CLOSE UP: CURDLED [Vol. 1 No. 12] - Reviews of New Films
Bob Cappel
==============================================================================
MARQUEE, INC. and THE MARQUEE MOVIESERVER PRESENT
__ ____ _ ___ ____ _____ _ _ ____ __
\ \ / ___| | / _ \/ ___|| ____| | | | | _ \ / /
_____\ \ | | | | | | | \___ \| _| | | | | |_) | / /_____
|_____/ / | |___| |__| |_| |___) | |___ | |_| | __/ \ \_____|
/_/ \____|_____\___/|____/|_____| \___/|_| \_\
An in-depth look at films on the horizon
[Vol. 1 No. 12]
==============================================================================
Marquee Pick of the Week: BIG NIGHT (2nd Week)
http://www.marquee.com
==============================================================================
CURDLED
-------
Grade: C- // Skip It
(Miramax/Dimension)
D: Reb Braddock. W: Reb Braddock, John Maass. P: John Maass, Raul
Puig. Starring: Angela Jones, William Baldwin, Bruce Ramsay,
Barry Corbin, Mel Gorham.
Running Time: 94 minutes.
MPAA Rating: R (violence)
Reviewed by Scott Renshaw (sc...@marquee.com).
Accompanying the press materials for CURDLED were a few
newspaper and magazine articles about actual services which
clean up violent crime scenes, services like the one which is
a key part of the film's premise. If you want a sure sign of
an insecure rookie film-maker, that would be it. I suppose
the idea is to impress upon us the real-world foundation of
the story, but I simply don't care; an adept film-maker can
sell me his premise over the course of his film. What the
articles really tell me is that director and co-writer Reb
Braddock found the concept for CURDLED in real life, and what
the rest of the film tells me is that he didn't quite know
what to do with it.
CURDLED is the story of Gabriela (Angela Jones), a Colombian
immigrant living in Miami who is singularly fascinated by
violent crimes. The scrapbook full of newspaper articles she
collects about murders is not enough to satisfy her
curiosity, particularly concerning a serial killer known as
the Blue Blood Murderer. Then Gabriela discovers her dream
job -- a company called Post Mortem Cleaning Services which
tidies up after blood has been spilled. Gabriela loves her
new job -- a bit too much for the liking of her co-worker
Elena (Mel Gorham) -- and when one of the Blue Blood murder
scenes comes up for assignment she leaps at the chance. What
she doesn't know is that the victim left evidence identifying
the killer as bartender Paul Guell (William Baldwin), and
that he is coming back to do some cleaning up of his own.
For a while, CURDLED is perversely interesting simply because
Gabriela is such a unique character. Angela Jones plays her
almost as an innocent, like a child for whom death is still a
question to be answered rather than something to be feared.
She understands enough to know that other people will not
consider her obsession normal, but her enthusiasm makes it
difficult for her to contain herself, making for some
uncomfortable moments with a potential romantic interest
(Bruce Ramsay) and with her co-workers. The black humor in
the script by Braddock and John Maass comes from watching
Jones' off-beat performance as a woman who shows a wide-eyed
glee at being right where dark deeds were done.
At least that is true at the beginning, when CURDLED appears
to be a black comedy. At various points, it also tries to be
a fairly conventional suspense thriller (with Baldwin hiding
to avoid being found by Gabriela), a satire of media coverage
of serial killings (including a faux tabloid-style TV program
which makes reference to executive producer Quentin
Tarantino's character in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN) and an intense
psychodrama. The latter plays itself out in a confrontation
between Gabriela and Paul in which he forces her to describe
in detail the death of his last victim, and at that point it
appears that Braddock is headed towards teaching Gabriela a
lesson: the crimes she approaches with such abstract
interest involve the real, painful deaths of real people.
However, even that bit of character development is subverted
for a cheap, easy gag. CURDLED seems to bounce from realism
to surrealism with a capricious indifference.
Ultimately, this confusion points to a director who does not
seem to be in control of his material or his characters.
There is a lot going on at various points in CURDLED, but
none of it leads anywhere: the central character doesn't
grow, there is no real sub-text about human nature, and there
is not even a consistent tone to allow it to work as a
cathartic genre picture. It is evident that Braddock grabbed
on to a basic situation with potential, and that he was able
to create an intriguing central character to place in that
situation, but that he just didn't know where to go from
there. CURDLED sports a few neat stylistic flourishes,
including an eye-catching opening title sequence and a great
scene where Gabriela does a sensuous dance around a murder
scene, but for the most part it is just one big, long, sick
joke with a punch line that is not particularly worth the
effort. Someone should have thought about telling a story,
instead of just mailing one.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 messy scenes: 4.
==============================================================================
CLOSE UP
Published 2-5 times a week via email from Marquee, Inc.
To subscribe, write to close-up...@marquee.com with
'subscribe' in the subject line.
Or - http://www.marquee.com/marquee-mailinglists.html
Edited by Bob Cappel (b...@marquee.com)
Copyright 1996 - Marquee, Inc
Marquee, Inc.
3015 NW Market St. Suite B-115
Seattle, WA 98107
(206) 781-8433
==============================================================================
Join us on the Web! http://www.marquee.com
Look for the new edition of THE MOVIE MARQUEE MAGAZINE,
available free at Seattle area theaters, video stores and
gathering spots.
Subscriptions also available (206) 781-8433 and at:
http://www.marquee.com/magazine-subscribe.html
==============================================================================
==============================================================================
=============================================================================