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| Plot Synopsis Canadian filmmaker Thom Fitzgerald directs the sentimental ensemble drama The Event. Nick (Parker Posey) is a district attorney investigating several deaths in the gay community of New York City's Chelsea District. It seems that many AIDS sufferers have died under similar mysterious circumstances. Each case suggest the use of assisted suicide, which is illegal in New York. HIV-infected cellist Matt (Don McKellar) has died of a drug overdose following a large party in Manhattan given by his family and friends. Nick first questions his lover Brian (Brent Carver), who runs an HIV support clinic. Still looking for answers, she interviews Matt's closest family members, including his mother Lila (Olympia Dukakis), his younger sister Dana (Sarah Polley), and his older sister Gaby (Joanna P. Adler). Meanwhile, Nick battles with her own past secrets involving her family back in New Jersey. The Event premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. - Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide Reviews BRIAN J. DILLARD All Movie Guide Although it contains some individual moments of emotional resonance and the occasional dash of dark hilarity, this HIV-positive police procedural works as neither entertainment nor political agitprop. Seeking to dramatize the continuing toll of AIDS even in the era of effective long-term treatment options, writer/director Thom Fitzgerald badly miscalculates. Characters who should be sympathetic come off as self-victimizing caricatures, while the overall authorial voice can only be described as operatically paranoid. The contrived, hokey plot centers around Parker Posey as a police detective determined to ferret out the real story behind a number of apparent AIDS suicides. This gives Posey the opportunity to sound gruff and look smug -- and encourages Olympia Dukakis, as the mother of one unfortunate HIV-positive man, to grandstand and spout PFLAG platitudes. It's all well and good for a film like Philadelphia -- a mainstream plea for tolerance -- to soft-serve the message that HIV patients are people, too. But coming a decade later, from an indie with a more clued-in target audience, such rhetoric seems like so much preaching to the choir. Only Don McKellar (as Dukakis' funny, defiant son) and Sarah Polley (as his acerbic actress sister) manage to escape relatively unscathed. After the spare, elegiac Hanging Garden and the sweet, kitschy Beefcake, it's doubtful that Fitzgerald's fans were waiting anxiously for him to remake It's My Party as a pious Law & Order episode. But that's what he's done, tarnishing a heretofore stellar track record. TIM KNIGHT Reel.com Assisted suicide, a potentially depressing topic, is depicted with a refreshing lack of melodrama in The Event, a quietly powerful ensemble drama from Canadian filmmaker Thom Fitzgerald (The Hanging Garden). Generally well acted (with one glaring exception), The Event doesn't pull any punches in its treatment of this polarizing subject matter. Fitzgerald doesn't shy away from showing what drives the AIDS-afflicted musician Matt (Don McKellar) to take his own life, but he doesn't dwell on it either. The director/screenwriter understands that such an excessively morbid approach could turn off viewers. Fitzgerald therefore leavens the palpable gloom hanging over the story with much-needed levity and gallows humor, which ultimately makes The Event all the more affecting. Told primarily in flashback, The Event follows Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Nicole "Nick" Devivo (Parker Posey) as she investigates the death of Matt Shapiro (McKellar). His is the latest in a string of recent assisted suicides known as "events," where terminally ill patients throw lavish farewell parties before killing themselves, usually through a drug overdose. Although her own father died a protracted and agonizing death, Nick remains adamantly opposed to assisted suicide under any circumstances. Through her interviews with Matt's grieving mother (Olympia Dukakis), protective younger sister (Sarah Polley), and best friend (Brent Carver), among others, Nick gradually forms an impression of Matt. A talented, vital, and cheerfully irreverent musician, he was devoted to his friends and family. Emotionally and physically spent from years of fighting the disease, he decided to take his own life after exhausting every possible form of medical treatment. Yet as Nick finally discovers, his suicide did not go exactly as planned. A moving and frequently haunting story of loss, The Event never descends into soap opera theatrics or shrill histrionics. If anything, the movie is sometimes a little too understated for its own good. Fitzgerald's restrained approach borders on dispassionate. As a result, the climax lacks the necessary cathartic impact. The film is further undermined by Posey's surprisingly weak performance. The indie film darling and charter member of Christopher Guest's unofficial repertory company (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show) is unconvincing as the troubled assistant district attorney. It's not that Posey doesn't have the chops for the role. She was excellent in Personal Velocity (2002) and won a special award at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival for her daring performance in The House of Yes. In The Event, however, Posey comes across as awkward and flat. She also slips in and out of a jarring "New Yawk" accent that sounds like an unholy cross between Rosie Perez and Mushmouth from the Fat Albert cartoon (!). Fortunately, the rest of the cast delivers top-notch performances. Oscar winner Dukakis (Moonstruck) is terrifically compassionate and warm as Matt's mother Lila. The other cast standout is Polley (My Life Without Me), who invests her role with intelligence and bracing wit. In the 20 years since AIDS first entered the public consciousness, several films have depicted the terrible emotional and physical toll the epidemic has taken on the gay community. These films range from the bittersweet romance Parting Glances (1986) to Jonathan Demme's legal drama Philadelphia (1993), starring Tom Hanks. Similar in theme to The Event, Randal Kleiser's It's My Party (1996) portrays the last few hours in the life of an AIDS-afflicted architect (Eric Roberts), who gathers his friends and family together for a final blowout. Awards 2003 Atlantic Film Festival Best Art Direction (win)-D'Arcy Poultney Best Director (win)-Thom Fitzgerald Best Editing (win)-Christopher Cooper Outstanding Writer (win)-Steven Hillyer, Tim Marback, Thom Fitzgerald Other Awards Best Supporting Actress (nom)-Olympia Dukakis -2003 Genie Awards OUTstanding Actress in a Feature Film (win)-Olympia Dukakis -2003 Outfest |
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| THE EVENT 2002 - Canada - 110 min. - Feature, Color Director - Thom Fitzgerald |
| Genre / Type - Drama, Ensemble Film, Gay & Lesbian Films, Tragi-comedy Flags - Profanity, Drug Content, Sexual Situations MPAA Rating - R Keywords - AIDS, community, District-Attorney, investigation, suicide, HIV Themes - Living With AIDS, Suicide Tones - Compassionate, Bittersweet, Earnest, Intimate, Humorous, Elegiac, Tearjerking Moods - High on Emotion Produced by - Covington Intl. / Emotion Pictures / Flutie Entertainment / THINKFilm Release - Sep 19, 2003 (USA - Limited) Premiere - 2003 01 19 (Sundance Film Festival) Released by - THINKFilm MPAA Reasons - for sexual content, language and some drug use DVD Street Date - Apr 13, 2004 Screen Format - Widescreen Sound - Dolby Digital Stereo Studio - Velocity Home Entertainment Cast Parker Posey -- Nick Olympia Dukakis -- Lila Don McKellar -- Matt Sarah Polley -- Dana Brent Carver -- Brian Jane Leeves -- Mona Joanna Adler -- Gaby Rejean J. Cournoyer -- Rory Christina Zorich -- Judy Dick Latessa -- Uncle Leo Cynthia Preston -- Amy Gianna Marciante -- Lilian Jaclyn Markowitz -- Amelia Glen Michael Grant - Andy |
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