The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 101

RHovies Blind man tale will sharpen your senses PROOF (M) Directed By Jocelyn Moorhouse Starring Hugo Weaving, Genevieve Picot, Russell Crowe Dendy Cinema, Martin Place. Suburbs Stanmore. ROOF is an extra- I ordinary film, another landmark in Australian movie history which proves that, ves, you can have it all: great drama with wit and wisdom, lasting impact and entertainment too. The film's list of achievements is widely known: a wildly enthusiastic reception at this year's Cannes Film Festival, eight nominations in this year's Australian Film Institute Awards, enormous overseas interest in writerdirector Moorhouse. i tic? ni nriMni-tiT tin V.

with subtle revelations about the key personalities. This unfolds from a seemingly simple enough premise: a blind man (Weaving) who takes photographs. Still, if you think about that statement for a while, it opens up a whole 40-gallon drum of worms. Blind Martin's world is bounded by regular squabbles with his resentful housekeeper (Picot) and, soon, his friendship with happy-go-lucky Andy (Crowe). This new friendship has repercussions, setting up shock waves which reverberate around trust, truth, proof, lies, love and betrayal.

Despite the catalogue of emotions, don't get the idea that Proof is formless. A great film always means a great script. Sharp, slick Proof operates as a psychological thriller, hooking the audience in and unfolding and twisting around personal revelations. The characters here mightn't be axe murdering the neighbours but their impact on each other is equally devastating. A great script still needs sure execution.

This is tops in every department Moorhouse's confident, elegant direction marks her as a major new talent. For the three actors, and that includes veteran TV and film star Weaving, this is the best they've done. Crowe confirms all the promise of The Crossing and Picot demolishes every cliche usually clinging to female screen characters. Weaving, meanwhile, turns in a magnificent, finely drawn and acted portrayal which is a revelation in itself. If there is any justice, this is the performance which should pick up Best Actor at the AFI Awards.

Like the very best films. Proof 'takes audiences right into the world of its characters. And like the best, Proof's world is our world and its story tries to make sense of that world. You mightn't think, initially, that a story about a blind photographer has relevance for you, but we guarantee it. You need proof? Go see the film.

Ji FIREFIGHTING HERO: New heart-throb William Baldwin. A new Baldwin sets the fans aflame ROB LOWING Reasonably enough, the film is already evoking comparisons with Sweetie, which made the name of another first-time director, Jane Campion (An Angel At My Table). The comparisons are obvious: both films are modern urban comedy dramas, both notable for sharp, funny but still humanist approaches, both offering un-sugarcoated but very understandable characters. Proof, though, is a softer film, less spiked with black comedy and more which neatly inverts all those return-ing-to-Earth reincarnation comedies. Brooks is the average schmo who, deceased after a freak accident, wakes up to find himself in Judgement City.

To qualify for a pleasant afterlife he must justify himself in a heavenly court. His entire life is on trial both the defence and the prosecution will examine his time on Earth, good moments and bad. Certainly that premise offers plenty of comedy fodder. However, although writerdirector Brocks extracts some sweetly funny moments, much of Defending Your Life is quiet. Clean but very quiet.

WORLD'S APART: Genevieve Picot and Hugo Weaving in Proof. Streep struggles with thrills come from the incredible special effects which put both actors and audience right in the heart of blazing infernos. Top marks to the technical department and the gutsy actors for striving for as much realism as possible. And, although the heroics do border on (cinematic) macho posing at times, overall this film is believable enough to rank as an intelligent homage to the bravery of firefighters, a group of modern heroes who, as Howard pointed out in a recent Sun-Herald interview, are often overlooked and under-valued, on and off the big screen. Can you go wrong with this cast? Hardly.

De Niro fans will want more than they get but, as always, he turns average screen time in a supporting role into scene-stealing drama. Rugged Glenn competently trots through another stern silent hero part; Russell is surprisingly good in a character which has more shades than most viewers would have expected from him. Leigh is bland in the girlfriend part but she's given little to do while the only other woman. An Inconvenient Woman's De Mornay, is stunning but fleeting. Critics Choice ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES (PG) DYING YOUNG (M) HARDWARE (M) MR A MRS BRIDGE (PG) NOT WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER (PG) Excellent Good Average Rotten BACKDRAFT(M) Directed by Ron Howard Starring William Baldwin, Robert De Niro, Kurt Russell, Rebecca De Mornay, Scott Glenn Greater Union George Street, Hurstville, Campbelltown, Parramatta.

Village Sylvania, Blacktown. Hoyts Eastgardens, Warringah, Bankstown. Suburbs Stanmore, Cremorne, Beverly Hills, Kogarah, Manly, Hornsby, Cronulla, Fairfield, Penrith, Mt Druitt DIRECTOR Ron Howard lights up the screen with a new entertainment gimmick and a change of pace in his new film, Backdraft. With an all-star cast, a predictable but workable plot and some truly amazing firefighting sequences, Backdraft should suit everyone from teens to grannies. Devout Howard fans will miss the particular sweetness which permeated his gentler comedies like Parenthood and Splash.

That's not to decry Backdraft 's entertainment value. This sits comfortably alongside blockbusters like Days Of Thunder unoriginal but superbly produced. The play-it-by-the-numbers storyline is given oomph with jaw-dropping casting. Handsome Baldwin moves up from Internal Affairs support roles to leading man status and is sure to disconcert audiences with his remarkable facial and vocal resemblance to older brother Alec. He's the brash young black sheep who has followed older brother Russell into the Chicago Fire Department.

In this coming-of-age story, Baldwin not only has to prose himself to tough firefighters like Glenn and arson investigator De Niro, but also to the gal in his life (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Superficially, the thriller aspects come from the deadly cases of arson which De Niro and Baldwin team up to investigate. However, the real limp plot Too quiet. Audiences straining for a joke punchline will realise there isn't one or the joke is still being played out long after viewers got the point. Occasional visual gags a past lives sequence has a hoot of a guest appearance raise a chuckle and Brooks, star of Broadcast News, is appealing.

However, there's no energy here. Streep grabs attention but that's due to natural screen power. Her low key performance as the saintly Julia, another Judgement City inmate, shrewdly steers clear of ickiness but is hardly of her usual in-your-face standard. watchers appear to have much to do with its predecessors, being a dreary story about a bratty little girl (Vieira) who gives her Ken and Barbie Doll-like adopted parents (Woods, Grant) a rough time. A few flying bodies, a few dogs going berserk, a few nuns wrestling with snakes, and that's about it.

The acting's rotten, the backgrounds aren't nearly palatial enough, the clothes are horrible and the music grating. Come back, Damien, all is forgiven entertainment-wise, that is. DEFENDING YOUR LIFE (PG) Directed by Albert Brooks Starring Meryl Streep, Albert Brooks, Rip Torn Village City, Double Bay. Greater Union Mosman ANEW Meryl Streep film is always an event but the immediate reaction here is: why Meryl? She's the best thing in a sluggish comedy crushed by a predictable ending and a plotline more suited to a half-hour sitcom. The only other plus is the premise Bad omen OMEN IV: THE AWAKENING (M) Directed by Jorge Montesi and Dominique Othenin-Gerard Starring Faye Grant.

Michael Woods, Asia Vieira Hoyts Centre 8ankstown, Parramatta. Greater Union Hurstville, Campbelltown I one unimaginative swoop, Omen IV: The Awakening obliterates any lingering traces of glamour left by for demon its three successful prequels. It's hard to believe that anyone could reduce the usually reliable entertainment factors of demons among us and world apocalypse to snooze level but this does it. There's only one shocking moment in this film that's in the opening credits when audiences discover that local boy and handsome Omen III star Sam Neill isn't back for the ride. Worse is to come but unfortunately it involves boredom, not gory special effects.

Omen IV doesn't even 100 THE SUN-HERALD, August 18, 1991.