Star Wars ” Instead, it depends on
technical details to make up for what it
lacks in suspense, comedy and insight.
The plot of "Quest for Fire" is simple
The Ulam tribe is a primitive one that
knows how to use fire, but not how to
make it One day the nasty Wagabou
tribe comes along and attacks them,
sending them in flight to a marsh, where
their fire dies Our hero, Naoh (Everett
McGill), and two comrades go in search
of fire, carrying the embers in a weird
contraption made of animal hide that
seemingly keeps the coals going without
burning a whole through the bottom
Pretty nifty, no?
On their quest, they encounter a
number of obstacles, including cannibal
istic tribes, saber-toother tigers, woolly
mammoths, quicksand and lack of
women They also discover slapstick
comedy, the missionary position, leafy
vegetables, love and, most importantly,
the Campfire Girl method of fire starting.
All in all. it's a pretty beneficial journey
Some scenes are ponderous,
predictable or fail to draw the audience
into the action Others are very good,
with fresh humor and believable action
For instance, when our heroes are stuck
under a small overhang on a stormy day,
Naoh and his mate (Rae Dawn Chong),
well, mate The other two men are un
derstandably a bit envious, and must sit a
short distance away and wait for the
weather to clear When one of the two
touches the other softly, the latter lets
out a howl of warning (Evidently the
writers felt that homosexuality didn't
come around until later.)
Director Jean-Jacques Annaud con
centrates on technical elements to make
the film work The makeup, for instance,
is magnificent Utilizing latex masks and
body suits of hand-sewed hair, the
makeup crew created a believable array
of features for individual members of
different tribes.
Other technical elements weren't so
great The animals used in the film were
laughable The saber-toothed tigers re
sembled lionesses with drinking straws
stuck in their teeth. The woolly
mammoths looked like great piles of
decaying carpet.
And then there's the music. Granted
it's hard to go wrong with six-channel
Dolby, but at times Phillippe Sarde s
score was overbearing, with angelic
voices soaring as sparks ignite a wisp of
grass
Two fine Canadian producers, John
Kemeny and Denis Heroux, and cinema
tographer Claude Agostini went to great
lengths to find just the right locations,
filming in remote areas of Canada,
Scotland and Kenya Although there are
some nice shots in the film, the settings
are too varied: it almost seems like our
heroes have traversed the entire conti
nent in their search, jumping from
climate to climate.
As a result, the film is a good diversion,
but hardly on the scale of ‘‘2001 ” or
"Star Wars." It offers a few nice shots,
some amusing moments and some
downright clever scenes But director
Jean-Jacques Annaud relies too much
on technical miracles which don’t quite
materialize, and the film comes out un
even and less than perfect.
One note of caution: for some reason
parents may think “Quest for Fire” is an
excellent educational film for their kid
dies. But it's rated “R" for a reason:
there's a lot of violence and enough
rear-approach sex in the film to turn
children off of sex forever. If you have the
misfortune to sit near a clan of young
sters — move. Or be prepared to hear a
lot of distracting questions ("Is he trying
to eat her, Mommy? Well, what’s he
doing? etc ") that may spoil the film for
you.
by matt meyer
‘Victor/Victoria/
‘Missing,’ ‘Porky’s,’
‘White Hotel,’
Jools Holland, Dan
Siegel, Karla Bonoff