Even James Ivory isn’t so sure about his new film (video)
It’s a good thing Sir Anthony Hopkins is Teflon® coated. First the remake of The Wolf Man, a film too muddled even for its excellent cast of top-notch actors to make sense of. And now this, The City of Your Final Destination, opening today.
Image via Wikipedia
Original set to open a few months back, the film is Hopkins’ forth pairing with filmmaker James Ivory. Back when Ismail Merchant was alive, the Merchant-Ivory brand (in no small part thanks to screenwriter-novelist Ruth Jhabvala) was as dependable as anything going. Every new film they put out was either an insta-classic, like The Remains of the Day, A Room With a View or Howard’s End, or at least a watchable workhorse type picture. I’m thinking of films like Mr. & Mrs. Bridge and Surviving Picasso, both good, but not great.
But The City of Your Final Destination is so lost, so misguided and unfocused, that not even James Ivory himself is certain about it. It takes a lot to make the normally fine Laura Linney this bad. And Charlotte Gainsbourge, who commanded the screen in Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, disappears into the jungle scenery. Check out what Ivory said about his latest effort in a red carpet interview at the Rome Film Festival:
Post Your Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment
T/S Members
Log in with your True/Slant account.
Hmm…Remains of the Day is one of my favorite movies, but viewed as a whole, the Merchant-Ivory brand is looking pretty questionable these days. Remember Nick Nolte as Thomas Jefferson?
I’m with you on all counts, actually. And luckily, my brain seems to have let go of Nick Nolte as Thomas Jefferson.
In response to another comment. See in context »