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Friday, May 21, 2010

MOVIE REVIEW
The City Of Your Final Destination
Days In The Journey Of Wandering Hearts


Laura Linney as Caroline Gund in "The City Of Your Final Destination", directed by James Ivory.   Screen Media Films

                                                                                                                  
by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW
Friday, May 21, 2010

"The City Of Your Final Destination", directed by James Ivory, one half of the famed Merchant-Ivory tandem, has its moments, embodied by the acting acumen of Laura Linney, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Alexandra Maria Lara.  Other than these great actresses, Mr. Ivory's film falls prey to predictability despite rich visuals.  The film's look is alive, but the story isn't.

Based on Peter Cameron's novel and written for the screen by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, "City" follows Omar Razaghi (Omar Metwally) on his visit to Montevideo, Uruguay to write a biography on the late Jules Gund despite being told no by the Gund family.  Encouraged by Deirdre, his abrupt girlfriend (Ms. Lara), Omar soon finds a place among an eclectic mix of characters at the Gund residence, including the welcoming Arden (the always expressive, plaintive Ms. Gainsbourg) and the icy, snarky Gund widow Caroline (a sublime Ms. Linney). 

Despite the good cast I was nonplussed (and therefore non-involved) by the film and its rhythm, which plodded but didn't penetrate.  The film is preoccupied with the Gund House inhabitants, not its purported main story about a fish-out-of-water type (ala "The Ghost Writer") writing a deceased figure's biography.  And maybe that's the point: it's always a major challenge to do a film on writing -- a vital but unsexy act to splash across the big screen for two hours.  Few films on writing ("Adaptation") have succeeded as entertaining works.  With "City" the material on the screenwriter's page naturally has the job of sparking the product it inhabits, but unfortunately it does not, telegraphing its punches at key moments.

Anthony Hopkins, graduate of prior Merchant-Ivory productions ("Howard's End", "The Remains Of The Day") plays Adam, a gay man who philosophizes about life and tutors Omar on its finer points.  Mr. Hopkins plays Adam both matter-of-factly and incidentally, without the forced flamboyance one typically expects in such characters. 

That said, each of the film's players feel like stock figures even if they don't necessarily act that way.  As in real life, you expect there will be a resentful person in the group.  You foresee an admiring individual.  You know turbulence and symbolism will flourish.  (A mild Shakespearian flavor wafts through this South American landscape, and to that end Mr. Ivory's film looks more staged and choreographed than it should.)

There's also a bit of melodrama that "The City Of Your Final Destination" (completed at least three years ago) hardly deserves.  A moment or two pushes the film beneath its potential as scripted by Ms. Jhabvala, making it slightly less deserving of its finely assembled talent who don't disappoint, even if the film's sum total falls short of the great work Mr. Ivory is more than capable of.

With: Norma Aleandro, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ambar Mallman.

"The City Of Your Final Destination" is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association Of America for a brief sexual situation with partial nudity.  The film is in English and Spanish languages with occasional English subtitles.  The film's duration is one hour and 58 minutes.

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