A Criminally Overlooked Gem
Added 10/21/2008
Absolutely on a par with Altman's 'The Player' and the perfect companion piece to 'Living In Oblivion', 'Mistress' is a darkly comic delight from start to finish.
To begin with, the performances alone are worth the price of the DVD and then some. I mean, what a cast! (Even Christopher Walken appears in a memorable cameo.) And all give uniformly superb performances. But Martin Landau stands out, even in this array of top-notch portrayals. He clearly deserved another Oscar nod for his remarkable work in this, which I put right up there with 'Crimes And Misdemeanors' and 'Ed Wood'.
Barry Primus' terrific screenplay (co-written with J.F. Lawton) and his incisive, unobtrusive direction are bang on target, creating a squirmingly honest -- and often hilarious -- portrait of the seedy underbelly of Hollywood's independent film scene. Seldom has artistic desperation and compromise seemed so funny or so mercilessly accurate.
Also, the musical score by Galt Macdermot (of 'Hair' fame), and the cinematography by Sven Kirsten are absolutely first-rate.
As I mentioned up front, 'Mistress' would be the perfect companion piece to 'Living In Oblivion' (with marvelous performances by Steve Buscemi and Catherine Keener) and would be the ideal first half of a double-bill. 'Mistress' is the definitive statement on the sometimes sordid and always frustrating process of trying to get an independent film financed and into pre-production. 'Living In Oblivion' is the perfect statement on what often happens when that miracle sometimes occurs and a low-budget indie actually gets made.
'Mistress' is also refreshing in that all the female roles are given the same depth as the male characters and add up to what is simply one of the best ensemble casts I've ever seen in a comedy-drama.
Enjoy!
NOTE: In retrospect I'd like to have given this film five stars but can't seem to find a way of ammending the customer star-rating in the editing mode.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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ENDEARING PORTRAITS THROUGH A CYNICAL LENS, BUT...
Added 6/6/2005
As sly takes on the monumental effort it takes to hack it in shark-infested Hollywood, films like 'The Player' or 'The Muse' come to mind. 'Mistress' starts with a similar sardonic view of big league moviemaking, it's even funny in parts, but it fizzles and pops into a run-on potpourri of the Artist's mean, mean plight.
A once-sparkling director from NY is strutting his way in LA making culinary videos. His dream script, about a painter who commits suicide in defense of artistic integrity, looks promising. But bit by painful bit, compromise by disillusioning compromise, he sees investors degenerate it into ludicrous pulp. And so forth.
Let me cut to the chase that the film did not: our protagonist soon realizes, surprise surprise, that a movie production is often about everything but the movie itself; loan sharks looking for the swift buck, mistresses and their shiny upkeep, quid pro quos, ulterior agendas.
Despite convincing performances the movie reeks of conflicting impulses of comedy and drama. The ambiguous title should have been a give away. Some truly provocative moments perk you up, then wilt into sappy cliches.
Folks with an above-average interest in cinema could probably sit this film out on a lazy afternoon, if only for cameos from Robert DeNiro, but it's far from the variety one recommends without reservations.
3 out of 5 people found this helpful.
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Indie filmmaking gets an intelligent send-up
Added 5/13/2002
If you want an insider's perpsective on the movie biz, two films that were released in 1992 give a view of the top and the bottom of the Hollywood food chain. "The Player" is a delightful black comedy about the top rung, the major studio insider who has the power to say "yes" just twelve times a year and green-light a big-budget movie (trouble ensues when he murders a particularly troublesome screenwriter). The opposite end of the food chain is lampooned in "Mistress," where we get an insider's view of trying to get an independent film financed. Filmmaking is the most expensive of hobbies, and compromises must be made. Two writers and a washed-up producer get three businessmen on the hook as possible backers, but each has a mistress, who needs a part... It's a delightful exploration of how far can one compromise artistic integrity just to get a story in front of the cameras. Martin Landau is a delight as the has-been producer, and Robert Wuhl is wonderful as the bemused screenwriter whose vision is rewritten into exploitative shlock. Both funny and sad, these are men who have sacrificed everything that matters in pursuit of the Hollywood dream.
9 out of 10 people found this helpful.
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It's about the bimbo... or is it?
Added 9/4/2000
Martin Landau ("Ed Wood," "Space 1999") leads a super cast through the ringer as they all try to get a film bankrolled. The connecting thread here is that "the other woman" who most of the potential financiers are boffing - is one and the same bimbo! The most unique angle to "Mistress" is how it refuses to portray the writers, actors, or other normally high-pedestaled creative types, as any more pure, or noble, or reasonable to deal with, than anyone else in this wacky business.
4 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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Nothing but Excellent
Added 1/18/2000
I loved Mistress because it portrays the "behind the scenes" of what producing a movie is truly about. I loved Sheryl Lee Ralph in this movie because it portrays what just be me going on in our movie industry. Sheryl is an excellent actress and need to be seen in more excellent movies. Excellent producing/directing on DeNiro's part.
4 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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A Criminally Overlooked Gem
Added 10/21/2008
Absolutely on a par with Altman's 'The Player' and the perfect companion piece to 'Living In Oblivion', 'Mistress' is a darkly comic delight from start to finish.
To begin with, the performances alone are worth the price of the DVD and then some. I mean, what a cast! (Even Christopher Walken appears in a memorable cameo.) And all give uniformly superb performances. But Martin Landau stands out, even in this array of top-notch portrayals. He clearly deserved another Oscar nod for his remarkable work in this, which I put right up there with 'Crimes And Misdemeanors' and 'Ed Wood'.
Barry Primus' terrific screenplay (co-written with J.F. Lawton) and his incisive, unobtrusive direction are bang on target, creating a squirmingly honest -- and often hilarious -- portrait of the seedy underbelly of Hollywood's independent film scene. Seldom has artistic desperation and compromise seemed so funny or so mercilessly accurate.
Also, the musical score by Galt Macdermot (of 'Hair' fame), and the cinematography by Sven Kirsten are absolutely first-rate.
As I mentioned up front, 'Mistress' would be the perfect companion piece to 'Living In Oblivion' (with marvelous performances by Steve Buscemi and Catherine Keener) and would be the ideal first half of a double-bill. 'Mistress' is the definitive statement on the sometimes sordid and always frustrating process of trying to get an independent film financed and into pre-production. 'Living In Oblivion' is the perfect statement on what often happens when that miracle sometimes occurs and a low-budget indie actually gets made.
'Mistress' is also refreshing in that all the female roles are given the same depth as the male characters and add up to what is simply one of the best ensemble casts I've ever seen in a comedy-drama.
Enjoy!
NOTE: In retrospect I'd like to have given this film five stars but can't seem to find a way of ammending the customer star-rating in the editing mode.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
ENDEARING PORTRAITS THROUGH A CYNICAL LENS, BUT...
Added 6/6/2005
As sly takes on the monumental effort it takes to hack it in shark-infested Hollywood, films like 'The Player' or 'The Muse' come to mind. 'Mistress' starts with a similar sardonic view of big league moviemaking, it's even funny in parts, but it fizzles and pops into a run-on potpourri of the Artist's mean, mean plight.
A once-sparkling director from NY is strutting his way in LA making culinary videos. His dream script, about a painter who commits suicide in defense of artistic integrity, looks promising. But bit by painful bit, compromise by disillusioning compromise, he sees investors degenerate it into ludicrous pulp. And so forth.
Let me cut to the chase that the film did not: our protagonist soon realizes, surprise surprise, that a movie production is often about everything but the movie itself; loan sharks looking for the swift buck, mistresses and their shiny upkeep, quid pro quos, ulterior agendas.
Despite convincing performances the movie reeks of conflicting impulses of comedy and drama. The ambiguous title should have been a give away. Some truly provocative moments perk you up, then wilt into sappy cliches.
Folks with an above-average interest in cinema could probably sit this film out on a lazy afternoon, if only for cameos from Robert DeNiro, but it's far from the variety one recommends without reservations.
3 out of 5 people found this helpful.
|
Indie filmmaking gets an intelligent send-up
Added 5/13/2002
If you want an insider's perpsective on the movie biz, two films that were released in 1992 give a view of the top and the bottom of the Hollywood food chain. "The Player" is a delightful black comedy about the top rung, the major studio insider who has the power to say "yes" just twelve times a year and green-light a big-budget movie (trouble ensues when he murders a particularly troublesome screenwriter). The opposite end of the food chain is lampooned in "Mistress," where we get an insider's view of trying to get an independent film financed. Filmmaking is the most expensive of hobbies, and compromises must be made. Two writers and a washed-up producer get three businessmen on the hook as possible backers, but each has a mistress, who needs a part... It's a delightful exploration of how far can one compromise artistic integrity just to get a story in front of the cameras. Martin Landau is a delight as the has-been producer, and Robert Wuhl is wonderful as the bemused screenwriter whose vision is rewritten into exploitative shlock. Both funny and sad, these are men who have sacrificed everything that matters in pursuit of the Hollywood dream.
9 out of 10 people found this helpful.
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