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In The Shadows |
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Although the concept sounds like something out of MTV hell--Henry James's The Wings of the Dove flies into the Seattle grunge scene--writer-director Meg Richman has fashioned a stunning and assured debut out of this modern-day reworking of the 1902 novel. Whereas Iain Softley's 1997 adaptation tried for something like Edwardian film noir, Richman opts for a take that may skimp on costumes but is far more lush on an emotional scale. Richman's plot is a loose adaptation of James, as a poor young woman (Molly Parker) takes a job as caretaker to a wealthy cancer patient (Joely Richardson) and arranges for her musician boyfriend (Aden Young) to pose as her half-brother in order to seduce the dying woman into leaving him all her money. If the triangle falters anywhere, it's in the problematic conception of the scheming lead character (Cynthia here, Kate in the novel), who's saddled with being paradoxically duplicitous and sincere in contrast with two much more sympathetic characters. Parker, usually an actress of amazing clarity, plays Cynthia with an unsuitable Real World flakiness and doesn't gain a foothold against her two costars until the end of the film. But it's those costars who send the love story of In the Shadows sailing into the stratosphere. Richardson and Young are a combustive and passionate duo, and make this unlikely mating a heartbreaking union of two souls whose common ground is an inability to express any kind of false emotion. Richardson is unsentimental and incredibly moving as she figures out what's happening and decides to use it for her own ends, and Young makes a surprisingly sexy and winning suitor; inarticulateness was never more attractive. Richman proves you don't need corsets and fancy hats to get at the heart of Henry James. Before falling victim to the bankruptcy of its original distributor, this fine film was more aptly titled Under Heaven when it played at various film festivals in 1998. --Mark Englehart
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