Bovie Movie

John Travolta hoped to star in it to shatter his Grease image, and Elton John was even asked to turn it into a Broadway musical, but when this highly anticipated movie version of Anne Rice’s cult novel finally came to the screen it was a decidedly anaemic affair. All sumptuously dressed up with nowhere really interesting to go, director Neil Jordan’s lavish adaptation is a stylised horror tale that lacks the emotional depth and jet-black darkness of the doom-laden tome. Too many other similar ideas have since come down the undead path, seriously undermining this stark vision of the hellish torture of being cursed to live for ever. Still, Tom Cruise is fine as the vampire Lestat, whose close relationship with handsome Brad Pitt forms an erotic twist on the Dracula legend. Kirsten Dunst impresses as the child adopted by the pair, but it’s Antonio Banderas who gives the most full-blooded performance as the bisexual Armand. This is a beautifully mounted production that’s low on divine decadence and Rice’s celebrated charnel house morbidity, but high on glossy Grand Guignol and evocative elegance. 

The second directorial outing of screen legend Robert De Niro ambitiously charts the secret history of America’s Central Intelligence Agency, from the beginning of the Second World War to the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. There’s little chance here for star Matt Damon to reprise his Jason Bourne-style superspy heroics in his role as Edward Wilson, a patriotic desk jockey who sacrifices everything (his marriage and perhaps even his soul) to become an automaton in this vast bureaucratic machine. Concentrating on the humdrum reality of paperwork, files and folders, Eric Roth’s well-researched screenplay strips the spy movie of its glamour, while telescoping history through one man’s personal tragedy. It’s a bold narrative move that succeeds only fitfully — not least because De Niro’s ploddingly competent direction robs the drama of the impact it deserves. Terrific supporting turns from William Hurt, John Turturro and Angelina Jolie (as Wilson’s wife) add gloss, but they can’t prevent the film from feeling as coldly dispassionate as its protagonist. 

A knock-out performance from Canadian actress Sarah Polley (Go, The Sweet Hereafter) is the main reason for seeing this insightful, if sentimental, coming-of-age saga. Polley plays affection-starved 21-year-old Harper Sloane, who meets middle-aged photographer Connie Fitzpatrick (Stephen Rea) at her sister’s wedding. Attracted by his bohemian charisma, she becomes his apprentice and lover. But does he really think she’s something special? Or is she just another conquest? The directorial debut of screenwriter Audrey Wells (The Truth about Cats and Dogs) is a familiar May-December romance containing as many deft broad strokes as it does missteps. However, the presence of Polley makes such mistakes easier to bear.