The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 47

TV RADIO ARTS WEDNESDAY APRIL 7 1993 7C THE MIAMI HERALD I Ethan Frome tale of doomed love never stirs compassion MOVIE REVIEW mostly for the stage and British television struggles to give largely mute characters voices on the screen He retains macabre ending but by then your senses are so numbed by the unending gloom that the surprise gives way to an overwhelming relief Ethan Frome is the first of several upcoming films based on books by Wharton They include Age of Innocence due out this fall and Custom of the Country now in development These are lively observations of New hypocritical social circles and probably more accessible than the bleak Ethan Frome pect the relationship between Ethan and Mattie and the film starts its one-way descent into despair Although Allen indulges in some well-orchestrated moments of hysteria here she is less the accusatory shrew of novel than a needy desperate woman If Arquette such a ninny she would be fine as Mat-tie But whenever Ethan and Mattie seem about to break through their awkward silences Arquette dissolves into a nervous high-pitched giggle a newcomer here and shows it And director John Madden (Wings) who has directed By JACKIE POTTS Herald Staff Writer Edith Starkfield is a little comer of Vermont that kills dfeams smothers them under an endless blanket of falling snow hard labor and silence People choose to live there it seems sentenced by some malevolent higher power As a villager tells the Rev Smith the ambitious new preacher fresh off the train: the dumb ones are left the smart ones get Young Ethan Frome nearly escaped clutches before being yanked back by the yoke of family obligations When the movie opens more than 20 years have passed since his return and the mysterious that turned the once-ro-bust farmer into a hunched figure with a spine-snapping gait film lacks her insight the clues are hard-won and the actors so inscrutable it hobbles forward at pace step drag step drag Liam Neeson plays Ethan Frome as one of a bashful but likable soul who is uncomfortable in social gatherings and hides behind a stony silence His marriage to Zeena a bitter hypochondriac sets the stage for the arrival of her recently orphaned cousin Mattie Silver (Patricia Arquette) Doomed to a sort of civilized slavery as helper Mattie nevertheless develops from pale waif into rosy vivacious woman enticing Ethan in the process The two steal kisses by the oak trees and dream of going sledding like the other unattached lovers Inevitably Zeena begins to sus IN LOVE: Liam Neeson and Patricia Arquette star in Edith Ethan Frome novel Wharton lured you onward with a clue here a spark of suppressed passion there The WINNER ACADEMY AWARDS 1 inrluHinff BEST PICTURE The Sandlot charms confounds expectations AMC TWEATBIS OCEANWALK 10 OCEANWALKMALL CLLVVOCO AlA 920-6330 AMC TtCATRES OMN1 10 OMl aoacent 372-3439 AMC THEATRES SHERIDAN PLAZA 12 4fiM Sheridan STREET mouvwooo 987-4680 SOUTH 006 WOMETCO MILLER SQUARES 13638 SW 56TH ST 387-3494 QENERAL CINEMA HIALEAH CINEMA Nmaxwr AWOlnSi 557-9888 NONTXOAOC WOMETCO MIAMI LAKES 10 AT MAIN 4 LUOLAM 558-3810 north ua6 WUVKX) TMtmW CALIFORNIA CLUB 6 8S0 IVES DAIRY RO MIWOI in i-r 552-8S58IBX GENERAL CMEMA CINEMA 10 MIRACLE CENTER 3301 CORAL WAY 442-2299 OCEAN CINEMAS If JfliME CINEMA 6 7TH ST SNWtEJUENERO 529-8883 NOW SHOWING MAM BEACH GENERAL CINEMA INTRACOASTAL 8 SUNNY ISLES a VO 3701 NE 130 ST 945-7416 AMC THEATRES MALL OF THE AMERICAS 14 PALMETTO XWY 836 266-6646 BUI GENERAL CINEMA CINEMA 10 MIRACLE CENTER 3301 CORAL WAY 442-2299 UNITEO ARTISTS MOVIES AT HIALEAH 780 49TH ST 626-7242 OCEAN CINEMAS LEJEUNE CINEMA 6 7TH ST 4 NW IE JUENE R0 529-8883 SANDLOT FROM IE town His mother (Karen Allen) encourages him to make some friends and his stepfather (abrasive comic Denis Leary in an odd bit of casting) has little patience teaching the inept boy to play catch But the gang at the neighborhood vacant sandlot needs one more man to complete their team So Benny (Mike Vitar) the best player drafts Scotty despite the fact that he even throw the ball across the field but instead walks it into the infield There is initial resistance from the rest of the team (which is politically correct to a fault: a black kid a Hispanic one a fat one and a kid who wears oversize thick glasses in short someone for everyone to identify with) But eventually Scotty is accepted as one of the guys and they tell him about The Beast a giant man-eating dog who lives on the other side of the sandlot fence Eventually have to confront the monster The Sandlot was co-written and directed by David Mickey Evans who also wrote the screenplay for last Radio Flyer Despite some considerable flaws Radio Flyer was often magical in its nostalgic re-creations of the joys and terrors of childhood And The Sandlot is even better filled with moments that will thrill young viewers and send older ones on a memory trip: a Fourth of July nighttime game Easter Sunday Feast ETHAN FR0MEIP6I Cast: Liam Neeson Patricia Arquette Joan Allen Director John Madden Producer: Stan Wlodkowski Screenwriter Richard Nelson Cinematographer: Bobby Bukowski Music: Rachel Portman A Miramax release Running time: 100 minutes (violence) Playing at: area theaters Through the inquisitive Rev Smith we learn gruesome story in flashback Based on chilling Gothic novel of 1911 Ethan Frome is a claustrophobic tale of thwarted love that never quite stirs your compassion In her under a fireworks-filled sky a hilarious (and devious) first kiss the disastrous attempts to chew tobacco right before going on some fair rides and of course the inevitable and protracted battle against the monster beyond the fence The cast is terrific so natural and consistent in character that you suspect these boys acting so much as playing themselves And an effective ensemble effort: Even the kids who get the bulk of the dialogue make an impression mugging and working hilariously at the edges of the frame The Sandlot works because it sticks to the misadventures of its characters and refuses to shoehorn too much meaning into the proceedings as light breezy and fantastical as an adventure-filled summer afternoon the kind you stopped having after you turned 1 3 and the real world began to intrude Cast: Tom Gulry Mike Vitar Patrick Renna Chauncey Leopardi Denis Leary Karen Allen James Earl Jones Director: David Mickey Evans Producers: Dale de la Torre William Gilmore Screenwriters: David Mickey Evans Robert Gunter Cinematographer: Anthony Richmond Music: David Newman A 20th Century Fox release Running time: 90 minutes Brief vulgar language Playing at: area theaters death row (cc) 7:30 PM Entertainment Tonight Robert De Niro (cc) 8:30 PM Steals and Deals Pediatric drug testing hotel security 9 PM McLaughlin Viewer call-in Guests: George Stein-brenner Jackie Collins (1:00) 10 PM Q) Paul Rodriguez Charo (1:00) cnb Tom Snyder Barbara Eden Carroll Shelby (1:00) LATE NIGHT 11 PM Arsenio Hall (R) Patti LaBelle Halle Berry Barry Bonds Dave 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