BY LEAH ROZEN
DRAMA
During the 1992 Los Angeles riots, beating victim Rodney King uttered a famous plea: "Can we all get along?" That would be the perfect coda to Babel, a sprawling drama that circles the globe, tracking characters desperately trying to make themselves understood in the seething cacophony of a post-9/11 world.
There's an American tourist (Pitt) in Morocco frantically trying to transcend a language barrier to get medical aid for his injured wife (Blanchett), a Moroccan boy whose life is turned upside down after an innocent game goes awry, a San Diego nanny (Adriana Barraza) trying to get to her son's wedding in Mexico, and a deaf Tokyo teenager (Rinko Kikuchi) who acts out sexually after her mother's death. Slowly, the connections between these disparate individuals become apparent. Babel's complex structure and deep humanistic impulse will be familiar to fans—and I'm one—of earlier films by director Alejandro González Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga (21 Grams). Too familiar. Although beautifully acted, Babel in many ways is the same film all over again—just boasting a bigger budget, brighter stars and greater geographic reach. (R)
Derek Luke, Tim Robbins, Bonnie Henna
CRITIC'S CHOICE
DRAMA
Is one man's freedom fighter another's terrorist? That question, of obvious relevance to the world today, is bound to occur to viewers of this compelling true-life drama about Patrick Chamusso, who bravely battled apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s. Chamusso (Luke) was a peace-loving family man, determinedly apolitical—right up until he was wrongly arrested, imprisoned and brutally beaten along with family members and friends. Upon his release, he became a rebel fighter, determined to overthrow the oppressive minority government.
Chamusso was obviously on the side of right. But watching this latest film by director Phillip Noyce (ITALIC "The Bone Collector"]), one can't help wondering about the effect of Abu Ghraib or Guantánamo on making new enemies for the U.S. This makes Fire simultaneously inspiring and disquieting; you are reflecting even as you're cheering. Luke is all coiled intensity as Chamusso, while Robbins is icily scary as the manipulative cop on his trail. (R)
Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Joseph Cross, Alec Baldwin, Jill Clayburgh
COMEDY
This is pretty much the movie one would expect from first-time director Ryan Murphy, creator of the addictively lurid Nip/Tuck—only with less nudity and surgery. Like the TV show, this tale of a teenage boy (Cross) coping with not one but two highly dysfunctional families features strong performances, batty behavior and moments of pure bliss. Based on Augusten Burroughs's coming-of-age memoir, Running with Scissors is never as affecting as it might be, but it features outstanding turns by Bening as the youth's wacko mother, Baldwin as his alcoholic dad and Clayburgh as a sympathetic maternal stand-in. (R)
As twisted serial killer Jigsaw, Tobin Bell was mainly a terrifying voice in the first Saw, but he's making plenty of on-camera mayhem in Saw III. "Fifteen-year-old kids on their skateboards always come up to me and say, 'You're the guy!'" says the TV and film vet, 64. So what scares him? "Shower rooms used to. At camp, they said there was a ghost in the shower."
The Shakespeare in Love star, 36, sports a psychotic disposition and a killer '70s 'stache in Scissors.
WERE YOU EMPOWERED BY YOUR GLORIOUS MUSTACHE? It was great on-set, but going home, I found the handlebars frustrating. I went to a party at a friend's house and when I got there, they said, "Are you delivering the beer?"
HOW WAS WORKING WITH GWYNETH PALTROW AGAIN EIGHT YEARS AFTER SHAKESPEARE? Wonderful. Whenever we get together, we reminisce about those heady days. She will always be a reminder of the most extraordinary, surreal and beautiful experience I have ever had in my life as an actor.
DID YOU KEEP ANY '70S DUDS? No. I couldn't wait to get that mullet out of my hair and never look at tight leather pants again.
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