In the Cut
Release Date:
October 22, 2003
Limited release
Jane Campion, the sadistic bastard who once inflicted Harvey Keitel's scrotum upon an unsuspecting, defenseless public, is back in cineplexes. Even worse, she's brought along Kevin Bacon, a man who seems to relish freeing his willy on camera. Truly, these are dark times in which we live.
The story that offers Campion pretext for art model level nudity is In the Cut, a film that is ominously described as an exploration of the darker side of human sexuality. And here you thought The Piano was bad. The film exposes the life of Franny Thorstin, an English Lit professor who decides to walk on the wild side for a while. She starts an affair with a homicide detective who is fighting demons of his own.
The Detective Sipowicz wannabe is tracking down leads on a series of murders in Franny's neighborhood. When she becomes involved in the investigation, the two grow suspicious of each other along with everyone else they encounter in their day to day lives, all the while reveling in the Eyes Wide Shut-esque hedonism of their illicit encounters.
The casting of the lead actress in this film was handled sardonically with Meg Ryan, something of an expert in the field of Cuckolding Danger Sex, brought on board. The choice of lead actors was handled with a bit more aplomb. Mark Ruffalo, who was simply sublime in You Can Count On Me, has been cast as Campion's latest Trenchcoat Flasher. In the Cut is being positioned as an end of year awards contender, but the knock against it is that it reads like a more homicidal version of recent box office non-entity Laurel Canyon. Screen Gems will be angling for the Campion pedigree to overcome the inherent danger of another Proof of Life. (David Mumpower/BOP)
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