The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 41

ARTS I-! I 1 jf: I mnitmm i I A I'' CW A A TT MONTREAL FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2002 1 SECTION SECTION I LOREN'S LATEST D4 1 GILLER LIST EDITOR: MARK TREMBLAY 1 514 987 I NOON CLASSICS 2560 1 tremblaydthegazette.southam.ca D6 1 CRITICS CHOICE )10 i I v. Anthony Hopkins's cultivated cannibal, held in a prison for the criminally insane, matches wits with Edward Norton, who is looking for insider information MOVIE REVIEVfJOHN GRIFFIN Anthony Hopkins is back as a younger serial killer in this remake of the 1986 cult classic 1 1 9 annibals bite is back Make-believe master LIVES UP TO HYPE Japanese epic touches on courage, friendship Spirited Away Starring: Daveigh Chase, Lauren Holly, Michael Chiklis, Jason Marsden Playing at: AMC Forum Parents' Guide: (or all, however, two hours may be long for children under 10 years old. KATHRYN GREENAWAY THE GAZETTE Stand aside. The master has entered the room. An English-language version of Japanese film-maker Hayao Miyazaki's epic animated masterpiece Spirited Away is here.

Don't miss a chance to observe greatness at close quarters. Before the lights dimmed for Wednesday night's preview screening, the promotional machine let it be known that Miyazaki's Spirited Away was the most successful film ever to play in Japan. It was also the first animated film in 50 years to win the Golden Bear Award at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival. Uh huh. But for once, the advance hype wasn't enough to prepare you for the wonders of a film-maker's imagination.

Spirited Away deserves every award, glowing critique and gushing press release it gets. The people at Walt Disney Pictures guided the English version onto North American screens. Cindy Davis Hewitt and Donald H. Hewitt wrote the crisp, uncluttered English script. Chihiro (Daveigh Chase of Lilo Stitch) is a timid, somewhat spoiled 10-year-old girl moving to the big city with her mom (Lauren Holly) and dad (Michael Chiklis).

During the car ride to the city, they lose their way and find themselves lost in a spirit world where Chihiro must battle all sorts of evil in order to save herself and her parents and return to the real world. This lost world is inhabited by spirits of all shapes, sizes and humours, living in and around an enormous bathhouse run by a heartless witch. The scare factor is medium high. A handful of the spirits are frightening and a trio of employees at the bathhouse get eaten by a greedy gus, but all three are returned to their normal state by the film's end. Almost immediately, Chihiro is befriended by a young boy with brilliant green eyes.

He shows her the ropes and introduces her to the bathhouse. This is a story about self-discovery, dodging stinky spirits, nurturing love and nasty greed. It's about courage and family and the importance of friendship. And, oh, it's about the visuals. They take your breath away -the minute detail, grandiose sweepof colouranddaring-you are never disappointed.

So listen to Miyazaki's message. Be good. Be strong. Then sit back and bask in his brilliance. kgreenawaythegazette.southam.ca Red Dragon Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Mary-Louise Parker, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ralph Fiennes Playing at: Cavendish, CDN, Colossus, Dorval, Kirkland, Lacordaire, LaSalle, Paramount, Pont Viau, Saint-Bruno, Saint-Eustache, Sources, Spheretech, Taschereau and Versailles cinemas.

Parents' Guide: violence, shocking images, language, Fiennes's tattooed backside. Brett Ratner's utterly engrossing thriller opens with Lecter COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL STUDIOS in a grisly serial killing. Manhunter in different places but with the same horrible methodology. A defining characteristic of both -mirrors are broken and shards placed in the empty eye sockets of the victims. Crawford believes it is only a matter of the next full moon before the killer strikes again.

Please help. Graham wavers, but finally agrees. Hello Hannibal. Graham is Red Dragon's Clarice, matching wits with the doctor, extending privileges and showering praise in exchange for inside information on the machinations of madness. Please see DEPRAVED, Page D3 it 6t 4 COURTESY OF TOUCHSTONE PICTURES almost father-in-law, Hoffman.

wounded, but fights back. Both men are down. The scene ends. The story (by Ted Tally, who did 1991's Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs) picks up with Lecter in maximum security for the criminally insane, and Graham in coastal Florida, retired with long-suffering wife Mary-Louise Parker and their young son. Graham's out of the game.

Burned. Finished. Worn to the emotional nub from putting himself in the minds of madmen. Top agent Jack Crawford (Harvey Keitel) shows up. He needs help with a new case.

Two entire families have been slaughtered i Gyllenhaal's Joe feels obliged to his 1 10 ifil Stellar sorrow enjoying a symphony concert, but unhappy with the flutist. The poor man will turn up as sweetbreads at dinner later that night. Later the doorbell rings. Intuitive FBI profiler Will Graham (the excellent Edward Norton, in the role played by CSI's William Peterson in '86) wants to pick the famed psychiatrist's brain about a series of serial murders executed with surgical precision. They've worked together on this case for some time.

How could they have missed the fact the killer is eating his victims? The penny drops. Lecter pounces. Graham falls, gravely As the movie opens, Joe is getting dressed in his best suit and getting into a limousine. But he's not getting married; he's going to the funeral of his fiancee, who has been tragically killed. Ben is in complete denial, obsessively cleaning up and unable to ignore the non-stop ringing of the phone.

Jo Jo takes the self-help books her friends have given her and tosses them in the fire. The family unit has been fractured and Joe feels he has an obligation to stay with his al-most-in- laws and live out the life they had planned. "As long as I don't know what I want I'll just 1 With today's release of Red Dragon, dark honour has been restored to the name of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The reputation of Anthony Hopkins's cultivated cannibal had been besmirched by Hannibal, Ridley Scott's richly lit but dimly written 2001 adaptation of the third, grossly misconceived Thomas Harris novel.

We are now back to the first and best Harris book respectably brought to the screen as 1986's Manhunter by Michael Mann -which introduces Lecter to an innocent and unsuspecting world. Hoffman, Sarandon outshine story of love, guilt and loss ANNE SUTHERLAND THE GAZETTE Moonlight Mile is a terrific vehicle for actors Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon. Too bad the overall movie is lacklustre. Coping with inexplicable loss, survivor's guilt and finding love again are the themes of Moonlight Mile. Set in the early 1970s in a seaside town in New England, this mm mm give them this," Joe says.

meets a feisty postal worker On a mission to retrieve the called Bertie (Ellen Pompeo). wedding invitations that have accidentally been mailed, Joe Please see FALLS, Page D3 Moonlight Mile Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Jake Gyllenhaal Playing at: Colossus, Kirkland, Paramount and Taschereau cinemas. Parents Guide: Not for kids. Adult subjects, swearing, one sexual situation. is a toned-down version of In The Bedroom.

Hoffman and Sarandon play Ben and JoJo Floss, the parents of Diana. Diana is engaged to a nice young man, Joe Nast (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is poised to join Ben in the commercial real-estate business. S. 1 1 4h It A 11AINIA jjljlJL,.