Homenaje

Blythe Danner stars in Mark Medoff's adaptation of his play "The Homage that Follows" as a widowed ex-schoolteacher who somewhat-reluctantly hires a high-strung young mathematician to live and work as a caretaker on her New Mexico ranch. The relationship between the two is friendly and stimulating (with a flirtation bubbling under the surface), but everything changes when Danner's estranged daughter, a TV star in Hollywood, comes for a visit. Medoff's tone shifts dramatically when sexy Sheryl Lee enters (she's just as high-strung as the kid), and one can feel the promise of the material quickly dissipate. Marks has already given away one of Medoff's two violent endings in his documentary style approach by framing the story in flashback, although I don't see how this overwritten script could be successfully presented any other way--it might have been wiser to just throw the third act out altogether. The cast--Danner, Lee, Frank Whaley, Bruce Davison and Danny Nucci--is good, but the mood here is so ugly and unpleasant (and Whaley is encouraged to be such a sick jerk), that the film is both depressed and depressing. Marks was a nominee for the Grand Jury Prize for Drama at the Sundance Film Festival. * from ****

What do you get when a math genius psycho hangs out on a widow's ranch as a handyman just as the movie star daughter comes home to get away from being an image worship and just be a daughter? A chilling insightful movie about people either trying to find themselves or run away into fantasy. Fans of the latter will hate this movie, while those who like self examination and introspection might find it both rewarding and, at moments, amusing when the characters make a genuine offhand comment.

In New Mexico, the widow and former teacher Katherine Samuel (Blythe Danner) reluctantly hires the lonely mathematician and genius Archie Landrum (Frank Whaley) to be her gardener and soon they become good friends. When her estranged daughter Lucille "Lucy" Samuel (Sheryl Lee), who left the college to become a television star in New York, decides to spend a couple of days with her mother, Archie becomes obsessed for her. Lucy and her mother reconciled to each other and Lucy decides to quit her career to stay with Katherine. However the obsessive Archie guns Lucy down witnessed by Katherine and is arrested. The ambitious local lawyer Joseph Smith prepares to defend him seeking the spotlights. Meanwhile, Archie mocks the Mexican Officer Gilbert Tellez (Danny Nucci), who is the guardian of his cell, and plans to seem a lunatic to escape from the death penalty. Will justice work?

"Homage" is an interesting drama, with a story in he style of a documentary with the incident disclosed in the beginning, flashbacks and the persons involved interviewed along the film. The conclusion with the vigilante act of a correct police officer shows how people do not believe in the justice system. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Obsessão Criminosa" ("Criminal Obsession")

This is a disturbing movie that left my thoughts spinning through the credits, and far beyond. Documentary-interview style, it delves into a disturbed young man's life and his obsession with an actress and her mother. His desperate need for attention isolates him to the point of obsession. As he spins out of control, it asks important questions that I, for one, have never really pondered.

Who is responsible when we live our lives oblivious to those around us? Who is responsible when we go another day without telling our loved ones that they matter, and we need them? And, more importantly, who is responsible when we let strangers' needs go unfulfilled? It's not too late to reach out and let someone know you love them..

Who really is to blame for the isolated, who never have the security of feeling loved and wanted - Are the resulting tailspins from our lack of action? Who can we blame for their final desperate actions?

This is a serious, well acted film. Not particularly light entertainment, but extremely thought provoking - whether you are ready to ponder the disturbing conclusions... or not.