Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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68 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was a very good movie, August 27, 2000
As an X-files fan, I have listened to and read a number of articles where David Duchovny referred to the Red Shoe Diaries, so I thought I would check it out. When I read information on the tape I thought it was just another sex-oriented storyless movie. Finally, I decided, on the strength of those references to give it a shot.I don't regret it. There is sex no-doubt and pretty artfully done, but that's not really what the movie is all about. The only thing I didn't like was the character Alex's breathy phlegmatic voice. However, given the movie, it may have been done delibrerately. The movie starts out surprisingly enough with the funeral of the central character Alex. Jake (David Duchovny's character) is obviously the significant other. The reactions of some of the family and friends are odd. Friends are supportive, but the one family member the mother, is obviously accusational. After her funeral, while gathering Alex's clothing and shoes from where they lived, Jake stumbles on some diaries written by Alex. Here he reads not only of her admiration and love for himself but of another man in her life. A shock you can well imagine. A surprise as well when you have read of the satisfaction she has with her life and with Jake. As he reads on, she describes the situation of her meeting the "other man; Tom". Girls lets face it, he is an eyeful. This is a psychological movie in the sense that you have to understand and you will as you watch the movie, that Alex is a woman that is always being controlled by other people. Based on comments by Alex, she often lets people take control. When Jake meets her mother after their engagement, it is easy to see where this all began. Her descriptions of her youth only reinforce it further. Too often when relationships are forged, so are the roles, and the person in control, remains the one in control. Alex in her relationship with Jake was unable to change the balance of power. It was no doubt Jake was in control, though hardly overbearing and from what I saw, also adoring and gentle. With the new situation with Tom, she hoped to have a situation she could control. She wanted to call the shots. This did not work out the way she hoped it would. Alex realized in the situation with Tom, that is was not him, that was the problem, but her when the balance of power began to shift. The ending was inevitable and the only time she could exercise control and not lose it. Jake after finding these diaries and reading them seeks out Tom, to understand why. Through a travesty of a basketball challenge and interruption of well meaning friends a one-on-one match becomes a one sided conversation where Jake tears at Tom's philosophies in life, seeing him as only a philandering ladies man. If not for the "cheerleaders", he may have gotten different answers. Needless to say, Jake wants to know what Alex saw in Tom. He also trivializes Tom's interest in Alex. Tom is unaware that Jake was Alex's fiance. Tom is also unaware that Alex is dead. This scene and the later scene where Jake tells Tom of the death of Alex, while presenting him with the red shoes Alex bought from him, is a well done example of the possessiveness and grief of men. You wonder if Jake is more upset by Alex's death or that Tom owned a part of her that Jake could not have. Similarily it seems Tom reacts. I found the movie had an interesting insight into why people do what they do. The character's of both Jake and Tom, never get the point. Especially when it is apparent Jake continues to seek answers, even after being given them in Alex's diary. I also see how things can go horribly wrong. Before you look outside, you must look inside. Easy to say, not so easy to do. Given the nature of the other follow ons to this movie (they seem pure erotica) I may not see them, but I'm sure glad I saw this one. Please note I saw the rated R version. I'm not a prude but like to have a story in a movie that I'm going to dedicate 2 hours to.
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37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
David Duchovny or Billy Wirth...what a choice!, January 4, 1999
By A Customer
A young woman(Bridget Bako) is torn between her fiancee, played by a pre-X Files Duchovny, and a shoe salesman she is having an affair with, played by gorgeous Billy Wirth...not that Duchovny isn't bad himself! She can't decide between the 2 men...so she committs suicide! After her death, Duchovny finds her diary, along with a pair of sexy red shoes she purchased from Wirth, and tries to put the pieces together. This is bascially the jist of the film. It is shown in flashbacks as Duchovny sorts painfully through her belongings. He reads her diary hoping it will provide some insight as to why she took her life. What he learns about the woman he loves is devastating! I have watched this film many times. I enjoy it very much. I like director Zalman King's films. (Another good one is Two Moon Junction) I think he is able to make sensual films from a womans point of view, which is why they come across as erotic, not smutty. The only thing I don't like is, the version originally aired on Showtime and the rental version have different endings. I prefer the cable version. You end up liking Wirth much better. I don't know why King found it necessary to have 2 endings, the difference drastically alters the tone of the film. If possible, try and get your hands on the cable version first. You can purchase both versions, so know which is which. I must admit that I don't care for the Showtime series, Red Shoe Diaries, for which this movie was the pilot. Bridget Bako is absolutely lovely in the scene were she manically dances about her apartment. She reminds me of a young Jane Fonda. Billy Wirth's smouldering character posesses the uncanny ability to guess his customers shoe sizes the moment they walk into the store. But his character is not as shallow as he appears. Wirth is SO incredible in this film! Then again, let's face it, most woman would be content to watch Wirth read the phone book aloud! This was the first time I ever saw Duchovny, and I immediatly liked him. He has a nice screen presence. He is subtly sexy. I am glad I got to know him in this film before I became familiar with the stone-faced Muldar on X-Files. He CAN do more than play the straight man. I really can't say too much more about Red Shoe Diaries without giving up too much of the story. All I can say is, if I had the dilemma of choosing between Wirth and Duchovny, I certainly wouldn't kill myself! I'd be on the phone boasting to all my girlfriends!
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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Agony and the ecstasy of "Red Shoe Diaries", June 10, 2001
Over a year ago, I came across a pre-owned VHS copy of the "Red Shoe Diaries" pilot. I knew Duchovny starred in it, being a big X-Files fan and having caught an installment or two on Showtime in which he only began and ended it. I cannot tell you how glad I am that I bought that video.The pilot film blows away every other installment I have seen, because it provides a bittersweet backstory for the whole series. Duchovny plays Jake, a handsome and successful architect living and working in L.A. He is deeply in love with his live-in girlfriend, who later becomes his fiancee'. Her name is Alex, (played by an actress named Brigitte Bako), and she is an interior designer. Jake and Alex seem to be the perfect couple with the perfect life and love.... but looks can be decieving. This is evidenced by the fact that the film opens with Alex's funeral, and Jake's inconsoleable grief. Upon returning home and starting to pack up Alex's belongings, the mourning Jake finds two key things: Alex's secret diary, and a pair of red high-heeled Kenneth Cole shoes. As he begins to read her diary, sudden loss is cruelly compounded by the crushing discovery of betrayal and infidelity. It seems Jake was so blinded by love and pre-occupied with work that he failed to see just what a dysfunctional tragedy waiting to happen his Alex really was.... a fact which began to reveal itself first with his discovery of her lifeless body, and continuing as he got caught up in the diary's chronicle of Alex's secret other life and paramour. This other man was Tom (played by the scrumptious Billy Wirth, easily as hot as DD), who worked both as a construction worker and a shoe salesman. It is through him that Alex acquires the red shoes. They have a hot, steamy affair, but the problem is that once Alex accepts Jake's proposal, she finds herself unable to end it. Needing a sense of control she's never felt in her life drove her to the affair... now she has lost all control, which leads her to the rash and foolish solution of suicide. Grief-stricken and stunned, Jake becomes obssessed with confronting the other man, which he does in the climax of the film. In the end, it solves nothing for him, and thus begins his quest to heal his broken heart through the secret stories of other women, which he procures through an ongoning ad in the newspaper. He hopes to gain insight into Alex's actions through other women's experiences. To our knowledge, his quest for inner peace through literary voyeurism goes on. This film was stylish, sensual, and heartbreaking. Say what you like about Duchovny's acting ability, he at least has a knack for angsty roles. His turn as Jake was a precursor to the angsty hero Fox Mulder in "The X-Files". The musical soundtrack is also quite good, I own it, as well. Even if you aren't a big fan of the whole RSD series (as I am not), this pilot film is worth watching.
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