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Mascara

1999, Movie, R, 96 mins

Mascara: Review

MASCARA
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Shrewd and knowing, writer-director Linda Kandel's film looks at three friends on the cusp of turning 30 in Los Angeles, a town that's not particularly forgiving of the aging process. The film begins as Miss Perfect Laura (Lumi Cavazos) is marrying Donnie (Steve Schub), whom Jen (Amanda De Cadenet) and Rebecca (Ione Skye) don't hold in especially high esteem. Fatherless Rebecca, who's got a dead end job and vaguely artsy aspirations, routinely sees older men like current beau Nick (former Sex Pistol Steve Jones). Jen gave up her career to be a stay-at-home mother, but fobs off her little girl on the hired help in favor of three martini lunches and rendezvous at no-tell motels. Laura cracks first: Her prince turns out to be a compulsive spender and embroils them in insurmountable debt and endless psychodrama. Jen abandons her corporate-lawyer hubby (Barry del Sherman) and their daughter, while Rebecca starts a fling with a guy her own age (Corey Page) who turns out to be Nick's son. While obviously inspired by European films about ennui and early midlife despair — Antonioni gets a specific nod — Kandel skillfully adapts their sometimes ponderous style to our time and a specific place, which often means adding slightly goofy humor. Not every scene works (some seem annoyingly off-the-cuff or extraneous), but the cumulative effect is very potent. A wedding and several breakups later, rebirth is in the offing for the trio, and if Kandel ties up the loose ends a little too neatly she deserves credit for getting the canvas fairly dirty in the process. leave a comment --Sandra Contreras
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