Reviews
The Net (1995)
Suspenseful but with a human story
"The Net" is a fantastic film. Sandra Bullock is funny, refreshing, and tragic by turns, as a "nobody" caught in the middle of a major conspiracy to take over the Internet, and thereby, our very lives.
Like many good films, "The Net" lets us see things from various points of view at once. When Angela is trying to explain her predicament to her court-appointed lawyer, we can see her paranoia as both understandable from her point of view and as the typical defensive craziness that her public defender might see.
Jeremy Northam is perfect as the bad guy who can't seem to decide whether he wants to prolong the sexual tension of the chase or just kill her and get it over with.
As one other reviewer here has noted, this film is very Hitchcockian. It reminded me of "Strangers on a Train": the carousel scene seems to be a direct reference to "Train," and the whole theme of Angela meeting a stranger who then takes over her life is very similar. The film is very skillfully edited for suspense. For example, the scene on the boat when Angela discovers the gun: she is shown just discovering it right before Devlin comes up to the deck, but by the time he gets there, she's quite prepared for his arrival, although you think she's a goner. This sort of editing is masterful and really adds to the suspense.
The scene where she confronts Devlin on the boat is my favorite: I just love how she says "So.... who are you...Jack?" -- she gives the word "Jack" just the right staccato emphasis. Devlin's response is classic, and gives away his "badness" perfectly; and then the camera focusing on only half his face at a time (eyes/mouth) is perfect, also. This recalls the camera's focus on Angela's mouth when she's typing to the chat room before. The implication is that we are just mouths on the Internet (typing words) and eyes in real life (sexual attraction), and we have to connect the two somehow.
I also liked the use of names: "Champion" for Angela's only friend, "Devlin" for the devilishly evil Jack, "Angela" (often shortened to "Angel") to denote Angela's essential innocence.
Angela's mother having Alzheimer's reinforces Angela being cut off from people -- the person she's closest to doesn't even remember her name. I always get teary during the scene where she's trying to get her mom to identify her to the cop (although Angela calling her may be putting her mom in danger, it's a very human thing for her to do).
Over the course of the movie, we see Angela changing: she's starting to value her friends and family more, and realizing that she's been cut off from people. Ironically, Devlin is one of the instruments of her growing understanding, when he tells her that "we're really very similar, you and I." She's shocked into realizing that she *is* tied to her family (such as it is) with a bond of love (even her defense of her absentee father to Champion brings us some insight into her feeling for her family). This attachment to people is something neither Devlin nor the "imposter Angela" can understand (for example, the "imposter Angela" looks around at the computer convention and says: "Let's get outta here, all these people are making me nervous"). Annie Lennox's cover of "Whiter Shade of Pale" is used in the film, most appropriately. Angela is a "vestal virgin" in many ways, who must go through some pretty psychedelic experiences to find herself.
An important aspect of this film is obviously its portrayal of a brief moment in history when only a few organizations and hackers were aware of the vast potential of the Internet. Because this film was made in 1995, it conveys the feeling of "newness" of all the technology. This makes Angela's isolation from others both easier to understand (weren't all hackers at that time isolated from those who had no idea what the "Internet" was?) and more frightening: will we all soon succumb to the Net's seductive pull? The computer aspects of the film were actually quite impressive: if not totally realistic for the technology of the time, at least the film has aged well. For the time it was made, the film's understanding of the role the Internet would play in our lives was almost prophetic. The main point about the use of the technology in the film, however, is that it does *not* override the human story.
Overall, I recommend this film as highly entertaining and suspenseful, with the theme of the dangerous implications, for both the individual and society, of our new computer technology.
Primary Colors (1998)
Funny, well-acted, well-written
Having heard the book was an unbridled attack on Clinton, I was afraid this film would be the same, but it wasn't. "Primary Colors" was definitely better than I thought it would be.
First, there was Elaine May's script: Funny, well-written, lean, tender at moments, never taking things to the camp level, like so many modern Hollywood movies do when it doesn't work. And it wouldn't have worked for this movie. The thing that kept me watching was that, like Henry, I *did* believe in Jack Stanton, or at least I wanted to. The tender moments, like those at the beginning in the literacy class, kind of endeared me to the Stanton character and made me understand how Burton was drawn in so irrevocably.
Then, there was the acting: marvelous. Travolta, Thompson, Bates: need I say more? Thompson's underlying, clipped accent adds a brittle note to her delivery that fits right in with Susan's repression and humiliation. Travolta was just nice enough to make you believe in him (although, in my opinion, he was ultimately unable to fully portray that "je ne sais quoi" that Clinton possesses, which makes him so charming to many). Bates was riveting and harrowing as the faded liberal clinging to her ideals.
But in addition to the "name actors" there were others who were fantastic: Adrian Lester, as the tortured campaign aide, wants to believe but feels unsure of Stanton's worth as a candidate. Maura Tierney (best known as the wife in "Liar Liar") as the bubbling, funny sidekick to Lester (probably based on Dee Dee Myers), lights up every scene she's in. Larry Hagman, in a wonderful cameo, plays Stanton's opponent and his foil in the morals department.
Billy Bob Thornton plays the James Carville role, and I wasn't sure what he added to the film. Since I constantly compared his character unfavorably to James Carville (the Thornton character was shown as a real rotter, sexually harassing aides, etc.), I'm not sure if my dislike of Thornton was more my dislike of his character than that of his acting.
The production of this film also added to its wonderful feel: the Governour's Mansion, the local ribs place, the constant red/white/blue theme (sometimes it seemed like a Kieslowski film), all of it added to the ambiance. I was not surprised to learn that the Michael Ballhaus, the cinematographer, also filmed the sumptuous "Age of Innocence." Quality tells.
Mike Nichols's directing was also effective: in one especially harrowing scene, Emma Thompson's tormented face fills up the foreground, while Bates's character (in the background) rips into the Stantons' morals. I almost felt like I was at the theater.
This film made me think about Clinton as well as politicians in general. What is admirable, what is not acceptable, what is it we really *want* in our public officials? I don't think "Primary Colors" will change anyone's opinion of the Clintons (in the final analysis, it isn't about them at all) -- but it is a very funny as well as thought-provoking look at modern American politics.