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Besotted

2002, Movie, NR, 92 mins

Besotted: Review

BESOTTED
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A fanciful romance, stunningly photographed and structured in an arty, non-linear fashion that's either refreshing or really irritating, depending on individual tastes. A vacationing sorceress (writer-director-producer Holly Angell Hardman) takes a summer place in Cape Cod, but can't resist a little magical tampering with the locals' love lives. Using an oversized game board and quirky pieces that represent individuals and events, she attempts to manipulate the fortunes of tough-talking but lonely fisherwoman Vicki (Susan Gibney); bedraggled layabout Shep (Jim Chiros), the good-natured drunk who's always loved her; and handsome college student Damien (Liam Waite), who takes a summer job on Vicki's boat. Vicki's embittered ex-husband Ray (Richard Cox) and Damien's callow college girlfriend Ashley (Dawn Lolos) also figure into the romantic tangle, and the sorceress gets help from her boldly bewitching friend Nicole (Cole Murray) and local acolyte Mona (Amy Wright). In addition to her board-game plotting, the sorceress takes over a small playhouse and stages dramatic readings that mirror real-life events as they unfold; she takes a special interest in Shep, including him in frank discussions of his own destiny and the ways in which the future can and can't be influenced. Hardman's first feature film is a whimsical, experimental affair that gleefully breaks the fourth wall, revels in artifice and undermines the cliched tropes and reactionary foundations of traditional romantic comedies in which boy gets girl and lives happily ever after. A longtime admirer of European art filmmakers like Ingmar Bergman, Francois Truffaut and Luis Bunuel, Hardman attempts — less than successfully — to marry their formal sensibilities to both a gritty story about thwarted relationships and broken dreams beneath the surface of a picturesque small town and an airy-fairy caprice involving mischievous mystical folk whose interference in human affairs wreaks unintentional havoc. The combination is infelicitous, and Hardman is a grating, mannered onscreen presence, which is especially unfortunate in light of the fine work done by most of the rest of her cast. Chiros stands out as the hangdog Shep, but Gibney and Waite also bring unexpected nuances to their characters, and Murray is a natural charmer. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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