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cameronm-7
Reviews
Lonely Hearts (1982)
Forgettable
After watching two of his films (the other being INNOCENCE), I simply cannot understand why Paul Cox is such an acclaimed director. I find his work uninspiring, wooden and dull. Lonely HEARTS is an insipid, slow, disjointed and uninteresting story. It is not a love story; there is no spark between the two principal characters. Things happen in the film without any explanation. The acting is average at best. The script is utterly empty. How did this win Australia's equivalent of the Academy Award for Best Picture?? Comes off as a second-rate TV movie.
I now see two recurring themes in these Paul Cox films: keyboard skills and rebound. INNOCENCE: an organist hops into the sack with his old girlfriend because he misses his deceased wife. LONELY HEARTS: a piano tuner hits the dating scene after his mother dies. I do not know what Mr. Cox's reasons are for using these themes but, from any angle, he is not a good storyteller.
Innocence (2000)
A Disappointment
I truly do not understand why so many viewers have raved about this film. I thought INNOCENCE was silly and much of it was downright embarrassing to watch. It could have been such a fine movie. The premise of the film (rekindled romance late in life) is a very interesting one. But the film is not much more than a 2nd rate soap opera. The script seems to have been taken from a series of Hallmark cards. The story is full of gaping holes. We do not know why Andreas contacts Clare after a 40-year interval in the first place; Andreas asks Clare to sleep with him BECAUSE HE MISSES HIS DEAD WIFE??? Come on! Andreas becomes terminally ill but it is only mentioned once in the film. The character's health never changes. There is a viewing in the film that features the corpse in a chapel, lying in repose in a BED, wearing NIGHTCLOTHES! I could not believe my eyes. The death scene prior to that viewing was so trite that I wanted to laugh out loud. The acting is abysmal. Charles Tingwell recites his lines as if he is addressing Parliment. He looks as if he is about to drop dead at any moment. In all of the other films I have seen him in, his roles are very small. Now I know why; he is too weak an actor to carry a substantial role. The man who portrays Clare's husband is even worse; an old crybaby. His character is without depth or dignity. And so is this movie. Stay away.