CANNES, France (Reuter) - The Cannes critics who glorified France's
fist-in-the-face director Matthieu Kassovitz have booed his new tale of a
loser's initiation to murder.
Two years ago, at the age of 27, Kassovitz earned the best director prize
at the festival, sparked controversy, and scored a box-office triumph with
his anti-police message in ``La Haine'' (Hatred).
By comparison, Cannes critics this year were virtually unanimous in panning
his third feature film, ``Assassin(s),'' which Kassovitz co-wrote, starred
in and directed.
Based on a short he made with the same title in 1992, which
was banned to viewers under 16, the new film traces a young
loser's (Kassovitz) introduction to murder by a veteran
professional (Michel Serrault) with his own twisted code of
honor.
Pegged to the hackneyed plot is a heavy-handed message in
which the veteran hit man says he has no qualms about his
trade because journalists, financiers and politicians are all
murderers.
``We put the 's' in brackets because we are all potential
assassins,'' explains Kassovitz, who wrote the script with
Nicolas Boukhrief, in the film's press pack.
``What is the difference between an assassin who does his
work well and a multinational which throws mercury into
rivers? Which is the most dangerous? It's a metaphor which
was difficult to accept for (Serrault), I myself don't
know if I
believe in it,'' he said.
Running through many of the movie's scenes are images of
television's mindless games, massacres on the evening news
and documentaries on violence in the animal world.
Another murder apprentice shoots a sleeping woman in the
back, sits down to watch TV, then gets up again to fire a few
more gunshots into her body.
Denouncing the ``education'' youngsters receive from society
-- pollution, political corruption, sordid television
programs,
among others -- Kassovitz said:
``At a certain stage ... the most violent and most scary
people
in the inner cities are those who are 15 years old, because
they don't give a damn any more.
``And that's because of the education they have been given
and above all because of the example they have been set,''
said Kassovitz, who added that his previous short had been
criticized by some as incitement to murder.
Friday's other festival competition entry, ``She's So
Lovely''
by American director Nick Cassavetes, is based on a script
written by his father, the legendary director John
Cassavetes,
shortly before his death in 1989.
It stars Sean Penn, John Travolta and Gena Rowlands, who
is John Cassavetes' widow.
The film tells the story of a passionate couple (Penn and
Robin Wright) who live a Bohemian life until one of the male
partner's escapades lands him in psychiatric hospital.
On his release a decade later, he finds his lover married
to a
wealthy man (Travolta) and living in suburban comfort with
three children. He promptly forges an outrageous plot to
elope with her.
``John gave (the script) to me, and I fell in love with
it; mad
love at first read. We worked together on it for over a year,
before he died. I still wanted to make the film, in fact his
death reinforced my desire to do it,'' Nick Cassavetes
recalled.
Reuters/Variety
Reut12:51 05-16-97
(16 May 1997 12:48 EDT)
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Forgive the fu*%$d up format, but I couldn't be bothered fixing the whole
thing....
Damn those critics eh? Just one person/group's opinion however...
Dino!