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I’ll be
quite honest… I am on the fence with
whether or not I loved or loathed “Death
in Love.” I certainly know right off
the bat that it is not a movie I can just
recommend to anyone. It’s a very disturbing
film, one that I was surprised see come
from director Boaz Yakin. After all, I was
used to seeing uplifting films like “Remember
the Titans” or silly comedies like
“Uptown Girls.” With “Death
in Love,” Yakin has gone completely
left of field and created a film with despicable
characters doing despicable things.
The story revolves around a woman who survived
the Nazi death camps by seducing one of
the camp’s ‘scientists.’
At first glimpse, this seems like a terrible
act as we know that other Jewish people
are dying around her and in many ways this
deems her a traitor in the eyes of the audience.
But honestly, no one other than a survivor
can truly know the horrors in those places,
nor do they know what they are willing to
do to stay alive.
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Right or wrong, her actions are a matter of perspective
but serve to set up how her decisions may now
be coming back to haunt her and her children both
psychologically and physically.
Jacqueline Bisset stars as the now much older
woman whose grown sons are seriously, seriously
warped. Josh Lucas is the older of the two men
and he comes across in this film as one of the
most sexually perverted characters I think I have
ever seen. His perversions aren’t borderline
psychotic either, they are way out there. Lukas
Haas spends his days compulsively writing music
and playing the piano. Lucas works for a modeling
agency that specializes in taking woman’s
money and giving them little in return. But this
all changes after the introduction of a new face
in agency in the form of Adrien Brody. From this
point, we begin to realize that this film is far
from straightforward and takes turns and twists
that you never see coming.
I can appreciate actors that take chances with
their careers and do something dark and sexually
disturbing… however… there is a limit
to what I think amounts to a marriage between
awesome performance and stark sexuality. Too often
actresses are hailed as ‘amazing’
cause the bared all in a film… and it goes
to their heads when Academy nominations come their
way. I often want to knock them in the heads and
remind that that porn starts ‘bare all’
all the time so that in and of itself is no big
deal. I also have issues with nudity and sexuality
when it does nothing to serve the film’s
story and is there to do no more than get an R
rating and get a little extra in ticket sales.
I don’t mind it in a movie like “The
Crying Game” for example.
“Death in Love”, I felt went a little
further in this area than was necessary to get
the point across, but that’s just me. It
is an extremely dark film and there is certainly
an audience for it. You know your own limits in
terms of what you want to see on the screen. If
you enjoy a little sado-masochistic sex, then
by all means this is a movie for you (just don’t
come to dinner at my house… uh… ever…).
The Bluray admittedly doesn’t offer a lot
in the area of audio or video. The picture is
fairly grainy most of the time and occasionally
there are focus issues. For this reason especially
I would say going with a DVD edition would be
fine. As far as extra features there are a total
of five interviews with various members of the
cast as well as five featurettes that focus on
various parts of the filmmaking process. What
is most interesting is hearing from some of the
actors their take on the sex scenes.
“Death in Love” is a difficult film
to recommend. From an artistic standpoint it is
quite a piece of work. The performances are strong
and the story, with all of its twists and turns,
keeps you guessing. But there is a lot of people
that won’t be able to take the perverted
sexual sequences. At least, not without some popcorn.
Directed by: Boaz Yakin
Starring: Josh Lucas, Jacqueline Bisset, Lukas
Haas, Adam Brody
Extras: Cast and Crew Commentary; Cast Interviews;
Five Featurettes
Specification: 1080p High Definition (2.35:1);
5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Screen Media Films
Release Date: 01/19/2010
MPAA Rating: R
http://www.DeathInLoveTheFilm.com
We'll give Death in Love a B-.
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