Niagara Niagara

 Posted on July 29, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  1058 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

Controlled, sensitive performances and easy chemistry between leads Robin Tunney and Henry Thomas make "Niagara Niagara" a reasonably satisfying addition to the extensive canon of melancholy dramas about doomed, screwed-up outlaw lovers on the road.

Controlled, sensitive performances and easy chemistry between leads Robin Tunney and Henry Thomas make “Niagara Niagara” a reasonably satisfying addition to the extensive canon of melancholy dramas about doomed, screwed-up outlaw lovers on the road. Directed by Shooting Gallery co-founder Bob Gosse, this modest production should land some minor theatrical play, but brings too few innovations to the familiar genre to match the exposure of the New York indie stable’s breakout success, “Sling Blade.”

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The two misfits are Marcy (Tunney), a Tourette syndrome sufferer prone to physical tics and sudden explosions of obsessive-compulsive behavior, and Seth (Thomas), a withdrawn, insecure petty thief. They meet while shoplifting at a store in their Upstate New York hometown, where Marcy starts twitching about getting hold of a black Barbie styling head. While this does not exactly represent a tangible mission in narrative terms, they take off together for Toronto in search of the doll, Marcy running out on her apparently well-off family and Seth on his senile father (John MacKay).

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Marcy’s preferred therapy to keep her muscle spasms under control is alcohol and sex. But when her condition begins to worsen, Seth convinces her to resume taking medication. She tries to get pills from a series of unobliging pharmacists, who dismiss her as a junkie and refuse to fill her forged prescriptions. Why the character, who clearly has a long history with the medical disorder, has not the wherewithal to obtain legitimate treatment is just one of the vagaries cramping credibility here.

The duo break into a drugstore at night to stock up on pills, which they both pop indiscriminately. But the crazed pharmacist — almost all the badly overplayed supporting characters whose paths they cross are somewhat unbalanced — shoots Seth in the leg. They get away, but overturn their car and are picked up by lonely widower Walter (Michael Parks), who tends Seth’s wound and lets them hole up in his junkyard. He shows them kindness until increasingly out-of-control Marcy uses him as a punching bag, forcing them to take flight again toward a tragic outcome.

Unless a lesson to toy retailers to stock the entire Barbie range can be considered a meaty enough motivation, the story’s poignancy is limited by the fact that it begins and ends at no place concrete. To the actors’ credit, Thomas and particularly Tunney keep things engrossing all the same, with focused, not-too-showy performances that are full of tender observations. Their consistent work is briefly put in the shade, however, with the appearance of accomplished veteran Parks, whose effortless, unmannered turn makes a richly nuanced figure of Walter.

Gosse fails to create much of a fabric around the couple, and the occasional car crash or burning wreck only underlines this. The low-budget item looks dingy, and while the songs used have a folksy, ’60s feel that fits the tone, the lyrics too often unnecessarily point up character emotions that already are apparent.

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Niagara Niagara

  • Production: A Shooting Gallery production. (International sales: The Shooting Gallery Intl., Beverly Hills.) Produced by David L. Bushell. Executive producer, Larry Meistrich. Directed by Bob Gosse. Screenplay, Matthew Weiss.
  • Crew: Camera (Technicolor), Max Spiller; editor, Rachel Warden; music, Michael Timmins, Jeff Bird; music supervisor, Barry Cole; production design, Clark Hunter; art direction, Max Biscoe; set decoration, Traci Kirshbaum; costume design, Laura Jean Shannon; sound (Dolby Digital), Jeff Pullman; sound design, Jeff Kushner; associate producer, Daniel J. Victor; assistant director, Jude Gorjanc; casting, Sheila Jaffe, Georgianne Walken. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (competing), Aug. 29, 1997. Running time: 93 min.
  • With: Marcy - Robin Tunney Seth - Henry Thomas Walter - Michael Parks Pharmacist - Stephen Lang Seth's father - John MacKay

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