Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1997)
2 8 ▼ a u g u st 1, 1 9 9 7 ▼ ju st ou t PEACE O F M IN D W ITH $50 OFF M c$M iniblind' FREE M EA SU R IN G FREE IN STA LLA TIO N M A R K H U C K IN S Founder O U T A T On purchase over $500 Not valid with any other offer Expires 8/31/97 C ontact Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt Directed by Robert Zemeckis M t® Miniblind' • Pleated Shades • Silhouettes • Duettes • Wood Blinds • Vignettes • Verticals t sure would be an awful waste of space,” is the running joke in Contact. Unfortunately, it applies to the first half of the movie. Ever since Alice Doesn 7 Live Here Anymore, Jodie Foster has proven herself to be a stellar on- I FR IE MEASURING • FREE INSTALLATION Portland e Beaverton Washington Co. Lake Oswego • West Linn • Clackamas Co. «Tualatin Gresham • Happy Vancouver • Clark Cty. Valley (206)256-6622 Multnomah Co. Salem • Marion Co ________________ inema (503)292-6464 (503)636-6588 (503)667-0354 (503)363-7993 Mailing F I Services MM T he • PARCEL SHIPPING C • COPIES • GIFT WRAPPING/ Garance Clavel, Renée Le Calm, Olivier Py Directed by Cédric Klapisch n a media society, a place where all the media stumble over one another vying for our atten tion, it’s calming to watch a film that barely acknowledges the audience. Chloe (Garance Clavel) entrusts her cat, Gris- Gris (played by Clavel’s cat, Arapimou), to Ma dame Renée (Renée Le Calm) during her vaca tion. Chloe returns to a distraught Mme. Renée and a missing cat. Therein lies the framework for Cédric Klapisch’s When the Cat's Away. Originally, Klapisch planned to film a short based on actual events. He knew someone who lost a cat that Le Calm had been watching. Le Calm, like so many other actors in the movie, plays herself, giving When the Cat’s Away a I Offering GREETING CARDS Affordable Fine Art and An Alternative to Corporate Coffee • STAMPS 4117 SE Division St. (Located in Richmond Place) phone fax M-Th: 7-3 Fri-Sat: 7am- 9pm 503 238-7210 503 238-7212 - r < s t a u T f t1 ' ! and Celebrate the Night with Wild Abandon ! 'Wild Sdbandoi i is now open later S u n .-T h u rs.-5:30-11:00 Fri. & Sat~5:30-Midnight S u n d a y B r u n c h - 9 -2 s\ PHOTO BY JEROME PLON - if o ffeeh o u se W hen the C at ’ s A way OFFICE SUPPLIES • FAX SERVICES • NOTARY alle r y screen presence. Excusing her horrendous though thankfully brief appearance in Siesta, Foster is a pleasure to watch. Because of the strength she usually brings to her roles, it’s distasteful to watch her act like a simp. Foster, as Professor Elbe Arroway, spends a good portion of the film’s first hour running many minutes was indistinguishable from Congo or Twister. (Contact is playing at area Act III theaters.) 1429 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 239-7897 • PACKAGING & • PRIVATE MAILBOXES F e in l e in G AND INDEPENDENTLY O W N ED A N D OPERATED T H E M O V IE S Serviti Cociaih w rDinner Olivier Py (right) and Garance Clavel in When the Cat’s Away °Wild S^bandon 2411 SE Belmont 2 3 2 -4 4 5 8 •S u r f our S i t e on CitySearch: * http://www.citysearch.com/pdx/wildabandon Licensed to Kill GOD , SAI D ¡' KILL \ FAGS “SUPERB1” ( fij • * " ■ *■ " *■ V w ' W lNNffi SlINOANCE 97 Vi FnMMAKERS TROPHY “CHILLING... * A P O W E R F U L IN V ES T IG A T IO N centering on interviews with an unnervingly candid group of convicted murderers of homosexuals." LEV MNWTM TUtAN. LA TUNIS S T A R T S F R ID A Y , A U G U S T 1 5 m ! O N E W E E K O N L Y ! c rrrr Tr a nightly 7:(K) pm only plus Sat-Sun (3:15), 5:00 around Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory in a tank top— scenes that recall Laura Dem’s slack- jawed, perma-smile Jurassic Park days. Even when scenes do call for Arroway to get her dander up, the director seems to have found a way to deflate Foster’s acting in an apparent attempt to soften the edges around Arroway—The Early Years. It’s not until the plot unfolds to a point where Foster is facing unparalleled challenges that she’s allowed to cut loose and be the Foster that adoring fans will recognize from Silence o f the Lambs or The Accused: Oscar-quality Foster. When the time comes for Foster to step up as star of the show, it’s fireworks. The intensity of her acting combined with the intensity of the special effects is dizzying. There’s nothing new about the effects; they’re just used more cre atively than usual. And there’s nothing new about Foster’s intensity— but we shouldn’t have to wade through an hour of mediocrity to get to it. Money and time could’ve been saved if the only part of Contact that had been made was Dr. Arroway’s Wild Ride, shot on IMAX film for view ing on gigantic screens. Angela Bassett. James Woods and John Hurt aside, it seems Foster is wasting time when anchored to the acting abilities of those she shares scenes with. Carl Sagan wrote a powerful book with vision. Robert Zemeckis made a movie that for very documentary feel. Really it’s a post-modem/in- dustrial/French-traditional folk tale with shades of Victor Hugo, Robert Altman and Mike Leigh— for lack of better labeling. Klapisch’s indulgence is setting and charac ters. That’s really all there is. He created the film day by day. His creative process was ad-libbed chaos, which he describes as the same system used by cities themselves. From a decidedly queer perspective, the char acter to watch is Michel (Olivier Py),Chloe’sgay roommate. As such, he’s expected to be both the gay sensibility used to find clarity amid typical straight girl syndrome (TSGS) and the comic relief. As the script is nearly nonexistent, he doesn’t have any remarkable lines. Nevertheless, his enthusiasm, gestures and patent French goofi ness are endearing. His gratuitous sex scene doesn’t hurt, either. Klapisch manages to work in some statements about misplaced people, the destruction of tradi tional neighborhoods, global culture, injustice, sexism and love—among other things. When the Cat’s Away also has an amazing soundtrack: jazz, piano, hi p hop and more that plays well with a Gay Paree backdrop. (When the Cat’s Away is playing at KOIN Center Cinemas, Southwest Third Avenue and Clay Street, call 225-5555, ext. 4608, fo r show times and prices.) Reviews by Will O Bryan
