ON SKIN-FLICKS AND SARCASM AND SHIT

DIRECTED BY KARYN KUSAMA

STARRING: MEGAN FOX, AMANDA SEYFRIED, JOHNNY SIMMONS, ADAM BRODY, KYLE GALLNER, AMY SEDARIS and J.K. SIMMONS

The thing about Brooke Busey a.k.a. Diablo Cody’s scripting is that it’s so reminiscent of the clichés she so parodies that the writing becomes a cliché in itself. As a result, her last scripting venture ‘Jennifer’s Body’ is merely a mild alteration of her overstated ‘Juno’ with sexier chicks in a wilder premise. The concept is clearly representative of her mindlessness though, except in this case it actually fits – and yet it’s not even remotely disarming, having to endure 100 minutes of constructed dialogues that kill whatever little promise that the plot begs to offer. And we find ourselves subject to the tortuousness of the Cody-stereotype in an otherwise fast-paced, wacky storyline that prescribes bedrest for the human brain.

Megan Fox is captivating as Jennifer – she’s hard-hitting with her meanness and is natural with her sensual flair, championing Cody’s cause playing the Devil herself. Talk about being the ‘life and soul’ of a film that clearly has neither. Amanda Seyfried’s psyche is insensibility in a miserable performance where she tries too hard that I was glad she was at least pretty! With ‘Jennifer’s Body’, we find a split of sick and stupid, characteristics which were officially one in Juno MacGuff; a clear diversification, someone give her a pay raise! The rest of the characters are mere accessories, unlike ‘Juno’ where there was some part they played. In this, they might as well roll over and die, which is pretty much what they seem to have done – perfect, right?

Overall, ‘Jennifer’s Body’ is the sort of film that should have been written by anyone else but Diablo Cody. Same as ‘Juno’. Same goes with anything else that she conceives – would be glad if she just stuck to storyboard and never got beyond.

DIRECTED BY ADRAIN LYNE

STARRING: DIANE LANE, RICHARD GERE, OLIVIER MARTINEZ, ERIK PER SULLIVAN, CHAD LOWE, ERICH ANDERSON, KATE BURTON, MARGARET COLIN and MICHELLE MONAGHAN

I write this review to discuss on the film’s ending. I was told they shot five, which makes me eager about the other four – I wasn’t okay with this one. In a film that almost entirely hinges on the writer’s ability to end it conceivably and convincingly as much as it depends on its treatment of eroticism, ‘Unfaithful’ scores one on two. I have no comment on its sensuality, it having been made by the man who brought to the world some really classic encounters in films as ‘9 ½ weeks’ and ‘Fatal Attraction’. And with ‘Unfaithful’, we witness dramatic, mind-numbing sensual exploits piled upon the fragility of contempt.

Again, a commendable performance by the lead actress. Diane Lane’s Connie is hesitant with her impulses; cautious with her treason. Richard Gere is brick – I was glad he was made to wear glasses. It’s a stereotype to cast a Spaniard as the other man, Antonio Banderas would have been too old to be cast in this role. So we make do with a body-double, someone who doesn’t have to do anything else except flaunt some written-out charm. I felt sorry, both for Charlie (who’s the middle-piece of the disintegrating household) and for poor Erik, who plays Charlie, for he’s put to sleep when not required.

Ed crouches close to Connie as she burns some pictures at the fireplace. He asks her if he should turn himself in – she refuses. The film in itself ends with imminent fantasy, unfaithful to its source material (in Claude Chabrol’s 1968 film ‘La Femme Infidele’) – maybe they could be excused for that. After all, isn’t that the whole point of a remake?