review by Jackson Armaly
review by Jackson Armaly
As the O.J.Simpson trial descended horifically to its racially charged finale, one could not help but long for the simpler scandals of yesterday. In the days of Tanya and Nancy or Amy and Joey people got whacked in the leg or shot in the head, but no one was killed. Their motives were twisted versions of the American dream. Tanya wanted an Olympic gold medal. Amy wanted Joey. Nancy, it turns out, wanted her agent. And even when someone was killed, like the Pamela Smart case on which "To Die For" is loosely based, the circumstances seemed distant enough that one could remain detached. No bloody pictures, anguished families or ruthless attorneys reminding us that this is not just a tabloid tale of lust and vengeance.Well, thankfully, director Gus Van Sant returns from his near death experience called "Even Cowgirls get the Blues" with a new film that allows us to, once again, watch from a safe distance as the American dream is twisted beyond recognition.
In "To Die For" Nicole Kidman plays Suzanne Stone. The kind of brutally ambitious, single minded individual that lets nothing get between her and her goal, to be on TV. Suzanne has some interesting ideas about the power of television and she shares them with anyone who'll listen. This turns out to be three teenagers that Suzanne meets while filming a documentary on local high school students. Because she seems sophisticated to these small town kids (and because she's a babe) they soon begin following her around like lemmings heading for the cliff.
Problems arise when Suzanne's husband (Matt Dillon) asks her to reconsider her career goals (uh-oh!) and lower her sights to working with him and having a family. Since divorce is not an option because "then he'd get the condo," murder makes more sense, at least to Suzanne. If Suzanne never quite makes sense to us, she's not supposed to. We are not probing into the inner depths of her mind. Van Sant is not trying to explain, just expose. And there is probably no way of explaining what makes a monster like Suzanne anyway, because the people who may have a clue (like her father) are not telling.
Mr. Van Sant is not one to sit back and simply let the camera roll. Not when he can fling it around the set or bounce it off the walls. ( Oliver Stone eat your heart out, ) But the movie's greatest asset, aside from a tight and witty script by Buck Henry, is the cast. Particularly good is Joaquin Phoenix as the teen that is most blatantly used by Suzanne. Mr. Phoenix brings enormous conviction to his performance and provides the emotional punch of the film. Also, impressive is Matt Dillon as Suzanne's husband, a nice guy who might as well have "chump" tattooed on his forehead.And then there's Nicole Kidman, who reportedly pursued this role with such determination that even her character Suzanne Stone would have been impressed. Ms. Kidman, a much better actor than we have previously seen, finally finds a role that lets her shine. Dressed perfectly in clothing that shows a slavish attention to trendiness without an ounce of taste, Suzanne Stone is a triumph of pure ambition over substance. One feels like one could pass a hand right through her. She is a young man's ultimate sexual fantasy and at the same time sex is a means to an end for her. Like everything else in her life it exists to further her ambitions.
In the end the film leaves more questions than it answers, and that's exactly what its supposed to do. After all, if it attempted to explain Suzanne that would ruin our detachment and, therefore, our fun.
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