Reviewed by EWAN McDONALD
Herald rating: * * *
You can't help bad luck. This black comedy about theft, drug-dealing, adultery and lesser crimes like dealing in second-hand missiles by US Army troops in Germany in 1989 took a while to see the light of day.
The movie made its debut on September
6, 2001, at the Toronto Film Festival. Strokes of good luck: the punters liked it, and two days later Miramax signed a deal for world-wide distribution. Stroke of bad luck: after the next day, one fairly major market didn't want to know about it.
As a news agency reported, "its sly, MASH-like tone seemed inappropriate after the terrorist attacks." Miramax held the film as America's soldiers invaded Afghanistan. And as war with Iraq neared, the movie's tone became an issue. Radio hosts and internet columnists said the film was "disrespectful". Heaven's above, we can't have that.
At its centre is company clerk Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix), who is in the Army because the judge gave him a choice between that and jail.
He is in an affair with the colonel's wife (Elizabeth McGovern) and will later take up with Robyn (Anna Paquin), teenage daughter of the new sergeant, Robert Lee (Scott Glenn).
There is a dark heart to this movie, as you would expect with a tale that revolves around an enormous amount of drugs and money, top performances from the leads, particularly the younger Phoenix.
He's best known as another fellow with somewhat unusual sexual entanglements, the seething young emperor Commodus in Gladiator, for which he won an Oscar nomination.
In that role, he played against a Kiwi; movie trivialists may note that he does in Buffalo Soldiers, too. Anna Paquin produces a remarkable performance which led US critics to claim the New Zealander as "one of the most gifted actresses of her generation — particularly in tricky, emotion-straddling roles like this."
Rental video, DVD December 30
DVD features: movie (98min); commentaries with director Gregor Jordan; Beyond the Iron Curtain and behind the scenes features.
