Strong Themes For Women Offered In New Video Releases

It’s been a couple of years since Hollywood celebrated the so-called Year of the Woman.

I say so-called because movie industry lip service seldom pays off in actual deeds. Money makes the dream machine go, and the perception in Los Angeles is that dumber is better, strength is preferred and violence equates to intelligence.

Of course, since that perception is based on the weekly box office listings - which are ruled this week by such testosterone-heavy films as “Fear,” “Primal Fear,” and “Executive Decision” - we have no one to blame but ourselves.

At any rate, where does all this leave women? Well, playing prostitutes for one thing, as did three of this year’s 10 Oscar-nominated actresses (including Best Supporting Actress winner Mira Sorvino).

Yet times are changing. Four of the major movies that come out on video this week feature either womanly themes, strong women characters (including a pirate) or a woman director.

That none of these films is a superb achievement says little about the abilities of the individuals involved. Considering how little control any one person has over the average movie project, it’s hard to say just how much - or how little - of any finished movie is due to a specific writer, star or even director.

But all demonstrate, at least, that some aspects of filmmaking - and some associated feminine sensibilities - are perfectly appropriate to the cinematic process. Not that the issue was ever in doubt.

Except in Hollywood.

Now and Then

**-1/2

Two stories are presented in this women’s drama. The first involves Demi Moore, Melanie Griffith, Rita Wilson and Rosie O’Donnell as adult friends, back together to support Wilson having a baby. The second, which is most of the film, entails the 1970 summer of the girls’ 12th year - when everything under the sun occurs to and around them. The fact that the film tries to deal with so much emotional turmoil, including divorce, neurotic parents, young love, raging hormones, frustrated dreams, career ambitions vs. the homemaker mentality, small-town peer pressure and even the legacy of Vietnam, is a problem in itself. The fact that the women’s part of the equation gets virtually ignored only adds to the confusion. Of the actresses, teen stars Christina Ricci and Gaby Hoffman pull off difficult roles with admirable skill. Rated PG-13.

Unstrung Heroes

**-1/2

Making her debut as a feature film director, actress Diane Keaton does a decent job of telling this little story about a boy coping with both his strange family - particularly his two eccentric uncles - and the death of his mother. The problem is a script that resorts to fantasy at almost every important juncture. It’s the kind of movie where cancer patients die on cue, where long-suffering mental patients are cured on the spot and where deep hurts are exorcised through the course of a pancake breakfast. There is comfort in this, of course, especially for viewers who have suffered similar family tragedies. But ultimately it is mere fantasy. Keaton, for all her technical expertise, just doesn’t have much of a feel for authenticity. Rated PG.

Cutthroat Island

**-1/2

Renny Harlin directs wife Geena Davis and co-star Matthew Modine in this pirate adventure that, while hardly the best example of the genre ever made, is at least a bit of Hollywood-inspired fun. Davis plays the daughter of a pirate captain (Harris Yulin) who, as he dies, leaves his ship and crew to her. But to keep the men in ranks, she must find the hidden treasure that also is sought by her villainous uncle (Frank Langella). In a twist on form, Modine plays the romantic interest to Davis’ swashbuckling theatrics. There are no surprises here, and things go on a bit long, but the action scenes are pretty impressive (not surprising considering the film’s $100 million-plus budget). Rated PG-13.

The Scarlet Letter

*

The problem here is not that director Roland Joffe has chosen to so drastically change (his term is “freely adapt”) Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic American novel. It’s how, following the script written by Douglas Day Stewart, he failed to come up with a story that is anything but an overheated mess of anachronisms and cliches. Demi Moore portrays Hester Prynne as a 17th-century feminist (you can almost hear her humming “I am woman, hear me roar”). She dares to wear lace among the black-clad Pilgrims, falls in love with the local minister (the chicken-hearted Arthur Dimmesdale, played with gusto by Gary Oldman) and parades her subsequent pregnancy and offending letter with undisguised pride. Historical accuracy is confined to the production design (the village looks authentic, at least). The best part is the Indian attack that is both bad (several Pilgrims bite the dust) and good (it at least gives us a reason to laugh out loud). Joffe’s “A” stands for Awful. Rated R.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEW TO VIEW Now available: “The Scarlet Letter” (Buena Vista), “Unstrung Heroes” (Buena Vista), “Cutthroat Island” (LIVE), “Now and Then” (New Line). Available Tuesday: “Steal Big, Steal Little” (HBO), “Watch Me” (TBA), “The Bridges of Madison County” (Warner), “The Aristocats” (Disney), “Waiting to Exhale” (FoxVideo).