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| HEIGHTS AND HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE |
| 06.03.05 (5:05 pm) [edit] |
HEIGHTS
Starring: Glenn Close, Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden, George Segal, and Rufus Wainwright
Directed by: Christ Terrio
Written by: Amy Fox
HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE
Written and Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
reviewed by GABRIEL SHANKS
Summer's here, and the summer rush should be upon us soon of blockbusters and thrillers...few of which will actually bust our blocks or thrill us. That's why we're starting off June with some art house fare: Glenn Close's return to the big screen, Heights, and lauded Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's latest, Howl's Moving Castle.
 HEIGHTS is one of the last films produced by Ismail Merchant before his death last month. Merchant, of course, was a dazzlingly talented artist who, alongside his life partner and director James Ivory, gave the world Oscar-winning period dramas like Howard's End, A Room with a View, and The Remains of the Day. HEIGHTS, however, is outside of Merchant's comfort zone: it is set in modern day New York, and is not directed by Ivory (one of Ivory's young former assistants, Chris Terrio, takes the reins instead). The story follows an interlocking set of Manhattanities as they buzz from party to party, lover to lover, heartbreak to heartbreak: Diana (Close), a famous Broadway actress, and her soon-to-be-wedded daughter Isabel (Elizabeth Banks) are at the center of a number of revolving tangents, all of which in one way or another hightlight the duplicitiousness of romantic relationships -- Diana's husband is openly having an affair with Diana's understudy, while Isabel's intended, Jonathan (James Marsden), is hiding a homosexual relationship in his past that is about to become very, very public.
Based on a play by screenwriter Amy Fox, HEIGHTS never reaches the aspirations of its title; indeed, at times the film seems to have nothing more on its mind than the predictable rhythms of soap opera. It clearly wants to say something important about the precariousness nature of love, but it is never able to illuminate that idea with any conviction. Sure, there are pleasant casting diversions -- singer Rufus Wainwright as a bitchy ex-lover, George Segal as a confused rabbi, Jesse Bradford as a struggling actor -- and Glenn Close reminds everyone that she is one of Hollywood's greatest actresses. But with so much talent wasted on such thin material, I'd be surprised if you remember HEIGHTS more than ten minutes after leaving the theatre. It's not bad...just too insubstantial to matter.
 HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE, on the other hand, is a lovely visual spectacle, a sometimes jaw-droppingly beautiful example of animated glory. But in this case, sadly, that is not nearly enough. Most audiences -- at least those with a knowledge of Mr. Miyazaki's work -- will be grading this CASTLE on a curve. Although this animated tale of wizards and romance is the very definiton of the word enchanting, it has the misfortune to follow the contemporary classic Spirited Away in the Miyazaki canon. That Oscar-winning effort from 2002 equals HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE in imagination and charm, but surpasses it in many other ways. The new film, based on a novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, lacks Spirited Away's sense of whimsy and unpredictability; its straightforward narrative constantly seems at odds with Miyazaki's dreamy landscapes and fanciful flourishes. Where Spirited Away surprised its audience, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE merely entertains them.
With both subtitled and dubbed versions being released in the U.S., I suggest you head for the subtitles. The English language voice talent -- which includes Christian Bale, Emily Mortimer, Billy Crystal and Lauren Bacall -- brings surprisingly little energy to the experience, with only Crystal finding a groove as the Borscht Belt-ish fire demon Calcifer. On its own merits, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE is a sedate and charming diversion; as a picture from the undisputed master of modern animation, however, it leaves much to be desired.
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Welcome to Mixed Reviews Single Servings. Here you'll find short reviews of current and past movies for people too busy to read a full review.
You can find full-length reviews of present and past films, from Hollywood releases to independent films to "hidden treasures" that haven't been released yet, at our main site, Mixed Reviews. Please browse our archive for links to reviews of films dating back to 1998.
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