3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Buried somewhere in here..., December 8, 2003
This review is from: Past Tense [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Buried somewhere in PAST TENSE is a rather sharp and brilliant movie. Half MULHOLLAND DRIVE, halfy kitschy detective story, PAST TENSE has potential underground hit written all over it. The standout here is the always talented Lara Flynn Boyle (who is underrated and underused in an industry that could use a lot more talented actresses.) Here her acting skills lead an impressive ambiguity to the character "Tory Bass" (a mixture of the innocent and the earthy in typical film noir nature.)
Unlike MULHOLLAND DRIVE, PAST TENSE has a fairly universal plot to follow once things unravel: boy meets girl, boy loses girl to murder, boy gets girl back (or does he?). What makes PAST TENSE confusing (or brilliant, depending on how you approach the film) is the constant replaying or reimagining of one or two scenes (interspersed with new events or images and the rest of the "plot.")
You'll see, for instance, "Tori" slice a lemon while her cop neighbor (played by Scott Glenn) attempts to make a move on her;then a few frames later, the same scene. The neat factor comes in how "Tori" is dressed differently or how she behaves in the scenes that are repeated. One version of her first meeting with the cop neighbor has her sultry and seductive, another has her innocent and scared. (To explain why this occurs would be to give away a major spoiler...which I won't do...)
What is real and what isn't? Why do people vanish and reappear or take on new names? The MULHOLLANDesque elements of PAST TENSE are what make this film a keeper and a "repeat viewing" video. At least two elements (the discovery of a photo of "Tory" using a different name plus camera shots of a dead or slumbering woman in bed) of PAST TENSE are eerily similar to David Lynch's 2001 film.
The actual screenplay and the horribly annoying "writing" Scott Glenn's character types on his computer monitor (in his attempts to quit his day job and be a hack novelist)are all that hold this eerie and unforgettable movie back. Otherwise, you would get a beautifully shot (if somewhat stilted and naive) love story.
(Of course in the end, nothing offers the twists and turns that makes up the wonderful trip MULHOLLAND DRIVE.)
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4.0 out of 5 stars
What's Real And What Isn't?, April 3, 2009
This review is from: Past Tense [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Here's a modern-day film noir in which you're never sure what's real and what isn't real. There is a possibility you may get tired of guessing and give up on this film 3/4ths of the way through, as I almost did, but it is worth finishing. It also was better the second time around
The problem is just too many flashbacks. If some of those scenes were not replayed so often, or a few of the many twists eliminated, it would have been a super movie. It still was fascinating in parts. It grabs you, and you can't stop watching to see what the real story is.
Along the way, is a bunch of nice colors and some nice film noir-type photography in the beginning and then during the ending credits.
It's a shame this film has not made it to DVD.
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1 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Past Tense, November 27, 1999
This review is from: Past Tense [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The movie is as interesting as the Titl
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