Customer Reviews

Event [VHS]

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

 

 

THE EVENT came and went in the theatres like some spectral ghost which, despite its trappings, failed to serve notice of its importance not only as a social comment but as a showcase for some excellent talent. Director Thom Fitzgerald deserves great respect (and most certainly an audience!) for the brave statement of his film and the facile utilization of some extraordinary talent. The "Event" of the title refers to a final party for Matt (Don McKellar), a young man blessed with many friends and family, who has decided to end his deteriorating life of struggle with AIDS with a suicide finale, gaged to be abetted by those closest to him. The glitch comes (after the death) when detective "Nick" DeVivo (Parker Posey) decides that assisted suicide is a crime that must be punished and proceeds to investigate all of the people involved. It is this investigation that introduces us to Matt's entourage - a glitteringly excellent cast of family (Olympia Dukakis as his mother, Brent Carver as his partner) and friends, which include roles for Sarah Polly, Jane Leeves, and an actor who makes a Drag Queen performance one of the strongest roles since Torch Song Trilogy. Through a series of thoughtful flashbacks and flash-forwards we are allowed insight into each of these characters and to the reality of exactly how Matt's final wishes were completed - a tender and wonderful surprise ending. This story is told with a simultaneous celebration of life and a warm tenderness for the meaning of love in all its phases and forms, all in a setting of the persistent ravaging plague of AIDS that continues to deprive the world of treasured citizens and spirits. Fitzgerald is able to accomplish this without resorting to the maudlin, the banal, or the tempting "somewhere over the rainbow" saccharine tone that often accompanies films of this nature. This is a remarkable achievement and in every way this movie stands tall. Highly recommended.

It's like Russian Roulette when I pick up a random DVD from the clearance rack just for the excitement of watching a film I've never heard of. I did that today and was pleasantly surprised at what a great film "The Event" was. This moving story which centered around assisted suicide was touching, sad, funny in parts, and relevant. The acting was great, especially by Olympia Dukakis who delivers a quietly understated powerhouse performance, her strongest in years. The weak link of the film was Parker Posey as the District Attorney. I usually love her movies but she was terribly miscast in this film. Had I never seen her earlier performaces I may have believed her, but she is so typecast that it's hard to take her seriously. Overall I would highly recommend this movie, but it's not a film for everyone. The subject matter and theme is grim but the overall production is outstanding. If you like offbeat independent films with great acting and mature subject matter then I would highly recommend you check out "The Event".

A beautiful film with a wonderful cast, "The Event" is the story of one man's battle with AIDS and his wish to die with his dignity still intact. We are shown through segmented flashbacks, and scenes from the present, how his decision affects the people who love him and hold him so dear to their hearts. It is at once comedic and emotionally intense, pulling at your heart with its honesty and its brutal display of humanity. A story of a higher love, the strong bonds of family and the loyalty of trusted friends, "The Event" is a sure-fire film to satisfy those seeking tender characters, human emotions and the provoking of thoughts.

The Event is a tremendous piece that pivots on an act of heart-wrenching compassion. The moments of empowerment are exquisitely imperfect and real. For anyone who has dared to stay close to those dealing with HIV/AIDS, right to the gritty end, you'll find this a draining, rewarding, amusing, heart breaking reflection of your experiences.

It's for caregivers, and friends, and family, and those who somehow keep walking even in the face of deepest despair.

I read some of the more critial reviews, and their contributors seemed wrapped around the axle about it's artistic deficits - plot lines and the like. I'd say to them, respectfully, that you need to go and find someone who needs support, who is dealing with HIV and stay the course. Then you'll understand what poigniant nuance and prause this work has captured.

On 6/24 I'll be attending Tales of the City, The Musical in San Francisco, hosted by Olympia Dukakis. It will be with tears in my eyes that I take her hand and thank her for her phenomenal portrayal of Lila in The Event.

A must see.

I bought this movie for my mom, I have personally never seen the movie but my mom loves it and has tried and tried to find it in stores, online, etc. I bought it for her for Christmas and when she opened it she cried. A friend of hers wrote and sings the ending song of the movie. Now I guess I should sit down and watch it with her!

A man dies of AIDS. Was it natural, murder, or a suicide. Parker Posey plays a detective assigned to determine if it was foul play. Olympia Dukakis turns in an outstanding performance as the man's mother. Superb acting, but I will not see the movie again, because it is such a downer.

The Event (Thom Fitzgerald, 2003)

The Event was a movie that sounded great in the jacket copy. Fast-paced mystery/thriller with a monstrous cast, a series of suspicious deaths, and a bunch of family secrets. Okay, a little Lifetime Original Movie-ville with that last bit, but I am as capable of appreciating a well-made cheese as the next guy. What I got was nothing of the sort; it's a ponderous drama that left me wondering where the mystery was. And then came the revelation of the mystery, and I realized this is one of those IMPORTANT (and the all-caps is necessary there) movies. And once the mystery was revealed, I really, really wanted to like this movie, because I am right behind the director, Thom Fitzgerald (The Hanging Garden) and co-writers Steven Hillyer and Tim Marback (with their first screenplay) on the importance, and the idiocy, of this issue. But the film never seems to rise above cheap-exploitation status. The worst part is, this is going to be an extremely difficult movie to review, since I don't want to give the game away--but in order to talk about it meaningfully, I'd have to give the game away. So this will probably be a very short, unsatisfying review. You have my apologies in advance.

The movie's center is Nick (Parker Posey), a district attorney looking into a number of suspicious deaths. The most recent of these is Matt Shapiro (Blindness' Don McKellar), and Nick hits this one hard, grilling Matt's friends and family over and over, gradually getting the whole story. Once she has it, though, she's not entirely sure what to do with it, thanks to secrets she also harbors.

While the big twist has been given away in a lot of other reviews (okay, every other review I've read), I'm not going there. The one light in this mawkish, heavy-handed, facile mess is the revelation of what The Event is. Aside from that, the movie's material begs for better treatment. What we get here is whacked in the head with a hammer. Repeatedly. No character here is more than a cardboard cutout, which not only does a disservice to the issues on display, but also to the actors hired to play these cardboard cutouts. And a stellar cast it is; along with Posey and McKellar, who are both so much fun when in something good, you also get Brent Carver, Jane Leeves, Olympia Dukakis (as Matt's mother, the one character who's actually halfway believable), and Sarah Polley, all of whom are normally wonderful. To their credit, they do the best they can with the material presented them. That material, though, is the worst kind of message-overwhelms-the-medium tripe. And that is so often the problem with IMPORTANT works of art; they get too caught up in their own importance, and so we get silliness like the big out-of-the-blue revelation at the climax. Even if you're in lockstep with the idea behind the film (and I am), the material's presentation should leave you wondering how stupid the screenwriters think you are. * ½

Social commentary is a good thing for art to do. Films like "The Life of David Gale," and "American Beauty" are cinemmatic masterpieces partly because they shock us into thinking about things we might not normally think about.

Then there are films like this that show that good social commentary can also make for pretty mediocre art. From the beginning, "The Event" feels contrived; you know exactly how it will end 5 minutes into the film (and can proffer a good guess before you even see the film).

While the acting was fine (excepting an embarrasingly akward showing from Parker Posey), it lacked the depth to me required of a plot so grave and deep. What was a disappointment, though, was the writing. What generally makes 'social commentary' films work is the push-and-pull and tension in its plot (think David Gale and Dead Man Walking). Here, there is no tension. A very sick man makes a decision to commit suicide and within a few minutes, all crying and subtlety stops; everyone is on board. While my symapthies lie with the 'right to die' movement, this seemed to me like a very one-sided view of a very more-than-one sided issue. The only tension - if one wants to call it that - was infused by Parker Posey as the assistant D.A. looking into the criminality of the situation, but this was very weak acting for a very weak character.

Because of this - because of the lack of tension and transparent predictability - what could have been a poignant take on an important issue skated on the verge of a pointless sadism. (There is something sadistic to me about a film that's climax is the on-screen actualization of a suicide everyone knows is 'just around the corner.')

Lest one want to think my bad review's impetus is bias against the film's message, I should repeat that I am quite symapthetic to the 'right to die' movement and always have been. The only bias my review is motivated by is that which says that even social commentary films - especially social commentary films - have an obligation not to be simplistic and cliche. "The Event," I feel, is both. It feels contrived from start to finish, and comes off as so concerned with the message that it loses any attention to the medium.

From an outside appearance, this indie drama looks to be casted quiet well with Olympia Dukakis and Parker Posey.

Unfortunately, even their performances lag due to the incredibly bad script writing and incompetent direction, cinematography and editing. As a person who loves good cinema and socially topical subject matters, I have to draw a line at some point and state that not all indie films are great. (Contrary to what I say most of the time.)

This is the kind of film that would be fine if it was part of a first year project for a film student at NYU; the viewer would have lesser expectations. Unfortunately, for the serious subject matter, this production was left in hands of people less capable for extracting the best from the artists involved on every level from writing to acting.

The cast has little with which to work due to what I feel is incompetent directing and lackluster production value of the film. This is a rare case where I would suggest that it would have been far better if managed by a larger Hollywood studio.

There was far too much talent in the cast to be squandered on such a horrible venture. Whomever funded this should seriously reconsider their idea of investments for the future. This was pretty bad from start to finish, which is a huge disappointment since I enjoyed the writer/director's first film The Hanging Gardens and because I've enjoyed several performances by many of the actors in previous projects. This is one of the worst productions I've seen decades.

"The Event" is an ambitious movie that takes on the subject of assisted suicide. The movie is set in the Chelsea district of Manhattan during 2001. When a talented young musician with AIDS dies, an investigator from the District Attorney's office sets about finding out the cause of death to determine if a crime was committed. Although some of the flash forwards and flashbacks may make for confusing viewing in the beginning scenes, especially since the viewer is still unfamiliar with the numerous characters, such issues are resolved in time. Some of the cinematography is less than inspired, but then, the movie was probably done on a limited budget. Even so, the director, Thom Fitzgerald, has managed to assemble an exceptional cast, among them Don McKellar, Olympia Dukakis, Parker Posey (sort of the Queen of Independent Cinema), and the always fine, Brent Carver. Plus, the script is smart and manages a difficult subject without resorting to sentimentality. Although there are some visual elements that relate to 9-11, no mention of the destruction of the World Trade Center is ever made that I recall. Since certain crucial events to this story take place in September, 2001, the omission of the terrorists' attack seems off-putting since it was one thing on every New Yorker's mind, whatever one's personal problems. Since 9-11 does not really relate to the story but still cannot be ignored, I wish the filmmaker had chosen a different timeline, perhaps placing the story in 2000 or 2002. I sincerely hope Fitzgerald's next project ISN'T a family drama set in Sri Lanka during the Christmas season of 2004, in which he would neglect to mention the tsunami, as being irrelevant to the story, but throw in a few tsunami images as establishing shots for good measure.