If you're a respected actor who's set out to helm your sophomore attempt at filmmaking, a general rule of thumb is to hope that your movie will not draw unfavorable comparisons to the previous year's Oscar winner for Best Picture. Unfortunately, that's what's going to happen with John Turturro's "Illuminata," a period piece about a struggling playwright trying to get his latest play staged, his oddball theatrical company, and his love for his leading lady.
While there are obvious differences between this film and the similarly plotted "Shakespeare in Love," most notably that the former is a romantic comedy and this is more akin to a farce/drama hybrid, viewers -- if there are that many who actually see this one -- will inevitably compare the two. When they do, they'll easily come to the conclusion that this one doesn't stand up well to the current "king of the hill."
For starters, of the two films this one is initially less intriguing -- the other having that Shakespeare hook compared with this one featuring an anonymous writer -- and doesn't play on as many levels as did that Oscar winner. In addition, this film's complications and obstacles as scripted by Turturro and Brandon Cole (who based this on his original stage play, "Imperfect Love"), aren't as strong or amusing.
As is the case with many production within a production plots -- whether they involve movies or plays and notwithstanding "Shakespeare in Love" -- this one's interior work (Tuccio's play) turns out not to be worth all of the fuss or the wait. While it's understood that the playwright's work is meant to symbolically represent the movie's concurrent happenings, it's not particularly interesting, entertaining or moving. Considering all of that, scenes from it go on way too long.
Another problem is that this film's protagonist, as played by Turturro -- yes, he spread himself rather thin here as the cowriter, director, star and producer -- is the weakest of all the characters. Although Turturro's inspired performances are often the highlight of films in which he appears -- think of "Quiz Show" or "Do The Right Thing" -- his character here is as wooden as the sets appearing in the play's production and is far from his inspired playwright character in "Barton Fink."
While that's apparently been done on purpose, it has two bad side effects. For one, it doesn't endear the character or his goal to the audience. While not every character has to be as lively as an excited Robin Williams, ones who are boring have a much harder time winning over the audience. Secondly, such uninteresting characters make the proceedings, when focused on them, a similarly and dreadfully boring affair.
Fortunately, that's where the supporting cast comes in. While they can't quite save the day, they certainly manage to redeem some of it. In fact, it's once the farcical qualities involving them start gearing up that the film finally comes to life.
Of course that's not to say that Turturro (whose directorial debut was 1993's little seen "Mac") doesn't try that right from the start, but his force-fed introduction of eccentric characters and their behavior is too sudden and abrupt for viewers to swallow. Much like the small stage puppets that appear throughout the film, we can easily see the strings (Turturro's obvious efforts at forcing eccentricity) and such manhandling kills the effect. Beyond that, the film suffers from simply possessing too many characters, thus insuring that the audience's attention is unnecessarily divided amongst them and their various affairs.
It's not until midway through the proceedings, when the film finally catches its stride, that it then manages to become entertaining. In particular, a bedroom farce-like sequence where various couples try to hook up is rather entertaining. While it certainly won't go down as a prime example of that genre, it's generally amusing and fast-paced enough to keep things lively and interesting.
The highlight, however, is easily a scene where the foppish and seasoned theater critic, played to the hilt by Christopher Walken ("Blast From the Past," "Mousehunt"), tries to seduce Marco, the young and unsure actor inhabited by Bill Irwin ("My Blue Heaven," "Eight Men Out"). Although Irwin -- who's well known for his physical comedy in his own stage show -- could have taken his reactions to Walken's advances to a more outrageous and hilarious physical level, the sequence is clearly a crowd pleaser and Walken's character is obviously a poke at critics and their often literary pretentiousness.
When the story goes back to the serious material, however, and in particular, the strain that work puts on Tuccio and Rachel's relationship, the film comes up short. While they're the most "realistic" of the characters and Katherine Borowitz ("Mac," "Internal Affairs") -- who's married to Turturro in real life -- does a fine job in her role, the fact that they're the least interesting, coupled with a less than stellar dramatic subplot, means the moments when the film focuses on them are the least satisfying.
Beyond Walken's fun, if over-the-top performance, other thespians deliver decent takes on their characters. As the aging and not particularly talented diva, Susan Sarandon ("Stepmom," "Twilight") is quite good, Beverly D'Angelo (the "National Lampoon Vacation" movies) is funny as one of the theater owners and Rufus Sewell ("Dark City," "Dangerous Beauty") is decent as the troupe's leading man. Some of the others, however, suffer from there being too many parts, such as Ben Gazzara ("Happiness," "Buffalo 66") in an underwritten role -- concerning a character who's obsessed with his hat -- that never amounts to anything.
While those in the theater biz may get a knowing kick out of the film, most everyone else will find its mixture of drama and farce a bit too uneven and not particularly that interesting or funny enough to recommend to others. Although it has some moments and despite Turturro's best intentions, overall the picture just doesn't work that well and thus will never emerge from the shadow of last year's similarly plotted Oscar winner. We give "Illuminata" a 3.5 out of 10.
![[Screen It]](https://www.screenit.com/images/screenit_subscriber_logo.jpg){kind=logo}
![[Around the World in 80 Days]](https://www.screenit.com/images/posters/movies/around_the_world_in_80_days_2022_small.jpg)
![[Family Camp]](https://www.screenit.com/images/posters/movies/family_camp_small.jpg)
![[Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness]](https://www.screenit.com/images/posters/movies/doctor_strange_in_the_multiverse_of_madness_small.jpg)