Movie Scene
'An American Rhapsody' lacks style, humor and ending
By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle
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| AN AMERICAN RHAPSODY
Rated PG-13, with some violence, 2 stars. Stars: Nastassja Kinski, Scarlett Johansson, Tony Goldwyn and Kelly Endresz Banlaki Director: Eva Gardos Length: 106 minutes |
Normally a film editor, Gardos was left in communist Hungary when her parents fled to Canada, reuniting with them at age 6 (thanks to Red Cross intervention) after being raised by a loving peasant couple. "Suzanne" is played early on by Budapest actress Kelly Endresz Banlaki and later by Ghost World's Scarlett Johansson, when she eventually kicks up a storm against her parents in California.
The temporary adolescent rebellion is mostly aimed at her mother (Nastassja Kinski, atypically emoting), with dad (Tony Goldwyn) apparently somewhere on the cutting-room floor. Some of the period detail is apt, some is not; in a pop-soundtrack panorama designed to reflect eras, Dick and Deedee (from the Roger Maris/Mickey Mantle summer of '61), for example, should never follow Gerry and the Pacemakers (British Invasion).
The biggest problem, though, is that the movie lacks an Act 3: Suzanne goes back to Hungary and...nothing happens. Gardos isn't much of a filmmaker, though in paying tribute to two sets of parents, she comes close to being daughter of the year.
