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Shattered Image

1998, Movie, NR, 103 mins

Shattered Image: Review

SHATTERED IMAGE
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A traumatized newlywed honeymooning in Jamaica dreams she's a ruthless hired gun in Seattle. Or is it the other way around? This initially intriguing but ultimately silly thriller from director Raul Ruiz is an unsteady mix of arty brain-bender and schlocky erotic thriller. Jessie (Anne Parillaud) arrives in Jamaica with new husband Brian (Billy Baldwin), convinced that the creep who once brutally raped her is still on the prowl. She's a bundle of frayed nerves: paranoid, utterly dependent on Brian and disgusted by her own weakness. In her dreams, it's a different story: She's a cool, unemotional hit woman who kills only men, but is also haunted by a recurring dream -- one in which she's an unstable rape victim honeymooning in Jamaica with her new husband, Brian. As dreams and reality switch places and collapse into one another, it's increasingly difficult for Jessie -- and the audience -- to tell the dreamer from the dream. Prolific and highly regarded auteur Ruiz has more than a few great films under his belt, and the film is stylishly shot by Robby Muller, who's worked with Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch. Screenwriter Duane Poole, on the other hand, has C.H.O.M.P.S. and SCOOBY-DOO GOES HOLLYWOOD on his resume: His lackluster and derivative script -- a crazy-quilt of SUSPICION, GASLIGHT, DR. CALIGARI and a host of Brian De Palma movies -- is a big problem. Parillaud's colorless performance is another: She seems determined not to have any fun at all. The film's at its best in those rare moments when it manages to escape the confines of its script and its underwhelming cast and indulge in the kind of tricky visual puzzles that made Ruiz's THREE LIVES AND ONLY ONE DEATH -- a much better film about reflections and reality -- such a rare pleasure. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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