Another Day in Paradise

Another Day in Paradise
directed by Larry Clark
starring James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Vincent Kartheiser, Natasha Gregson Wagner
and James Otis
playing at the Ritz at the Bourse exclusively.
(available on video)
* * * (three stars)

no time to read the whole review?
THE JIST of MY PROSE Worth watching for James Woods' volcanic performance and the near-'Drugstore Cowboy' quality evocation of the drug-addled midwest of the early-mid 70's. Worth avoiding for Melanie Griffith, Natasha Gregson Wagner and a little thing called familiarity. Sometimes it's on the mark - other times it misses the mark by a country mile.

There's little left to expect from Larry Clark, director of the
underground, wild-side teen favorite 'Kids'. Perhaps that's why he
chose to direct 'Another Day in Paradise', a film that isn't nearly as
ambitious as 'Kids', but proves that Clark has talent beyond the
simply naturalism of his former film (in my eyes, a very amateurish
take on the world, which happens to contain some really
well-etched performances). 'Another Day in Paradise', partially
funded by the man himself, contains a performance that reflects
years of pent-up emotions and problems, just waiting to be exhaled
and blown up to the size of a movie screen. I am, of course,
referring to James Woods, bravura of such films as 'Ghosts of
Mississippi' and 'Salvador', each of which earned him an Academy
Award Nomination. His uneqivocable portrayal of a man twisted
from the inside, drugged up to the gills and evil to the last, is hard
to shake and, admittedly, fun to watch (as with any drug-taking,
wise-cracking psychopath).

Woods, who's screen persona moves from jumpy and funny
to mean and rotten, all in one sentence, is out for cash. His goal in
life, as a self-proclaimed "brilliant thief", is money. He and his
shining but burnt out girlfriend Sid (Griffith) pick up two young
junkies and sometime thieves (Kartheiser and Gregson-Wagner)
and embark on a road trip to pull off a big score. Though things go
wrong more than once, the entire crew is always focused; some
more than others, often Woods by himself (who carries the
authority to force the others into his plans). This leaves a screen
that doesn't mind heaping on blood, such as their visit to the
Reverend (a gun dealer and holy man played with an eerie
backwoods flavor by James Otis) after Woods and Kartheiser are
shot by a drug-buying motorcycle gang dubbed "Hitler's
Henchman".

The real insides of the film come from the original
manuscript written in an Illinois prison by Eddie Little and also,
Tulsa, a book of photos shot by Larry Clark, chronicling (neither
damning or promoting) the Midwest drug culture of the 1970's.
This makes for a lot of cloudy minds, a whole bunch of needles
and excessive violence. The film is never easy to stomach as
proved right from the get-go when Kartheiser robs a vending
machine and is beaten within an inch of his life by a mean-spirited
security guard whose baton creates a crimson mess all over
Kartheiser's "Rebel Without a Cause" uniform (namely jeans and
white T-shirt).

I liked the honest and edgy portrayal of a culture that existed
before my time and without my knowledge. I enjoyed the showboat
performance of James Woods. As not to be sexist, there was a huge
problem, not just in the writing of the female characters, but in the
shoddy casting as well. Griffith, obviously straying from the norm,
makes an compellingly unconvincing drug addict. Gregson-Wagner
(whom I despised in the awful 'Two Girls and a Guy') is one of the
worst actresses to grace the screen since I've been watching
movies. She should be locked out of Hollywood and be forced to
do community service to repay the public who has to sit through
good films that she inhabits. She's made "the list".

Another Day in Paradise, though more grown-up than 'Kids',
suffers from the exclusion of a solid script (which 'Kids' had in
spades) and solid actors. Though less ambitious, its small scale is
never a weakness and seems to keep with the idea that this
movement (immortalized in 'Drugstore Cowboy') was never a big
hit and rightly so. These people led dull, uninteresting lives and
lived outside of reality just long enough to lose touch with it and
end up in a jailhouse or a morgue. If this is a cautionary tale, it
speaks well to an audience by creating a bleak void that can only
exist for so long before it is gone and the men and women whose
lifestyle it reflected, became ghosts as well. A conventional, but
commanding vision of life as a cloud of smoke, drifting in the
sunshine for a short time before evaporating.

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