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Second Chance at Love... Fine DVD From Fine Line Entertainm

dooby | 07/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a lovely movie, quiet and understated. It tells of a middle-aged couple who run a tiny two-classroom school in a rural farming community in Texas. Joseph (Dennis Hopper) has a bum leg from a childhood accident and walks with a crutch. Rosalee (Amy Irving) was once his high-school sweetheart. She went on to marry his best friend but has been a widow since the end of the Korean War. They have been carrying on a tepid romance for years which seems to be going nowhere. Then comes Catherine (Amy Locane), a precocious 17 year old who enrolls in Joseph's class and becomes enamoured with the older man. Her torrid affair with him sparks off his cooling relationship with Rosalee. The film is rated R and includes full frontal nudity of all three leads. Sex is portrayed in a naturalistic, mature way, unlike what we usually see in Hollywood movies. Perhaps because of its Brazilian director, Bruno Barreto, its sensibilities are more European than American. To its credit it doesn't go into the preachy moralism about underaged sex or student-teacher sex that such films tend to veer into. Instead it celebrates the rekindling of romance and a second chance at love for two aging people.



Fine Line Home Entertainment has provided a fine DVD transfer in the film's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio (anamorphic). The print is clean and free of damage. Picture quality is excellent. Images are sharp with good contrast. Colors are rich and vibrant. Black levels are well rendered. Sound is available in the original English Dolby 2.0 Stereo, a Dolby 5.1 Surround remix or a DTS 5.1 remix. Optional English and French subtitles are provided. There is an engaging commentary by both director Bruno Barreto and his wife Amy Irving."

Surprisingly Good

dooby | 04/17/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am usually put off by the subject matter in this film, but it is far from the usual. I like to compare this film to "Lolita"- but I think the average person is better able identify with Joseph (Dennis Hopper) than with Nabokov's Humbert. This film is all about coming of age- when you're already an adult. How to cope with growing older, and losing the virility of youth in favor of manly responsibility. Joseph is a man torn between these two worlds. As a handicapped man a little past middle age- he is hesitant to marry the woman he knows he should marry, and tries to hang-on to youth by engaging in an illegal and dangerous affair with a seductive minor. The thing that makes this movie great is the incredible scene between Irving and Hopper that is done nude. That scene is a lasting testament to self love, the triumph of reality over fantasy, and the beauty found in flaws (instead of the beauty in flawlessness). Get this movie. Some of the scenes are really steamy. But more than that, it is a moving film."

A strange little film about coming of age as an adult.

dooby | 06/22/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For the first 20 minutes of this movie, I kept thinking, "What the hell is this?" I'm glad I waited out the initial apparent lack of plot and seemingly gratuitous sexuality to appreciate the nuances and the layers of this fine film. This movie, you see, is about appearances and trying to get beyond them to reveal what's underneath in order to "come of age as an adult." One of the most touching and telling scenes of this struggle takes place between Irving and Hopper late in the film. It's worth it."