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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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012389
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01238900.070
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1990-09-17
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CINEMA, Page 59Mysteries of the Eccentric HeartBy Richard Sshickel
THE JANUARY MAN
Directed by Pat O'Connor/Screenplay by John Patrick Shanley
There are mysteries, and then again there are mysteries. Those
that involve capital crimes oblige a movie to solve the puzzle
clearly, neatly and, one hopes, surprisingly before the final
fade-out. There is, however, a better class of enigma that involves
less deadly, even comical, forms of human behavior. And there is
a better class of film that is wisely content to set forth such
shadowy dilemmas and leave them unresolved, resonating in our
minds.
The January Man is modestly, ingratiatingly, a movie of the
latter sort. To be sure, it begins with a serial killer claiming
a victim, and it ends with the guilty party being taken into
custody. But the deductive process that normally leads to this
conventionally ordained conclusion is perfunctory and even somewhat
implausible. What interests writer John Patrick Shanley, who won
an Academy Award last year for Moonstruck, is the infinite and
usually inexplicable capacity of ordinary people to turn flaky
without warning or change of expression. The prime example here is
Nick Starkey (Kevin Kline), a former New York City cop and now a
fireman. As Starkey, Kline has the best entrance in recent movie
memory: bursting spectacularly out of a burning building, cradling
the child he has rescued in his arms, he collapses to the sidewalk
and calls for a cup of coffee, "preferably espresso."
Besides being brave, Nick is something of an ironist. This
quality, if nothing else, is a sign of intelligence. Before taking
up fire fighting, Nick was a cop falsely tainted by corruption. Now
the very people who secretly profited by victimizing him -- the
crooked, volcanic mayor (Rod Steiger) and the bland, bureaucratic
police commissioner (Harvey Keitel) -- need him to lead the hunt
for a maniacal killer.
It is an offer the ironist cannot refuse. Not only is the
commissioner his long-loathed brother, he is also the man who
married Christine (Susan Sarandon), a haughty socialite for whom
Nick still yearns. His price for cooperation? One tete-a-tete with
that ambiguous lady. In Shanley's world, it is inevitable that this
does not go awfully well. Nick asks her to listen to the wine
breathe, serves octopus for the main course and generally comes on
too strong. It is also inevitable that a perfect substitute for
Christine will soon turn up. And it does, in the form of the
mayor's daughter (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). This is not love
as usual; this is the need for sexual revenge.
What prevents The January Man from turning into a downscale
Dangerous Liaisons is the movie's refusal to let the characters
acknowledge this edgy subtext. Shanley instead provides a funny,
melodramatic hubbub to distract our attention. His busy plotting
may require a suspension of incredulity, but he is well served by
good actors; by a director, Pat O'Connor, with a taste for the
acrid flavors of big-city life; and by his own delight in human
eccentricity.