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- "The Claim"
(Reviewed October 13, 2000)
- This is easily the most aggravatingly, infuriatingly, earnestly dull movie of 2000. Sarah Polley ("The Sweet Hereafter"), Milla Jovovich (whom I always remember as the scantily
clad
babette in "The Fifth Element," no matter how many other movies she does), Wes Bentley (the plastic-bag-lovin' videographer from "American Beauty"), and Nastassja Kinski (who looks frighteningly like
Linda Hamilton here) mope and sulk and stare into space a lot in this way-beyond-lethargic 1800s old-west melodrama about a town that wants to become a stop on the transcontinental railroad.
"The Claim" allegedly is an adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel "The Mayor of Casterbridge," which somehow never made it onto my must-read list, so I have no idea how many liberties the
screenwriter took. (Director Michael Winterbottom's last film was of Hardy's "Jude the Obscure," with a title shortened to "Jude" and notable mainly for a full frontal nude shot of one Ms. Kate Winslet.)
What I can say is that Winterbottom seems to have mistaken "The Claim"'s sappy soap operatic silliness for the kind of high art that is best served by long pauses, monotone dialog and emotion-free
performances.
If you have been having trouble sleeping, this two-hour trip into tedium is just the ticket. Otherwise, avoid.
Back Row Grade: F
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