Telling Lies In America
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: B
Joe
Eszterhas has been derided as some evil entity of screenwriting, which has been
going on since he became the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood, then dared to write edgy work
like Basic Instinct for the likes of
Paul Verhoeven. This kind of work was
commercially viable, outrageous, and the studios kept going for it. A fine exception came in the form of the
independently produced Telling Lies in
America, which serves as a semi-autobiography.
Released
in 1997, many who were after Eszterhas chose to ignore the film, so the
independent production went ignored, but it is a solid piece of independent
filmmaking. Kevin Bacon, who deserves
more than to be remembered as the core basis of a game cinematic illiterates
humiliate themselves playing, is slick record agent Billy Magic. His high-flying lifestyle, fast money, and
fancy car both impress and intrigue young immigrant Karchy Jonas (Brad Renfro,
the most underrated actor of his generation) who wants to be as happy.
Another
motivation for wanting instant success is his interest in Diney Majeski
(Calista Flockhart, proving she is capable of more than being the star of an
off-beat TV show) getting interested in him.
Karchy gets involved enough with Magic that he becomes guilty by
association in bad music schemes. That
is where the Federal Authorities, interested in Payola and scams against
performers, step in. They want magic,
and will destroy Karchy to get him, unless he testifies against Magic. Can Karchy come up with an alternate way out
before getting possibly deported?
The full
screen image is not representative of the 2.35 X 1 Super 35 for scope image
Reynaldo Villalobos’ camerawork, which succeeds in recreating the feel of the
time period with the help of great clothes and production design. This film has never been issued widescreen,
including on LaserDisc, in one of the rare feature film offerings from BMG Home
Video (the RCA/Arista Records people) several years ago. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is
representative enough of the Dolby-A theatrical analog, though the PCM CD sound
on the LaserDisc was likely more so, but the Dolby shows its age just the
same. The soundfield is whittled down a
bit to fit the cropping of the scope image.
The only extra is a few filmographies.
Director
Guy Ferland did a solid enough job that it is odd that he has not moved on to
bigger film projects, but did find critical success on TV’s The Shield. Renfro continues to be the actor most missed
out on in mainstream films, while Bacon gets to do them, and takes on
interesting films like Paul Verhoeven’s fun Hollow Man. Telling Lies in America deserves to
find its audience, which could happen if any of its three main actors could get
on a lucky streak. Don’t wait that long!
- Nicholas Sheffo
