At the movies
'Brighton Beach Memoirs'
evokes humor and nostalgia
The year is 1937. The place is Brighton
Beach, Brooklyn. New York The main
character is Eugene Morris lerome. a
humorously perceptive 15-year-old boy con
fronting the obstacles of adolescence, par
ticularly sex. while his family struggles to en
dure the hardships of the Great Depression.
Review by Kevin long
This movie adaptation based upon the
Neil Simon play. "Brighton Beach Memoirs."
which was first performed on stage in 1982.
heartily captures the difficult situations and
severe circumstances that many people faced
during the Depression, while also showing
some of the potentially positive consequences
of that crisis, such as its ability to bring
families closer together and make people ap
preciate the simple things in life, like a job.
food at mealtimes, and each other.
In the beginning of the movie we meet the
witty and comical Eugene (Jonathan Silver
man) while he is in his backyard pretending to
be a pitcher for the New York Yankees, one of
his two major obsessions. A little while later
we learn that he is keeping a diary of sorts,
which he refers to as his private memoirs, and
that a career in writing is not out of the ques
tion since he believes one must be un
mist.ik.Hbly Italian to be a great ballplayer.
Eugene is (ewish and his mother prepares
spaghetti with ketchup. hence he believes his
chances are shot.
Eugene serves as our guide throughout the
movie, and as such, he narrates in some parts
of the movie and soliloquizes at other points,
thereby keeping us abreast of any vital infor
mation we need while also providing addi
tional humorous depth to the movie.
While Eugene is continually reaching new
highs in his obsessions with sex. his family
falls further into the circumstantial turmoil of
the Depression, and it is here that the story
begins to develop in several directions. There
are the loss of jobs, arguments among family
members, situations concerning morals and
ethics. Eugene's adolescent grooming, and af
fecting hints of World War II. All of these fac
tors combine to amplify the harsh economic
and political conditions of the Depression but
in the end we are treated to a very interesting
and enjoyable conclusion.
All the characters are excellently cast and
each gives an outstanding performance. This
is doubly important because most of the movie
is confined to the family house and surroun
ding area and. as an audience, we rely heavily
upon the quality of acting to entertain us and
not simply catchy chase scenes or flashy
special effects.
Review
Continued from Page 6
Weir (“Witness,” and “The
Year of Living Dangerously”),
the film seems to belong more to
screenwriter Haul Schrader,
noted screenwriter of “Taxi
Driver” and "Raging Bull” and
director of “Mishima" and
many more films. Like the
characters in many of
Schrader's works. Allie is a man
driven by his own unrecognized
obsessions, so driven that he
loses sight of those around him.
Alii*; is desperate to create, to
amaze and to impress (the
reason for his inventions?).
When something becomes taken
for granted he searches for
another mountain to climb.
The screenplay is rich in im
plied contradiction and irony,
but director Weir makes little of
t he opportunities to explore
these conflicts. A scene rife
with promise shows the fox
children, playing with the
village kids, creating a psuedo
capitalist play town they call
Anchor, where leaves are used
for money and the children take
on roles of banker, storekeeper,
schoolteacher ami such I hey
construct a game based on their
memories of home life, but after
one brief scene the issue is laid
to rest.
What Weir can do is create
vivid characters and he has
found one in Allie Fox, a genius
whose grandiose visions are
limited by the myopic demands
of his self-centered needs. Har
rison Ford gives his finest per
formance to date (he is sure to
get an Oscar nomination) as the
driven Allie and he succeeds in
presenting the character in a
tragic light
It is clear that Allie hasn't
come to the Mosquito Coast to
bring civilization but to create
his own vision of a perfect
world, with himself as inventor
philosopher king. It's a world
that has no room for faith, only
science and reason (thus his
conflict with Spellgood). yet on
the darker side Allie cannot
understand his own (unscien
tific) drives and cannot accept
the similar emotional needs of
others, his family in particular
As Allie becomes more deman
ding and dictatorial he is quite
easy to dislike, yet moments of
weakness and vulnerability
show through. We can in no
way approve of his actions, hut
neither can we abandon him
What Weir misses in this
aspec t is a crucial melding of
the character's contradictions
In one scene Allie is the good
father, in another the frustrated
pioneer, but in none are we
given an opportunity to see
these two opposites drift Isick
and forth Schrader’s work
brilliantly explores how inner
drives manifest themselves in
the personalities of his
characters, how they change
and how these personalities
outwardly manifest certain con
tradictions. Weir only scratc lies
the s u r f a c e of t hes e
((intradictions.
"The Mosquito Coast" is .1
fine motion picture highlighted
bv powerful performsm es and a
spellbinding story, but the pro
mise inherent in the script is not
fulfilled in the finished film. It's
not hard to understand why; the
film is a great risk to begin w ith
because of its downbeat nature
and the disturbing transforma
tion of Allie Fox. By dismissing
the more challenging contradic
tions in the screenplay,
however, the film comes off as a
mild disappointment
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