Shadowlands

You don't have to know who C. S. Lewis was to enjoy Shadowlands, but it helps if you do. Many people know him best for his children's novel The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, For others, Lewis is notable for his writings on God, ethics and religion, in such works as The Allegory of Love and The Screwtape Letters. (However, since Lewis never addressed the topic of professional hockey, he may be unknown to some of our staff.)

Lewis was a glaring example of the English intellectual who wrote passionately about lofty ideals, but who led such a cloistered life that he had little direct experience with much of anything. Even when he wrote about sex (as he did in That Hideous Strength), it was so abstract that no one was sure what the heck he was talking about.

That's where Shadowlands comes in. The movie deals with Lewis's brief marriage to an American woman whom he barely knew, but who was a fan of his books. She was fleeing a lousy ex-husband, she wanted to remain in England and she needed to be married to do so. The marriage was more than one of mere convenience, however. There was real affection between the two, which provided Lewis with a rare encounter with his own feelings - which he desperately needed.

In the lead roles, Anthony Hopkins continues his reign as the British master of repressed gentility, while Debra Winger proves, once again, that she's a solid performer. Richard Attenborough directed Shadowlands, and was able to do it without a cast of thousands or an entire continent to film on. The result is a fine, though occasionally predictable, character study.

In fact, I can honestly say that Shadowlands is the best film I've seen so far this year.

(Ed. Note: This review was published on Jan. 5. That is way I could say the final line.)

A Dangerous Woman

Debra Winger is still trying to prove herself as a dramatic actress. That's one of the driving forces behind A Dangerous Woman. The other key factor is Steven Spielberg, whose Amblin Entertainment company helped press the project along. Which explains the fact that A Dangerous Woman is laced with heavy-weight ambitions. Unfortunately, the final result is closer to a TV movie-of-the-week than heavy-hitting cinema.

In A Dangerous Woman, Winger goes dowdy as the slow-witted Martha, a woman whose thoughts and feelings are hidden behind a shell almost as thick as her glasses. She survives largely through the charity of her aunt (Barbara Hershey), a middle-aged widow who's preoccupied with problems involving her married politico lover. Especially after the spurned wife comes running through her front door in a car.

The demolished porch left behind by Mrs. Politico is the least of Martha's concerns. Her best friend (Chloe Webb) has a boyfriend who's stealing money from the cash register at the dry cleaner where they all work – and he's busy framing Martha for the theft.

The closest thing to a bright spot in her life is Mackey (Gabriel Byrne), a half-drunk handyman who shows up to fix the porch. When he's sober, he's a calm but compassionate observer of her dilemma. The bad news is, he's not often sober – he gets stewed every night and turns into an erratic mix of bitterness and passion. He is, however, apparently the only man who ever stood up for Martha, which fuels the attraction she feels for him. They have a fling that's briefer than a one-night stand, but one that bonds Martha to Mackey nonetheless.

Despite her wallflower persona, Martha possesses a very dangerous quality: she's incapable of telling a lie. Ironically, she's the person most threatened by this aspect of her personality.

A Dangerous Woman is being pitched as a thriller, but it isn't. It's a moody, down-beat character study laced with some bleak ironies.

Winger's performance in the film is quite good, but it's Hershey and Byrne who stand out. This isn't surprising from Hershey, who's one of the finest and most under-rated performers around. It's unexpected from Byrne, however, who seems bent on a career of playing a poetically drunken Irishman. He's good at it, but you get the feeling he's warming up for the bio-pic on Richard Harris.

A Dangerous Woman has a good, off-beat, dramatic feel. The only problem is that it doesn't take it far enough. It ends up being a small film that would have played great on the tube.