This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 16, 2010 - Anne Perry: Interiors
Director Dana Linkiewicz begins her moody documentary about Anne Perry with a rare public appearance by the reclusive mystery writer. Perry is discussing with some of her readers the narrative flow of her books, and she expresses the familiar doctrine that principal characters must change in the course of a novel. As the story of Anne Perry proceeds, we realize that a belief that human beings can change - and in some cases must change - is crucial to the author's own identity.
Perry, who is in her early 70s, has lived quietly for many years in a solitary house on the edge of a remote village in Scotland. But when she was a teenager and living in New Zealand, she and her best friend murdered her best friend's mother, and Perry was imprisoned for five years. In 1994, the movie "Heavenly Creatures" recounted the story of the fantasy-fueled murder, and subsequently it was revealed that the character played by Kate Winslet was now a successful writer of Victorian mysteries.
Most of "Anne Perry: Interiors" focuses on the quiet daily life of the writer and the three people she spends most of her time with - her brother (who is also her historical researcher), her typist, and her best friend. Clearly, one of the qualities that makes these three people Perry's friends is their determined lack of curiosity about the past.
Toward the end of the movie, Perry talks painfully about the aftermath of the killing, and her realization after a period of solitary confinement that she had done something so wrong that it would haunt her for the rest of her life. Nothing sensational is revealed, but the film is an interesting examination of the psychological effects of lifelong guilt.
- Reviewed by Harper Barnes
The Tender Hook
"The Tender Hook" is a predictable love triangle centered on Iris (Rose Byrne), her thuggish gangster boyfriend McHeath (Hugo Weaving) and the poor, honest boxer Art who falls in with McHeath and in love with Iris (Matthew LeNevez) sometime during Sydney's "jazz age."
McHeath and Iris both plot for power and advantage, with the easily manipulated big galoot Art in the middle.
It's interesting to watch Byrne (whose rivalry with Glenn Close in the TV show "Damages" fueled the drama) and Weaving (forever memorable for "The Matrix") in these different roles. Weaving, in particular, is mesmerizing and more than a touch spooky when dressed to the nines in a white jacket, he takes to the microphone for an anachronistic snippet from Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man" -- "But something is happening here and you don't know what it is do you, Mr. Jones?"
Unfortunately, we do know -- and it's more style than substance.
We can't help but notice Weaving's character's name -- McHeath -- and his sadistic use of a knife to punish those who cross him are meant to evoke the jazzy, scheming underworld of "The Threepenny Opera." And the story makes occasional, almost pro forma references to the anti-Asian and anti-aboriginal racism of Australia's history.
Maybe all these sly hints would resonate if the characters were more well-rounded or the story were more compelling. But none of the characters really grab our attention or sympathy; we've seen them before and with a lot more nuance.
The movie's one strength is its cinematography. The film is beautifully, sumptuously shot -- though the most striking scenes may be at the moody ones at the beginning and the end, done in blacks and blues, like the beat-up boxer on the pier.
-- Reviewed by Susan Hegger Harper Barnes is the Beacon movie reviewer. Beacon issues and politics editor Susan Hegger is a longtime movie goer.
Susan Hegger and Harper Barnes