Funny and sweet in stretches but not memorable enough to break out of the pack, "Olympia" is a moderately successful romantic fable that was featured as the closing-night film of the 1998 Slamdance Film Festival.
A modest theatrical distribution may only earn the film a few fans, as might cable and video exposure. Still, it's not too shabby of a calling card for filmmaker Robert Byington.
Writer-director Byington's second feature is based on his short story "Javelkemeiche!" and it unfortunately plays like a one-joke movie: Did you hear the one about a loser in Texas who became the coach of a beautiful, javelin-throwing Mexican soap-opera actress?
But with a short running time and obvious budgetary limitations, "Olympia" has moments when it's charming in a rough, playful way -- in the spirit of the title character. On the down side, the plot too often seems to have no destination and fails to keep one fully engaged and sympathetic to the nutty scenario and goofball players.
While the portrait of the dumpy lead male is admirably fleshed out, with Jason Andrews ("Boogie Nights") gaining weight to play the 34-year-old deadbeat, the character of Olympia (newcomer Carmen Nogales) is annoyingly elusive and cold. A dreamer and risk-taker, she crosses the border to pursue a crazy dream of going to the Olympics and plays the Amazon in training to keep hapless impromptu host Bill Andrews) guessing.
The film has no edge to speak of, staying in a perky mood with not much sex, but the supporting cast of lowlifes and scumbags is often inspired. Damian Young ("Amateur") is scarily decrepit and caustic as Olympia's former trainer and partner, while James Black is wonderfully gruff and rude as a motel manager.
When Bill starts to take the job of training Olympia seriously, the film takes a leap of faith that some in the audience may not find agreeable. While there's a little Tex-Mex magic realism to go with the quirky romance, the actual javelin throwing is blandly filmed and not a dynamic transcendent element that convincingly unites chubby gringo with macho princess and skeptical viewer with filmmaker's vision.
OLYMPIA
King Pictures
Director: Robert Byington
Producers: Adrienne Gruben, Jason Silverman, Nancy Schafer
Screenwriters: Bill Stott,
Johnny McAllister, Robert Byington
Executive producer: Scott King
Director of photography: Paul Kloss
Editor: Garret Savage
Production designer: Gigi Causey
Costumes: Lee Hunsaker
Color/stereo
Cast:
Bill Daniel: Jason Andrews
Olympia Miraflores: Carmen Nogales
Ed Pedernales: Damian Young
Motel manager: James Black
Mom: Patricia Fiske
Running time -- 77 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A modest theatrical distribution may only earn the film a few fans, as might cable and video exposure. Still, it's not too shabby of a calling card for filmmaker Robert Byington.
Writer-director Byington's second feature is based on his short story "Javelkemeiche!" and it unfortunately plays like a one-joke movie: Did you hear the one about a loser in Texas who became the coach of a beautiful, javelin-throwing Mexican soap-opera actress?
But with a short running time and obvious budgetary limitations, "Olympia" has moments when it's charming in a rough, playful way -- in the spirit of the title character. On the down side, the plot too often seems to have no destination and fails to keep one fully engaged and sympathetic to the nutty scenario and goofball players.
While the portrait of the dumpy lead male is admirably fleshed out, with Jason Andrews ("Boogie Nights") gaining weight to play the 34-year-old deadbeat, the character of Olympia (newcomer Carmen Nogales) is annoyingly elusive and cold. A dreamer and risk-taker, she crosses the border to pursue a crazy dream of going to the Olympics and plays the Amazon in training to keep hapless impromptu host Bill Andrews) guessing.
The film has no edge to speak of, staying in a perky mood with not much sex, but the supporting cast of lowlifes and scumbags is often inspired. Damian Young ("Amateur") is scarily decrepit and caustic as Olympia's former trainer and partner, while James Black is wonderfully gruff and rude as a motel manager.
When Bill starts to take the job of training Olympia seriously, the film takes a leap of faith that some in the audience may not find agreeable. While there's a little Tex-Mex magic realism to go with the quirky romance, the actual javelin throwing is blandly filmed and not a dynamic transcendent element that convincingly unites chubby gringo with macho princess and skeptical viewer with filmmaker's vision.
OLYMPIA
King Pictures
Director: Robert Byington
Producers: Adrienne Gruben, Jason Silverman, Nancy Schafer
Screenwriters: Bill Stott,
Johnny McAllister, Robert Byington
Executive producer: Scott King
Director of photography: Paul Kloss
Editor: Garret Savage
Production designer: Gigi Causey
Costumes: Lee Hunsaker
Color/stereo
Cast:
Bill Daniel: Jason Andrews
Olympia Miraflores: Carmen Nogales
Ed Pedernales: Damian Young
Motel manager: James Black
Mom: Patricia Fiske
Running time -- 77 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/28/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A promising set-up remains unfulfilled by the end of the 77-minute "Shameless", a 1993 low-budget indie from Texas filmmaker Robert Byington. Premiering in Los Angeles in Laemmle Theatres' ongoing "International Cinema Showcase: American Independent Films" series at the Grande downtown, the black-and-white production has a few virtues, but it's not hard to see why landing a distributor has been difficult.
Set in Austin, where budding architect and teacher's assistant Myers (Scott Rhodes) meets pretty Latina student Arcadio (Carmen Nogales), "Shameless" is a multicultural romance that brings up potentially interesting issues but comes up short in terms of basic storytelling.
Myers actually first encounters Arcadio's thieving friend, Amalia (Natalie Karp), and the trio become fast friends in the slow lane. While quietly devious Myers and cheerfully virginal Arcadio appear to have no real direction in life, Amalia's spontaneous forays into petty crime slowly arouse Myers, and he jumps at a fewopportunities to see if she's interested.
Maybe she is and maybe she isn't. The atmosphere of sexual tension is meant to draw one into the lives of these slackers, but there's not enough plot to go with the furtive posturing, and even Amalia's larceny is a blase distraction. Factor in the lack of any traditional love scenes, and "Shameless" becomes aimless to a fault.
Of the two actresses, Karp ("Natural Born Killers") has the meatier role and pretty much steals the show, while Nogales ("The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre") tries to make something of her one-note character. Rhodes ("Slacker") is the odd man out, with neither the distinctive looks nor charisma necessary to mold his character into someone we care about.
SHAMELESS
Panorama Entertainment
King Tomato Prods.
Writer-director-producer Robert Byington
Co-producers Scott Perry, Grace Smith
Director of photography Brian O'Kelly
Editor Scott Rhodes
Production designer Mark Bristol
Music Los Pinkys
Black and white
Cast:
Myers Scott Rhodes
Arcadio Carmen Nogales
Amalia Natalie Karp
Running time -- 77 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Set in Austin, where budding architect and teacher's assistant Myers (Scott Rhodes) meets pretty Latina student Arcadio (Carmen Nogales), "Shameless" is a multicultural romance that brings up potentially interesting issues but comes up short in terms of basic storytelling.
Myers actually first encounters Arcadio's thieving friend, Amalia (Natalie Karp), and the trio become fast friends in the slow lane. While quietly devious Myers and cheerfully virginal Arcadio appear to have no real direction in life, Amalia's spontaneous forays into petty crime slowly arouse Myers, and he jumps at a fewopportunities to see if she's interested.
Maybe she is and maybe she isn't. The atmosphere of sexual tension is meant to draw one into the lives of these slackers, but there's not enough plot to go with the furtive posturing, and even Amalia's larceny is a blase distraction. Factor in the lack of any traditional love scenes, and "Shameless" becomes aimless to a fault.
Of the two actresses, Karp ("Natural Born Killers") has the meatier role and pretty much steals the show, while Nogales ("The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre") tries to make something of her one-note character. Rhodes ("Slacker") is the odd man out, with neither the distinctive looks nor charisma necessary to mold his character into someone we care about.
SHAMELESS
Panorama Entertainment
King Tomato Prods.
Writer-director-producer Robert Byington
Co-producers Scott Perry, Grace Smith
Director of photography Brian O'Kelly
Editor Scott Rhodes
Production designer Mark Bristol
Music Los Pinkys
Black and white
Cast:
Myers Scott Rhodes
Arcadio Carmen Nogales
Amalia Natalie Karp
Running time -- 77 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 11/25/1996
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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