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TERRY ta Rh Soh x "WEEKEND STAR" - FRIDAY, JULY 28, 2000-9 Talented Zemeckis falls flat with latest effort SCREENING ROOM ® © 00 0 0 By John Foote WHAT LIES BENEATH (Yr) Directed by Robert Zemeckis Now in theatres Behind Steven Spielberg, director Robert Zemeckis is the. most commercial- ly successful film maker working in the industry. That his name is not immediate- ly recognizable is not terribly surprising because his films tend to be audience pleasers, which rarely earn the director the type of acclaim they deserve. Think of the recent action films or the crop of so- called audience pleasers released this summer and try to find one iota of thought in any of them and I think, with the excep- tion of Dinosaur, you will be hard pressed to do so. Zemeckis gives his films a degree of depth, but is also keenly aware of the audience he is targeting from picture to picture. | am not suggesting his early work is the stuff of a master director, but ong can see the care taken in the presentation of the film in every frame. Romancing the Stone (1983) and The Jewel of the Nile (1985) were nothing more than goofy parodies of the Indiana Jones films, but they were not intended to be taken as anything other than that. The Back to the Future (1985, 1989, 1990) trilo- gy provided audiences with stunning entertainment with intelligence built into the plot. Audiences adored the Back to the Future series, quite enjoying the exploits of Marty McFly as he hurled through various time dimensions finding trouble and family in all of them. With Michael J. Fox being such a winning screen presence, and the time travel hook, how could audiences resist the pic- tures? What was often overlooked was the quality of the film, the superb direction of the pieces, and the fact not one of the actors embarrassed themselves in the movies. That is due to the talents of Zemeckis. Yes, he is a protegee of Steven Spielberg, who produced the Back to the Future series, and seems to have been a guiding force in the career of Zemeckis, but the critics claiming Zemeckis is a Spielberg clone are sadly misinformed, and missing the impact of hjs films. Forrest Gump (1994) remains one of the most beloved and successful films of the 90s, winning six Oscars including best picture and director for Zemeckis. Ironically, in a curious twist of fate, his mentor Spielberg would present him with his Academy Award just a year after win- ning his first for Schindler's List (1993). With an Oscar and the prestigious Directors Guild Award under his belt, one would think respect would be .owed to Zemeckis. But sadly, there was a backlash after the success of Forrest Gump, with critics attacking Zemeckis for creating a feel-good, Spielberg-type film, lacking emotional impact. No emotion? Forrest Gump remains one of the best pictures | had the pleasure of seeing in the 90s, with superb direction and a magnificent per- formance from Tom Hanks. Like Spielberg, Zemeckis was likely suffering the pitfalls of being too successful in the eyes of vicious critics. In bringing Carl Sagan's best selling novel Contact (1997) to the screen, Zemeckis created the most awe inspiring science fiction film since Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Merging science with religion and spirituality, Contact posed the questions of existence within another universe perhaps being the gods (or God) that have long been worshiped by various organized religions. The bril- liance of the film is that there are no clear cut answers (like religion) as the director leaves the audience challenged, allowing them to make their own decision about what really happened to the lead charac- ter, superbly played by Jodie Foster. For whatever reason, Contact was released during the summer blockbuster season; and despite being well reviewed, never really found an audience. There were certainly high expectations for the film come Oscar time, yet it was nominat- ed for just one award, best sound. Easily the best science fiction film of the 90s. Contact is the finest film Zemeckis has made, again giving audiences a strong blend of entertainment with intellect. His strength as a director has always been the manner in which he could merge entertainment with art, and even when he broke the conventional entertainment mould with Forrest Gump, there was cer- tainly enough humour and poignancy in the film to draw mainstream audiences. Actors love to work with him, as he allows them a great deal of freedom to create, and in many cases, actors and actresses have done their best work for Robert Zemeckis. So what happened with What Lies Beneath? Both a supernatural thriller and an eerie type of Fatal Attraction (1987), What Lies Beneath has the elements of a Hitchcockian suspense picture, without the suspense. Part of the problem with the movie is the fact the ads have given away so much of the plot that by the time we see it, we know most of what is coming. Beyond that, it is the type of film that has been done before, not necessarily better, but sooner, which draws a great deal on the film's impact. Well made, with the sheen of a big- budget Hollywood picture, the film explores the happenings surrounding a well-off couple portrayed by Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, who begin to experience strange goings-on in their magnificent lakefront home. Without giv- ing any more away than the TV ads have already, suffice it to say a nasty spirit has invaded their lives, a vengeful woman come back to wreak havoc on the wife of the man she loved. Turns out our hero, the straight and true Ford had an affair with the woman during her time on earth, and she has come back to possess his wife. There are several subplots involved in the film that Please turn to page 11 MEAT Sonim] DOr J 0 J I 1) | J I MANE SURRY I! 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