Capote’s The Grass Harp
hits sour big screen note

From page 19

grim-faced spinster Verecna Talbo
(Spacek), her fluttery middle-aged
' sister Dolly (Piper Laurie) and their
sarcastic maid, Catherine (Nell
- Carter), reside in the town's largest
_ house. Vereena is the richest person
in town. She takes in her nephew
Collin’ (Edward Furlong) — the
story’s narrator — when his mother
’ dies and his father is unuble to care
+: for him, ;
Thus begins the tale of a houseful
of. eccentrics. If their various gri-
" maces, twitches and saccharin apho-
“tisms don’t sicken you, watch out
for Piper .Laurie’s — grotesque
Southern belle, all syrup, floaty
Clothes and fanciful notions at the
“age of 50-odd. Her romance with
~ Walter Matthau as a sentimental
- judge gets some ballast from his cur-
mudgeonly presence, but otherwise
. she’s like an immense pink balloon

run amok.

The sugary score, the lurching
character development, and the
muddy sound (Laurie's weightless
murmur is particularly irritating) all
contribute to a shoddy film of inter-
est only to devout worshippers of
Capote or Matthau.

The name Jane Austen may not
suggest a rip-roaring time on the
order of, say, Showgirls. But the
BBC telepic Persuasion, based on
one of Austen's least-read books,
will satisfy Austen's admirers as
well as fans of period dramas like
Howards End.

Persuasion starts in 1814, as the
Napoleonic War is ending.’ Anne
Elliot (Amanda Root), the kind,
mousey, Cinderella-ish daughter of a
vapid, pompous snob (Corin
Redgrave), once again mects up with
the beloved suitor she once rejected

‘as unsuitable. Now a captain in the

navy, handsome Wentworth (Ciaran
Hinds) seems to have forgotten the

incident and Anne is forced to trail
along behind as he appears to forge
an alliance with another young
woman.

Austen’s deft lampooning of
social pretensions is as delightful in
Roger Michell’s restrained movie as
itis in her books. The sets and cos-
tumes rival those in any Merchant-
Ivory production, though they are
regarded a little less lovingly by cin-
ematographer John Daly.

The camera develops a fondness
for Anne's face, though. Plain, anx-
ious and defiantly unglamorous at
the beginning, Anne blooms before
our cyes into a bright, engaging
character with whom any man might
fall in love. Even though she's a
product of a much different age and
culture than our owu, she is
absolutely real.

As such, she stands in stark con-
trast to the incredible creatures pop-
ulating the 1930s American South of
The Grass Harp.

7 On the south side of Park Royal, right next to the cinemas,
| ~ Milestone’s Restaurant i isnow open.

~ Milestones sis proud to bring its familiar foods with unique twists,
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Why go anywhere else?

v y open seven days a week v

Milestone’s at Park Royal South.

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