Customer Reviews

Chain of Desire [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I saw this above-average film in '92 in L.A. No one there in the film business seemed to give a fig for it, but then I was working amongst some callous, unimaginative and wholly uncreative suits who were only interested in the sales on ties at Fred Segal's.

Lopez' "lost" film intrigued me because of its use of an original music score entwined with it's "La Ronde" rip-off structure (which, itself, was not original). It also has a dark edge that I found amusing, having come out of the 80s intact after watching so many friends die, and others turn into raving yuppie miscreants.

Needless to say, the premise of the story and it's Hitchcockian payoff is neither unfounded nor unrealistic: 'tis the way the Big A all happened, in a fashion. X meets Y meets Z meets C then C screws X etc etc. Of course, for the more 'mindful', this is also how thought transfer occurs and makes for so-called 'reality'.

Fiorentino has a small part, but she captivates as a chanteuse crooning Marianne Faithful's "A Stranger on Earth", a downbeat, wonderful song. Malcolm Mc Dowell does a splendid turn in this film after so many years of laboring on B projects, and Assumpta Serna turns up with Elias Koteas (Exotica, The Adjuster), one of my favorite actors of this period.

Yes, it has some problems: its drags some in the mid-section and must battle its own episodic structure, and one music tune, "The Big Boys", well, it's not the best. It sounded like it belonged in DePalma's old "Phantom of the Paradise".

Why no DVD yet? The Bean Counters at Fred Segal, dah-ling. And the packaging for the recent VHS--it looks like some 'Wild Orchid' soft-porn crap (with all due respect to the talented Mickey Rourke - this was a bad choice back then). This film is sexy, but it is NOT soft-porn or 'Two Moon Junction' (love that title).

Give CHAIN OF DESIRE a look and a listen. It's a nice time capsule. I hope to see more from this director someday. He has promise.

I hope this movie comes out on DVD soon. I can't wait to add it to my collection, plus I think this flick will eventually become the classic it should be. I also hope they release it with the original poster that October films put out for the theatrical release, not the soft-porn cover for the video release that must have scared away the more sophisticated viewers to which this flick will appeal. For those of you who don't know about it, this is one of the most daring, tastefully sexy movies ever made. It has 14 main characters all linked through erotic encounters and it goes from sad to comic to exhilarating. It features Linda Fiorentino's and Malcolm McDowell's best performances in years and a bunch of great younger actors. Its sort of a chronicle of urban life in the 90's made with intelligence and wit. It also looks great and will remain an incisive and sensual testament of a place and a time for generations to come.

In spite of its packaging, this is not a porno flick! (If it were, it would leave alot to be desired.) Great film-making. I won't say any more, but if you want a sensual and very, very interesting movie, pick this. Great sound track too (wish it were on CD!).

You have to admire writer director Temistocles Lopez for this idea of providing 14 connected character studies, even if he can't end with a payoff. Beginning and ending with Linda Fiorentino as a performer in a Manhattan nightclub, each episode carries on the chain with one of the two participants from the preceeding one. Like all anthologies, the material is inconsistent and the success of these mostly relies upon the skill of the actors involved, and thankfully sexual attraction is only one component of the relationships presented. The divided lives that these people live is presumably supposed to demonstrate Lopez' argument against monogamy, where one partner cannot satisfy all the needs of another, though often these needs are simply companionship, or needs that no one else can satisfy. Lopez uses the nightclub for three performances - Fiorentino sings twice, her first number the title song complete with dancing boys, and the second "A Stranger on Earth" which I guess is Lopez' summation, even if such a torch song is at odds with the flash-trash danceclub milieu. The 3rd number is an awful Weimar Cabaret thing called "Sex in this Century" performed by Dewey Weber dressed like Tim Curry in the The Rocky Horror Picture Show. One really can't object to Lopez' cutting away from male gay sexuality and providing more explicit straight encounters, considering the care he takes in portraying other gay characters, and someone repeatedly declaring herself a virgin brings back memories of the scandal of the use of the word in The Moon is Blue in 1953. Lopez' greatest achievement may be in his directing Fiorentino, an actress notable for her bored mannerisms but here showing no trace of them. I also liked the scenes with Grace Zabriskie and Malcolm McDowell as a married couple - he hosts a TV show called "All the President's Women" - and the comic episode with Seymour Cassel and Assumpta Serna. Casting Cassel as a womaniser is bold enough, but Lopez gives Serna a funny line - "You smell of Calvin Klein's Obsession. For women!" - and provides an image of them bickering with a bust of Caesar positioned between them.

I have to say, this movie didn't do much for me. It was boring and I found myself fast forwarding to the good parts. Problem was, there were no good parts!

Seriously, if you want to buy it, you need to be a big fan of those in the film (Linda Fiorentino). You can do better. No Chains, No Desire! What's the deal?!