Two films opening this week—Tropical Malady and Asylum—detail the high price to be paid for obsessive love. Though the films couldn't be more different, they're linked by this theme—underlying in the first, overt in the latter—and each leaves you with a bit of that haunted feeling. It's a good week at the movies for Doomed Romance. If that's your thing, head over to the Landmark Century Cinema where both will unspool their long broken tape of love.
Of the two films, the subtitled Malady is by far the more creative endeavor but its lyrical form ( it's told in two distinctive parts—a sort of tone poem to love ) and languid unfolding may not be to all tastes. Asylum, on the other hand, follows the course of true obsessive love, has tried and true veddy British performers Acting Acting Acting and features Natasha Richardson debasing herself time and again just for another round in the sheets with her young hottie. The Girl Can't Help It might be a more apt title for this one.
On the other hand, we don't see the simple country boy Tong and his soldier-cum-lover Keng, the central characters in Malady, even kiss, but the heat between them is palpable nevertheless. Certainly, it's what keeps the much more experienced Keng intrigued. Set in Thailand, the first half of the movie tracks the course of the relationship between the two. Between patrols of the forest, Keng and Tong slowly fall for each other. Long days spent in the country are intersected with leisurely strolls throughout the apparently nearby Bangkok. Though Keng is repeatedly recognized by what are obviously former tricks, he only has eyes for Tong who doesn't say much, has a goofy smile and bats his eyes sweetly.
At a karaoke bar, Tong joins a female performer onstage, singing a ballad to Keng. Clearly, Keng's ardor is returned but there's something that holds Tong back. Finally, Keng confesses his love for Tong and shyly asks if he can lay his head in Tong's lap. I thought at last the film would give us a love scene but the couple are interrupted by a middle-aged woman who takes them on another round of adventures.
All along the gorgeous landscape has played a third character in the film ( at one point early on, writer-director Apichatpong 'Joe' Weerasethakul even pauses long enough for us to hear the wind sighing ) and at the mid-point the unpredictability of nature comes to the forefront and the film splits into its second part. Tong, it seems, has disappeared, but local legend suggests that he has shape shifted into a wild animal. Keng ventures into the forest to track him down after hearing his call ( the call of the lovelorn, it seems ) . When Keng finally comes face to face with the wild, naked Tong in the jungle it seems that at last he has caught his love prey. But as Weerasethakul makes clear, love can't always tame a wild heart.
This poetic film has a quiet, mystical power that shifts between the modern and the ancient. The juxtaposition of the city with its gadgets, brightly lit malls and clubs with the primitive country dwellings and surroundings of Tong's family adds another layer of ambiguity. Not much happens in Tropical Malady, but it's not much that happens beautifully.
Asylum, on the other hand, after its proper opening scenes, is a good old-fashioned melodrama played to the hilt by Richardson, its star and executive producer and her supporting cast ( headed by Sir Ian McKellen ) . Set in the repressive '50s, Richardson plays Stella, the wife of Max ( Hugh Bonneville ) , a dull prig who comes to a private asylum for the very disturbed with their adolescent son. Stella has no taste for the staff politics of the asylum ( both her husband and McKellen, who plays a psychiatrist, are bucking to become its new director ) , or the dreary wives, but Edgar ( Marton Caskos ) , the inmate who's fixing up their glass hothouse, is another story.
Though Stella finds out that Edgar's an inmate due to his insane jealously and the brutal way he killed his wife because of it, she can't keep her mitts off him. Soon she and the darkly handsome and frankly sexual Edgar are vividly getting it on each day—even though they know their forbidden love is sure to come crashing down. And boy does it ever.
Though Stella does get her groove back, she pays a pretty high price for it. McKellen, who plays Edgar's closeted gay psychiatrist, is given the role of a jealous suitor and all around black boot and does a pale imitation of his Gods & Monsters James Whale part. Richardson, who's a knockout in the stylish '50s tailored clothes, aptly suggests the inner fires that eventually burn down to ashes. It's a performance with a nice arc—just what the melodramatic script calls for—but suggesting that it's the kind of role Joan Crawford would have fought for isn't much more than a backhanded compliment. Judy Parfit, as always, offers expert support as Max's disapproving mother. The pretty music by Mark Mancina matches the gorgeous cinematography of Giles Nuttgens. If all this reminds you of the little seen Diane Keaton-Mel Gibson mid-'80s flop Mrs. Soffel, it should. It's nearly the same story—with a less attractive cast.
Local Screening of Note: Bananas Is My Business, the wonderful, fascinating 1995 documentary about the life of Brazilian bombshell Carmen Miranda, is going to be screened as the finale of both the Dyke Delicious and Gentlemen's Queer Quarterly Series at Chicago Filmmakers. The film expertly traces the complex character of the woman who was a lot more than just the lady in the 'Tutti-Frutti' hat. As always with this fun series, a social hour ( commencing at 8 p.m. ) precedes the 9 p.m. screening at Chicago Filmmakers ( 5243 N. Clark Street ) . Free admittance and a special gift are being offered to Carmen Miranda impersonators. so get out your feathers, girls! See www.chicagofilmmakers.org .
