Leo

Rating:
Summary: James Joyce's Ulysses as a Southern Gothic Tale
Review: Director Mehdi Norowzian and screenwriters Amir and Massy Tajedin have constructed a tale based loosely on characters from James Joyce's ULYSSES and the result is this rather strange but beguiling film, LEO. Set in the dank and humid South the film runs seemingly parallel stories: Mary Bloom (Elizabeth Shue) is a frustrated academician housewife who has moved to the South with professor husband Ben (Jake Weber) and daughter. When the nosey ladies of the town suggest that Ben has had an affair with a student, Mary is incredulous, but in her altered state of mind has a sexual encounter with a young man who is painting her house. Ben forces Mary to understand that he is innocent, Mary discovers she is pregnant, and Ben and her daughter drive off on a simple errand and are both killed in an auto accident. Flash forward a couple of times and we find Mary drowning her 'guilt' in liquor, having given birth to a son (Leopold - or Leo as he becomes when played by actor Davis Sweat) who she ignores as the misbegotten lovechild from her indiscretion. She has maintained an unhealthy relationship with the house painter, and together they emotionally and physically abuse the child Leo. This `family unit' will have is consequences.

Parallel to this story is the life of a convicted felon Stephen (Joseph Fiennes) who is in a nearby prison and to whom young Leo has written a letter, fulfilling a school assignment. Stephen is released from prison and spends his time - when not employed by the local café where behind the counter misdeeds occur daily between waitress Caroline (Deborah Unger) and rascal Horace (Dennis Hopper) - writing letters to Leo. The relationship between Stephen and Leo takes a surprising twist when, via flashbacks and flash-forwards, the true nature of their identities is clarified. To reveal more would remove the de Maupassant flavor of the ending.

The various ways in which the Joycean tale is twisted and morphed using the names of Leopold and Mary Bloom and Stephen Daedalus is fascinating. The acting is varied: Shue, Fiennes, Sweat, Unger and cameos by Mary Stuart Masterson and Sam Shepard are generally fine. One wonders why Fiennes was cast as a southern drawling emotionally paralytic man until he proves his mettle in the film's conclusion. Other characters including that of Dennis Hopper are one dimensional and cheapen the film. The cinematography of Zubin Mistry captures the Southern ilk, but the overall color is so washed out that the subtleties disappear at times. In all an interesting mood piece that says a lot about individual acceptance of responsibility of personal deeds. There is light in the growth of the characters and that fact keeps this story from being just another depressing Southern Gothic tale.