Great Film: The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Red Chalk and a Bowl of Snow
Greetings again from the darkness. Although I do understand why many
grade the film so harshly, for a few reasons I did enjoy it. First, the
cast is straight out a Woody Allen Movie. Stars include Robert Deniro,
Kathy Bates, F Murray Abraham (all Oscar winners) and Harvey Keitel,
Gabriel Byrne and Geraldine Chaplin. Second, relative newcomer Adriana
Dominguez is a pleasure to watch as Pepita. Third, the challenge of
following the story line and time line kept my brain working non-stop
for two plus hours. Although the presentation is a bit convoluted, if a
movie keeps me engaged for its entire duration, it has done something
right.
The downside, other than the muddled script, was the lackluster
performance of Deniro. Most of the time his scenes were straight out of
Saturday Night Live - cue cards and all. Bates and Keitel, on the other
hand, were mesmerizing.
Based of course on Thornton Wilder's 1929 novel (he also wrote "Our
Town" and "Hello, Dolly!"), the film suffers from spotty direction by
(relative unknown) Mary McGuckian. Visually the picture is terrific,
but she obviously has no feel for story telling.
Flawed film worth seeing for the acting (other than Deniro) and
interaction between the characters.
Cast
- His Excellency's Fop played by Dominique Pinon
- Brother Juniper played by Gabriel Byrne
- Uncle Pio played by Harvey Keitel
- Dona Clara's Husband played by Samuel Le Bihan
- Doña Clara played by Émilie Dequenne
- The Marquesa played by Kathy Bates
- Archbishop Of Peru played by Robert De Niro
