'City of Joy'
In another life, Roland Joffe must have been a preacher. Three of his four films have braved extreme Third World locations to probe white guilt and cultural misunderstandings and to explore the resiliency of the disenfranchised. Yet he cannot resist the impulse to preach.
In ''City of Joy, '' which takes place in the teeming slums of Calcutta, little life lessons come with nearly every sequence. It takes a certain amount of intellectual arrogance to impose philosophical issues on a city where simple survival is the name of the game.
Dialogue runs amok with axioms, greeting-card homilies and earnest introspection. Characters explore their navels more thoroughly than the colorful world they inhabit.
''City of Joy'' does have the advantage of its source material -- Dominique Lapierre's novel, a Dickensian tale of an American doctor who finds spiritual salvation among the poor.
But in paring, telescoping and reducing the characters and plot lines, writer Mark Medoff simplified this world until it resembles old Hollywood attempts to film Dickens: great roles for actors but bad Dickens.
Strong performances by Patrick Swayze, Pauline Collins and several veteran Indian actors make virtually every scene compelling. But the preaching weighs down the drama and the sentimentality nearly kills it.
TriStar's marketing department has a tricky assignment. If enough emphasis is placed on the shamelessly uplifting nature of the story and on Swayze's first meaty role, then modest theatrical success may follow.
Swayze plays a lost soul who comes to India for enlightenment and ends up mugged by street toughs. The clinic to which a rickshaw puller (Om Puri) brings him is run by a tough Irish nurse (Collins), who immediately tries to recruit his services.
Through force of circumstances -- perhaps in India the word is fate -- he agrees. The doctor thus finds himself battling the passivity and resignation of the poor.
This he fights with an almost comical -- although little in a Joffe film is played for comedy -- Yankee bullheadedness. Over all this looms the ominous power of the local godfather (Shyamanand Jalan) and his bullying son (Art Malik).
Individual scenes and the work of designer Roy Walker and cinematographer Peter Biziou make this a film you watch intently.
But Joffe and Medoff never really penetrate the Indian character. Frankly, there are more cultural cliches -- Indian, American and Irish -- than insight.
The domineering performance belongs to Puri as the impoverished rickshaw puller, struggling to feed his family and enrich his daughter's dowry.
CITY OF JOY
TriStar Pictures
Producers Jake Eberts, Roland Joffe
Director Roland Joffe
Writer Mark Medoff
Based on the novel by Dominique Lapierre
Director of photography Peter Biziou
Production designer Roy Walker
Music Ennio Morricone
Editor Gerry Hambling
Costume designer Judy Moorcroft
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Max Lowe Patrick Swayze
Hasari Pal Om Puri
Joan Bethel Pauline Collins
Kamla Pal Shabana Azmi
Amrita Pal Ayesha Dharker
Poomina Suneeta Sengupta
Ashoka Art Malik
Anouar Nabil Shaban
Godfather-Ghatak Shyamanand Jalan
Running time -- 134 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
In ''City of Joy, '' which takes place in the teeming slums of Calcutta, little life lessons come with nearly every sequence. It takes a certain amount of intellectual arrogance to impose philosophical issues on a city where simple survival is the name of the game.
Dialogue runs amok with axioms, greeting-card homilies and earnest introspection. Characters explore their navels more thoroughly than the colorful world they inhabit.
''City of Joy'' does have the advantage of its source material -- Dominique Lapierre's novel, a Dickensian tale of an American doctor who finds spiritual salvation among the poor.
But in paring, telescoping and reducing the characters and plot lines, writer Mark Medoff simplified this world until it resembles old Hollywood attempts to film Dickens: great roles for actors but bad Dickens.
Strong performances by Patrick Swayze, Pauline Collins and several veteran Indian actors make virtually every scene compelling. But the preaching weighs down the drama and the sentimentality nearly kills it.
TriStar's marketing department has a tricky assignment. If enough emphasis is placed on the shamelessly uplifting nature of the story and on Swayze's first meaty role, then modest theatrical success may follow.
Swayze plays a lost soul who comes to India for enlightenment and ends up mugged by street toughs. The clinic to which a rickshaw puller (Om Puri) brings him is run by a tough Irish nurse (Collins), who immediately tries to recruit his services.
Through force of circumstances -- perhaps in India the word is fate -- he agrees. The doctor thus finds himself battling the passivity and resignation of the poor.
This he fights with an almost comical -- although little in a Joffe film is played for comedy -- Yankee bullheadedness. Over all this looms the ominous power of the local godfather (Shyamanand Jalan) and his bullying son (Art Malik).
Individual scenes and the work of designer Roy Walker and cinematographer Peter Biziou make this a film you watch intently.
But Joffe and Medoff never really penetrate the Indian character. Frankly, there are more cultural cliches -- Indian, American and Irish -- than insight.
The domineering performance belongs to Puri as the impoverished rickshaw puller, struggling to feed his family and enrich his daughter's dowry.
CITY OF JOY
TriStar Pictures
Producers Jake Eberts, Roland Joffe
Director Roland Joffe
Writer Mark Medoff
Based on the novel by Dominique Lapierre
Director of photography Peter Biziou
Production designer Roy Walker
Music Ennio Morricone
Editor Gerry Hambling
Costume designer Judy Moorcroft
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Max Lowe Patrick Swayze
Hasari Pal Om Puri
Joan Bethel Pauline Collins
Kamla Pal Shabana Azmi
Amrita Pal Ayesha Dharker
Poomina Suneeta Sengupta
Ashoka Art Malik
Anouar Nabil Shaban
Godfather-Ghatak Shyamanand Jalan
Running time -- 134 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 4/8/1992
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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