House of D
David Duchovny delivers a clearly heartfelt but terminally mawkish and awkward directorial debut in "House of D", a coming-of-age drama set in 1970s Greenwich Village. The tale of a teenager trying to overcome his troubled personal circumstances with the aid and advice of a mentally impaired janitor and a female inmate at a house of detention (hence the title), this comedy drama never overcomes the artificiality of its execution.
The story is told in flashback, in the form of the recollections of Tom Warshaw (Duchovny) -- an expatriate artist living in Paris -- relating the tale of his childhood to his wife (Magali Amadei) and 13-year-old son.
When Tom was a boy (Anton Yelchin), he lived in a suspiciously bucolic Greenwich Village with his widowed mother (Tea Leoni), a pill-popping, manic depressive basket case since the death of his father. When not attending Catholic school, Tom has a job delivering meat for a local butcher store (run by an exotically sexy French woman, no less). His co-worker and best friend is Pappass (Robin Williams), the mentally impaired but lovable janitor at his school.
Pappass serves as Tom's improbable mentor, along with a female prisoner dubbed "Lady Bernadette" (singer Erykah Badu), who shouts advice at Tommy through the barred window of her upper-floor cell. When Tommy becomes smitten with Melissa (Zelda Williams, Robin's daughter), a fellow student, their burgeoning romance sets off a wildly melodramatic chain of events that ultimately leads to, of all things, a mercy killing.
Filmmaker Duchovny has a nice feel for creating a nostalgic atmosphere and for invoking the innocent bloom of young love. But his overly convoluted screenplay has severe tone and credibility problems, and the story eventually collapses under its own weight. Not helping matters are the mawkish prologue and epilogue, the first set in a typically romanticized Paris and the latter in the present day Village, with Williams slathered in old-age makeup and delivering the kind of witticisms more appropriate to a stand-up comedian than a mentally impaired senior.
Yelchin is highly moving and sympathetic in the lead role, and young Zelda Williams is quietly appealing as his love interest. The older performers fare less well. Leoni's effectiveness is undercut by the fact that this is her second hysterical performance in but a few months ("Spanglish" was the other one), and Robin Williams, though reasonably restrained, really, really needs to avoid sentimental characters like these at this point in his film career.
House of D
Lions Gate Films
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: David Duchovny
Producers: Richard B. Lewis, Bob Yari, Jane Rosenthal
Director of photography: Michael Chapman
Editor: Suzy Elmiger
Music: Geoff Zanelli
Production designer: Lester Cohen
Cast:
ommy: Anton Yelchin
Mrs. Warshaw: Tea Leoni
Tom Warshaw: David Duchovny
Pappass: Robin Williams
Coralie Warshaw: Magali Amadei
Lady Bernadette: Erykah Badu
Rev. Duncan: Frank Langella
Melissa: Zelda Williams
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
The story is told in flashback, in the form of the recollections of Tom Warshaw (Duchovny) -- an expatriate artist living in Paris -- relating the tale of his childhood to his wife (Magali Amadei) and 13-year-old son.
When Tom was a boy (Anton Yelchin), he lived in a suspiciously bucolic Greenwich Village with his widowed mother (Tea Leoni), a pill-popping, manic depressive basket case since the death of his father. When not attending Catholic school, Tom has a job delivering meat for a local butcher store (run by an exotically sexy French woman, no less). His co-worker and best friend is Pappass (Robin Williams), the mentally impaired but lovable janitor at his school.
Pappass serves as Tom's improbable mentor, along with a female prisoner dubbed "Lady Bernadette" (singer Erykah Badu), who shouts advice at Tommy through the barred window of her upper-floor cell. When Tommy becomes smitten with Melissa (Zelda Williams, Robin's daughter), a fellow student, their burgeoning romance sets off a wildly melodramatic chain of events that ultimately leads to, of all things, a mercy killing.
Filmmaker Duchovny has a nice feel for creating a nostalgic atmosphere and for invoking the innocent bloom of young love. But his overly convoluted screenplay has severe tone and credibility problems, and the story eventually collapses under its own weight. Not helping matters are the mawkish prologue and epilogue, the first set in a typically romanticized Paris and the latter in the present day Village, with Williams slathered in old-age makeup and delivering the kind of witticisms more appropriate to a stand-up comedian than a mentally impaired senior.
Yelchin is highly moving and sympathetic in the lead role, and young Zelda Williams is quietly appealing as his love interest. The older performers fare less well. Leoni's effectiveness is undercut by the fact that this is her second hysterical performance in but a few months ("Spanglish" was the other one), and Robin Williams, though reasonably restrained, really, really needs to avoid sentimental characters like these at this point in his film career.
House of D
Lions Gate Films
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: David Duchovny
Producers: Richard B. Lewis, Bob Yari, Jane Rosenthal
Director of photography: Michael Chapman
Editor: Suzy Elmiger
Music: Geoff Zanelli
Production designer: Lester Cohen
Cast:
ommy: Anton Yelchin
Mrs. Warshaw: Tea Leoni
Tom Warshaw: David Duchovny
Pappass: Robin Williams
Coralie Warshaw: Magali Amadei
Lady Bernadette: Erykah Badu
Rev. Duncan: Frank Langella
Melissa: Zelda Williams
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 5/19/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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