Elina Löwensohn Movies

Hal Hartley's fourth feature is a significant break from the quirky romantic comedy territory of his previous work -- though all of the deadpan idiosyncracies which make him such a singular filmmaker remain intact, here he tries his hand at the thriller genre, a move yielding typically unconventional and innovative results. Amateur stars Hartley mainstay Martin Donovan as Thomas, an amnesiac who, in the first scenes, wakes up in an alley, badly injured; he stumbles to a nearby coffeeshop where he meets Isabelle (Isabelle Huppert), a former nun and would-be nymphomaniac who now makes her living writing pornographic fiction. She takes him back to her apartment, where in time his past slowly begins to emerge -- a sharp contrast to the sweet, even naive soul that Huppert has befriended, it appears that the old Thomas was in fact a vicious pornographer whose attempted murder was at the hands of his wife, adult film star wife Sofia (Elina Lowensohn). Thomas is also the target of a nefarious European arms merchant whose hired guns are hot on his trail. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Andy Warhol was a phenomenon who warrants a lot of explaining: a completely colorless mega-star celebrity, and a kind of LaBrea Tarpit for a vivid and talented collection of oddballs in the New York scene. He fostered their continued degeneration into weird lifestyles and heavy drug use; and at the same time acted as their mentor, agent, and sponsor. One artist who came to be part of Warhol's "scene" was Jean Michel Basquiat, an antisocial street-bum who went from writing graffiti on alley walls to being the toast of New York City's art world. This film biography chronicles the progression of Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright) and his progression from living in cardboard boxes to penthouses, his romances, his drug use, and his death in 1988 at age 27. Along the way, he never stopped detesting the rich, including art agent Bruno Bischofberger (Dennis Hopper), and he never lost his naivete. Warhol (David Bowie) picks up some of the pieces as Basquiat lurches through the art scene. Cameo appearances by Tatum O'Neal and Courtney Love add spice to this interesting film. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A single mother from Queens becomes unwittingly embroiled in international espionage in director Hal Hartley's sequel to the critically acclaimed Henry Fool. Fay Grim (Parker Posey) is determined to raise her 14-year-old son, Ned (Liam Aiken), so he won't be like his father, Henry (Thomas Jay Ryan), who disappeared seven years ago after accidentally murdering a vicious neighbor. As Fay's brother, Simon (James Urbaniak), serves time in a prison cell for aiding Henry in his daring escape, he gradually begins to suspect that the man who inspired him to take up writing in the first place is not the louse he appeared to be, but instead the keeper of some potentially explosive government secrets that, if made public, could prove quite dangerous. As Simon begins to explore the possibility that Henry's autobiography, "Confessions," contains coded references to a wide variety of international atrocities committed by governments around the world, the CIA contacts Fay to inform her that her husband was killed in a hotel fire in Sweden shortly after fleeing America, and that the French government is currently in possession of two notebooks containing drafts of "Confessions." Convinced that the notebooks contain information that could endanger the security of the United States, CIA agent Fulbright (Jeff Goldblum) convinces Fay to travel to Paris and retrieve Henry's property before the information falls into the wrong hands. Now trapped in the middle of a cross-continental con and thrust deep into the world of international espionage, Fay is about to find out that her ex-husband is not only still alive, but in more trouble than he could ever imagine. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In this screen adaptation of the award-winning play by Herb Gardner (who also directed the film), Nat Moyer (Walter Matthau) and Midge Carter (Ossie Davis) are two elderly men who sit on the same park bench each afternoon and have developed a relationship based on playful verbal sparring. Nat is an eccentric Jewish leftist who uses a dizzying variety of voices and assumed personalities to get his way, while Midge is the African-American superintendent of an apartment building who is afraid that he's going to be put out to pasture, as he's about to turn 80. Nat tries to encourage Midge to join him in his good-natured con games (which are performed for good causes and not for profit), but Midge remains wary. While Midge sweats out a possible retirement, Nat is trying to deal with his daughter Clara (Amy Irving), who wants to put him in a nursing home. Meanwhile, a drug dealer called The Cowboy (Craig T. Nelson) has claimed the park as his own territory, and Nat, impersonating a Mafia don, tries to run him out, while he befriends Laurie (Martha Plimpton), a young woman hooked on dope. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Rod Serling's sobering drama, originally shown on Playhouse 90, is re-made in this made-for-cable movie. The setting is the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943, where Jews are either carted off to Nazi death camps or left to die in the disease-ridden squalor of the streets. Armin Mueller-Stahl stars as Rabbi Heller, a father who is struggling to retain his commitment to peace in the face of the horrors he sees around him. Heller stands his moral ground while watching his daughter Rachel targeted by a German soldier and his son transformed into a hateful ex-prisoner. Director Joan Micklin Silver effectively re-creates the claustrophobic feel of the Ghetto and music group Dead Can Dance provides the emotive score. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

This French comedy-drama is loosely inspired by Crime and Punishment. The title refers to an unnamed country where lovers use silence to express their love for each other. Slightly unstable office worker Rak (Francois Cluzet) is not silent but rambles in monologues, describing himself in the third person. Fired from his job, he goes into "business" for himself -- sitting in a cafe and interviewing salesmen for a position selling a non-existent encyclopedia. When he sees a real estate agent evict young musician Lucie (Elina Lowensohn), he uses a toy gun to rob the agent (who dies of fright) and then offers Lucie space in his spacious but seedy apartment, where the two find love. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Made for the USA Network, this first film adaptation of Willa Cather's classic novel is a coming-of-age story of set in 1880s Nebraska. Orphaned after his parents die in a smallpox epidemic in Virginia, the teenaged Jimmy Burden (Neil Patrick Harris) moves to the farm of his grandparents (Jason Robards, Eva Marie Saint) outside Black Hawk, Nebraska. Their neighbors, newly arrived from Bohemia, are the Shimerda family, and Jimmy instantly becomes friends with the family's 15-year-old daughter, Antonia (Elina Lowensohn). He's pulled in two directions; her father wants him to teach her English, but his grandfather is wary of her distracting Jimmy from his own studies. After tragedy strikes the Shimerda family, Jimmy moves to town with his aging grandparents, who want to nurture his potential for becoming a university student and taking on a career. Antonia does come to work in town, thanks to the help of Jimmy's grandmother, but it's made clear to the young woman that she is not to distract Jimmy from his studies. Although Jimmy does go off to the state university in Lincoln and eventually Harvard Law School, he and Antonia maintain their friendship, understanding that the bond they formed as adolescents will endure. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

A pair of brothers dodge the law while trying to locate their long-lost father in this third feature from independent New York filmmaker Hal Hartley. Robert John Burke stars as Bill McCabe, a failed computer thief who's just been doublecrossed by his girlfriend and partner. Vowing revenge on the next beautiful blonde he encounters, Bill meets up with his younger brother Dennis (William Sage), a philosophy student concerned about their father William (John A. MacKay). It seems the McCabe paterfamilias was a former major league shortstop who became an anarchist bomber in the 1960s, nearly blowing up the Pentagon. On the run for twenty-three years, William was recently caught by the FBI but escaped again. Based on information from their mother, the McCabes travel to Long Island, where William may be hiding. Along the way, the brothers meet the epileptic Elina (Elina Lowensohn) and her friend Kate (Karen Sillas), a beautiful blonde with whom Bill is instantly smitten. While Dennis figures out that Elina is somehow connected to William, Bill contends with Kate's ex-con husband Jack (Joe Stevens) and Jack's best friend Martin (Martin Donovan), both of whom are also in love with her. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Former video installation artist Philippe Grandieux made his feature directorial debut with this French psychological thriller that probes the mind of a serial killer. A hand-held camera follows murderer Jean (Marc Barbe) as he strangles French women while driving about France. When Claire (Elina Lowensohn) has a roadside car breakdown, she and her sister Christine (Geraldine Voillat) get a lift from the demented Jean, who later attacks Christine while she's at a lake for a swim. Back at the hotel, he menaces both sisters. Claire succeeds in extricating Christine, who leaves on a train for Paris -- while Claire makes the mistake of sticking around in order to "help" the crazed Jean. Shown in competition at the 1998 Locarno Film Festival where it provoked controversy and an official statement: "Half of the jury would like to call attention to Sombre. Our jury split between those who were morally offended by the film and those who saw a purpose in its darkness, and in the strength of its mise-en-scene and images." ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide