Parallel Lives
(1994) TV Movie, US
100 Minutes Dir./Writer: Linda Yellen Production: The Linda Yellen Company Distributor: Showtime Starring: James Belushi, James Brolin, Levar Burton, Lindsay Crouse, Jill Eikenberry, Ben Gazzara, Jack Klugman, David Lansbury, Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Gena Rowlands, Ally Sheedy, Helen Slater, Mira Sorvino, Paul Sorvino, Robert Wagner, Patricia Wettig, Jobeth Williams, Treat Williams, Matthew Perry, Zosia Mamet |
As with many Drama films, I mistook PARALLEL LIVES to be a
Thriller or a Murder Mystery, just by looking at the UK videotape box artwork.
The cover is pretty dark with a streak of lightning going past portraits of
three cast members (Dudley Moore, Ally Sheedy and James Belushi) and striking a
university or college building. This is the tagline: “Laughter. Tears. Regret
... and Murder. A weekend reunion they would never forget.” This all points to
the film being a Thriller or Mystery, but it is neither. It is actually a
not-so-interesting Ensemble Drama from 1994, with the necessarily large,
eclectic and somewhat impressive, but with not very much to do.
Produced in 1994 by Showtime and written and directed by Linda Yellen (who directed CHANTILLY LACE a year earlier and features many of the same cast members), PARALLEL LIVES is set during a fraternity reunion at a major university. I was a little confused at first at the different ages of the characters, and that some of them had never met before. I thought this was supposed to be a class or year reunion, but it is actually a reunion of the fraternity they have all belonged to in the past. I didn’t actually know they had them. Anyway, the cast members meet up, catch up, go to a couple of events ... and that’s about it.
Before I carry on, and in order to explain what I mean, I feel I should talk about Ensemble Dramas as a whole. Basically it is a Drama story with a medium to large cast of characters and the story follows each or at least most of these characters as they go about their business. There is not necessarily a major plot as such or even a main cast of characters, instead going for these little independent stories of the individual characters that go along independently and intertwine with other characters and their stories, usually given equal screen time or at least a little bit of focus. Usually there is some major event going on that brings these characters together in some way (though it is not always the case), but the important thing is not the overarching plot here but the characters and their individual stories and how they come to their conclusion (though again this is not always the case, whether that is deliberate on the filmmakers’ part or not). The ‘ensemble’ part of this comes with the cast, where every most of the roles, no matter if they are major or minor, are taken by popular performers of the time.
It’s a fairly old Hollywood tradition, very likely beginning with the 1932 MGM film GRAND HOTEL, starring the likes of Greta Garbo, John Barrymore and Joan Crawford among others, and follows their characters and situations as they overlap, separate and influence each other over the course of the story. Little changed for a long time, though it is likely this story format would influence early television drama, eventually creating the Soap Opera. Then director Robert Altman came along and changed the game, creating his own version of the Ensemble Drama with NASHVILLE and SHORT CUTS, and even GOSFORD PARK, making the films longer and having his actors improvise most, if not all, of their dialogue, and having them give naturalistic performances. The way he directed his actors and the way he filmed in an observational, fly-on-the-wall sort of way made it look like he was trying to simulate real life, even down to having the actors talking across and over each other (achieved by innovative multi-microphone setups).
It is the Robert Altman style that PARALLEL LIVES is trying to emulate, and for the most part it succeeds. The performances are naturalistic for the most part, and it is filmed in an observational way, though in both cases not so much that it would give Altman’s films a run for their money. The cast is pretty varied and limited at the same time, probably because of the fact that this is a television movie instead of a full-on theatrical film. So you have major Hollywood actors of the time like James Belushi, Liza Minnelli and Dudley Moore rubbing shoulders with less well known actors who either have ‘character actor’ careers in films or television careers. Matthew Perry, best known as Chandler Bing in the TV Comedy megahit FRIENDS, even has a small role (it should be noted this TV film premiered a mere month before FRIENDS began airing). The film is photographed in a similar observational manner as an Altman film, but it changes to the usual camera set ups fairly quickly and often. There is even an awkward sex scene montage where we have clips of various couples fumbling around intercut with very clearly staged, artistic shots of a nude couple.
You do get stylistic whiplash from time to time, which is a problem when ultimately you want to make a realistic observational drama. This is very true of a particular character’s story. One of the reunion attendees is a famous music star (the video box says ‘rock star’ though the film only shows her performing a ballad so it’s hard to judge), who is fiercely shy and paranoid, to the point that she has an imaginary friend who she has full, self-aware conversations with. There are moments where we see this invisible friend from her point of view, and we see in the same scene other characters observing her as she talks to herself. I get the reasoning behind filming this way, but this is trying to be a realistic observational drama and just does not fit with the rest of the film.
I think this is actually the main problem with PARALLEL LIVES. It tries to do a lot all at once and accomplishes very little, if anything. I feel the film wants to give us a good and complete picture of all these characters, but at a running time of an hour and forty minutes there’s only so much it can do (though other observational ensemble drama films have done so in the past). Some character story arcs are paid off or come to a conclusion, but most of them not in a satisfying way. Of the ‘developed’ stories, the paranoid musician’s arch seems to suffer the most at this: her character and problems are set up early on, some things happen (some pretty strange) and then she seems to disappear completely by the end. Other characters don’t have much development or involvement at all, making their presence irrelevant to the plot.
I imagine many readers are scratching their heads now, thinking that I only just got through saying that the plot doesn’t really matter in an ensemble drama, so why am I saying now there are quite a few characters unnecessary to the story. I should point out that PARALLEL LIVES does have a story to it. I’ll refer you to that tagline on the UK video box cover I mentioned at the start of this review, and I’ll also refer to the American video box cover tagline as well: “Class reunions can be murder!” Yes, there is a plot here, with the murder and the investigation, but it is so poorly done.
First, I question why there needs to be heroes and villains in this film at all. A good observational ensemble drama (which I’m sure is what this film is trying to achieve) does not need heroes and villains. They just show us its characters’ lives without comment, moral ambiguity and all. What PARALLEL LIVES turns into is a Murder Mystery of the MURDER, SHE WROTE variety, with the innocent, the suspects, the investigator, and a justified murder victim because he or she is the ‘true villain’ of the story by virtue of being antagonistic to everyone else. The plot is important, so who the characters are and what role they play in the story matter, not to mention whether we are suppose to like them or not. What PARALLEL LIVES does is go from an observational ensemble drama where we are being shown these characters in a non-judgemental, fly-on-the-wall manner to a murder mystery where we learn we were suppose to hate the victim all along and we have to be interested in who the other characters are and what their relations to the victim were.
Secondly, the murdered character is not very well established, and is so casually (even charmingly) depicted I did not realise this character was suppose to be a ‘villain’ at all. There is even a fight scene at roughly the mid-point of the film between the ‘villain’ and who can be described as the ‘hero’, but given the situation leading to the fight I was actually on the villain’s side. I have to say I was genuinely surprised at how much everyone was saying how much they hated the victim, given they offered little comment on the villain in the first place, and again because we as an audience were stuck in the middle of an observational drama that any comments would be circumstantial evidence in a murder mystery.
Thirdly, the Murder Mystery portion of the film comes very late, within the last twenty minutes. So for about eighty minutes we have a flawed observational drama which at least tries to show the characters lives and interactions without comment, and then it turns into a television murder mystery where everyone is assigned roles and affiliations. Leaving aside the murder mystery, there is even a moment where two of the characters seem to ‘find each other,’ finding purpose and romance by the end, and the film treats it as if it really was this story that was important in the end. I mentioned stylistic whiplash earlier. I think story-based whiplashes can be so much worse.
Is PARALLEL LIVES worth watching? Off-hand I would probably say no. It doesn’t do much for the Ensemble Drama or the Murder Mystery, and neither side is all that entertaining. I suppose really it depends on what you think of the actors. I deliberately haven’t said which actors play which roles as I wanted to avoid spoiling anything for those who want to see it. I will say that if you are a fan of James Belushi, he gives a solid, if standard, performance, Lindsay Crouse is interesting in a role type I haven’t seen her play before, Treat Williams is memorable and Liza Minnelli has a few nice moments making you wish there was more of her in the film. Otherwise I’ll simply say if you want a good observational Ensemble Drama, go and see one of Robert Altman’s, and if you want to a traditional Murder Mystery, go and see MURDER, SHE WROTE.
Produced in 1994 by Showtime and written and directed by Linda Yellen (who directed CHANTILLY LACE a year earlier and features many of the same cast members), PARALLEL LIVES is set during a fraternity reunion at a major university. I was a little confused at first at the different ages of the characters, and that some of them had never met before. I thought this was supposed to be a class or year reunion, but it is actually a reunion of the fraternity they have all belonged to in the past. I didn’t actually know they had them. Anyway, the cast members meet up, catch up, go to a couple of events ... and that’s about it.
Before I carry on, and in order to explain what I mean, I feel I should talk about Ensemble Dramas as a whole. Basically it is a Drama story with a medium to large cast of characters and the story follows each or at least most of these characters as they go about their business. There is not necessarily a major plot as such or even a main cast of characters, instead going for these little independent stories of the individual characters that go along independently and intertwine with other characters and their stories, usually given equal screen time or at least a little bit of focus. Usually there is some major event going on that brings these characters together in some way (though it is not always the case), but the important thing is not the overarching plot here but the characters and their individual stories and how they come to their conclusion (though again this is not always the case, whether that is deliberate on the filmmakers’ part or not). The ‘ensemble’ part of this comes with the cast, where every most of the roles, no matter if they are major or minor, are taken by popular performers of the time.
It’s a fairly old Hollywood tradition, very likely beginning with the 1932 MGM film GRAND HOTEL, starring the likes of Greta Garbo, John Barrymore and Joan Crawford among others, and follows their characters and situations as they overlap, separate and influence each other over the course of the story. Little changed for a long time, though it is likely this story format would influence early television drama, eventually creating the Soap Opera. Then director Robert Altman came along and changed the game, creating his own version of the Ensemble Drama with NASHVILLE and SHORT CUTS, and even GOSFORD PARK, making the films longer and having his actors improvise most, if not all, of their dialogue, and having them give naturalistic performances. The way he directed his actors and the way he filmed in an observational, fly-on-the-wall sort of way made it look like he was trying to simulate real life, even down to having the actors talking across and over each other (achieved by innovative multi-microphone setups).
It is the Robert Altman style that PARALLEL LIVES is trying to emulate, and for the most part it succeeds. The performances are naturalistic for the most part, and it is filmed in an observational way, though in both cases not so much that it would give Altman’s films a run for their money. The cast is pretty varied and limited at the same time, probably because of the fact that this is a television movie instead of a full-on theatrical film. So you have major Hollywood actors of the time like James Belushi, Liza Minnelli and Dudley Moore rubbing shoulders with less well known actors who either have ‘character actor’ careers in films or television careers. Matthew Perry, best known as Chandler Bing in the TV Comedy megahit FRIENDS, even has a small role (it should be noted this TV film premiered a mere month before FRIENDS began airing). The film is photographed in a similar observational manner as an Altman film, but it changes to the usual camera set ups fairly quickly and often. There is even an awkward sex scene montage where we have clips of various couples fumbling around intercut with very clearly staged, artistic shots of a nude couple.
You do get stylistic whiplash from time to time, which is a problem when ultimately you want to make a realistic observational drama. This is very true of a particular character’s story. One of the reunion attendees is a famous music star (the video box says ‘rock star’ though the film only shows her performing a ballad so it’s hard to judge), who is fiercely shy and paranoid, to the point that she has an imaginary friend who she has full, self-aware conversations with. There are moments where we see this invisible friend from her point of view, and we see in the same scene other characters observing her as she talks to herself. I get the reasoning behind filming this way, but this is trying to be a realistic observational drama and just does not fit with the rest of the film.
I think this is actually the main problem with PARALLEL LIVES. It tries to do a lot all at once and accomplishes very little, if anything. I feel the film wants to give us a good and complete picture of all these characters, but at a running time of an hour and forty minutes there’s only so much it can do (though other observational ensemble drama films have done so in the past). Some character story arcs are paid off or come to a conclusion, but most of them not in a satisfying way. Of the ‘developed’ stories, the paranoid musician’s arch seems to suffer the most at this: her character and problems are set up early on, some things happen (some pretty strange) and then she seems to disappear completely by the end. Other characters don’t have much development or involvement at all, making their presence irrelevant to the plot.
I imagine many readers are scratching their heads now, thinking that I only just got through saying that the plot doesn’t really matter in an ensemble drama, so why am I saying now there are quite a few characters unnecessary to the story. I should point out that PARALLEL LIVES does have a story to it. I’ll refer you to that tagline on the UK video box cover I mentioned at the start of this review, and I’ll also refer to the American video box cover tagline as well: “Class reunions can be murder!” Yes, there is a plot here, with the murder and the investigation, but it is so poorly done.
First, I question why there needs to be heroes and villains in this film at all. A good observational ensemble drama (which I’m sure is what this film is trying to achieve) does not need heroes and villains. They just show us its characters’ lives without comment, moral ambiguity and all. What PARALLEL LIVES turns into is a Murder Mystery of the MURDER, SHE WROTE variety, with the innocent, the suspects, the investigator, and a justified murder victim because he or she is the ‘true villain’ of the story by virtue of being antagonistic to everyone else. The plot is important, so who the characters are and what role they play in the story matter, not to mention whether we are suppose to like them or not. What PARALLEL LIVES does is go from an observational ensemble drama where we are being shown these characters in a non-judgemental, fly-on-the-wall manner to a murder mystery where we learn we were suppose to hate the victim all along and we have to be interested in who the other characters are and what their relations to the victim were.
Secondly, the murdered character is not very well established, and is so casually (even charmingly) depicted I did not realise this character was suppose to be a ‘villain’ at all. There is even a fight scene at roughly the mid-point of the film between the ‘villain’ and who can be described as the ‘hero’, but given the situation leading to the fight I was actually on the villain’s side. I have to say I was genuinely surprised at how much everyone was saying how much they hated the victim, given they offered little comment on the villain in the first place, and again because we as an audience were stuck in the middle of an observational drama that any comments would be circumstantial evidence in a murder mystery.
Thirdly, the Murder Mystery portion of the film comes very late, within the last twenty minutes. So for about eighty minutes we have a flawed observational drama which at least tries to show the characters lives and interactions without comment, and then it turns into a television murder mystery where everyone is assigned roles and affiliations. Leaving aside the murder mystery, there is even a moment where two of the characters seem to ‘find each other,’ finding purpose and romance by the end, and the film treats it as if it really was this story that was important in the end. I mentioned stylistic whiplash earlier. I think story-based whiplashes can be so much worse.
Is PARALLEL LIVES worth watching? Off-hand I would probably say no. It doesn’t do much for the Ensemble Drama or the Murder Mystery, and neither side is all that entertaining. I suppose really it depends on what you think of the actors. I deliberately haven’t said which actors play which roles as I wanted to avoid spoiling anything for those who want to see it. I will say that if you are a fan of James Belushi, he gives a solid, if standard, performance, Lindsay Crouse is interesting in a role type I haven’t seen her play before, Treat Williams is memorable and Liza Minnelli has a few nice moments making you wish there was more of her in the film. Otherwise I’ll simply say if you want a good observational Ensemble Drama, go and see one of Robert Altman’s, and if you want to a traditional Murder Mystery, go and see MURDER, SHE WROTE.