31 Performances Ripe for Rediscovery (7) Bridget Fonda in BODIES, REST & MOTION (WITH A GUEST CONTRIBUTION BY JOE VALDEZ)

"Beautiful flowers in your garden 

But the most beautiful by far

 The one growing wild in the garbage dump 

Even here even here we are 

Song of the bird lives in the sky 

But the most beautiful by far

 Scream of the man who never learned to fly

Even here even here we are 

Sun shines bright, it's a beautiful sight 

But the most beautiful by far

 Is the blind girl alone with the angel of the night"

-Paul Westerberg, 1993-

I turned twenty in 1993.  In hindsight I would say it was a pretty great time to be twenty although I certainly didn't recognize that fact at the time.  Rock had returned, Tarantino arrived and things were wonderfully noisy again...it was the decade before everyone retreated into their private little hideaways of texting, i-pods and other such various forms of bullshit all designed to bring us together while ultimately tearing us apart.  The nineties, even if just for a few years, kind of rocked and I am happy I was there with my long purple hair, goodwill jackets and torn jeans.  I was born old but I briefly took advantage and lived my youth.  

Moon in the Gutter's author pictured, back in the day, around '93.

If anyone ever asked me what it was like turning twenty in 1993 I would ask that they listen to Paul Westerberg's extraordinary LP from that year, 14 Songs, and watch Bridget Fonda in one of the key American films from that year Bodies, Rest & Motion.  

Bridget Fonda was my favorite actor from my generation.  She might not have been the greatest, or had the most range but she had an undefinable something about her that made her stand apart...she managed to be down to earth, inviting and warm while maintaining a certain secrecy and mystery.  Most directors didn't know what the hell to do with Bridget and disappointing is the word that comes to mind when looking at her filmography, but she was great even when the film wasn't and when she did get a role as terrific as she was extraordinary things happened (there really isn't a more perfectly realized performance from the nineties than Bridget in Jackie Brown).  

I first saw Michael Steinberg's extraordinary Bodies, Rest & Motion at the now closed Vogue Theater in Louisville, KY during its brief theatrical run in '93.  I thought then, and now, that it was the one American film that really captured what it was like to be in your twenties in that period.  While films like Reality Bites and Singles (another film starring Fonda) proved more popular with audiences, it was Bodies, Rest & Motion that really captured the ennui, restlessness and frustration that went along with the joy, chaos and ridiculousness of youth.  It's a wonderful film populated by tremendous performances (courtesy of Fonda, Eric Stoltz, Tim Roth and Phoebe Cates) and it remains one of my favorites from the nineties.  

Bridget Fonda is an absolute marvel in Bodies, Rest & Motion.  She conveys angst, desperation and loneliness in a positively devastating fashion, while at the same time retaining that infectious charm that made so many of us fall in love with her in the nineties.  Along with Jackie Brown, Bodies, Rest & Motion remains the key work from Bridget Fonda before she disappeared from our lives, but not dreams, a decade ago.  

-Jeremy Richey, 2012-

My great admiration and devotion to Bridget Fonda is shared by many of my friends, including critic and writer Joe Valdez, who authors and operates the incredible This Distracted Globe, one of the great film sites on the web.  Joe has kindly written up a little tribute to Bridget for us and I am very grateful to him for taking the time to do so.  

-Joe Valdez on Bridget Fonda, written for Moon in the Gutter in 2012-

"Of all the film actresses of my generation, the one who makes me giddy by just thinking about her is Bridget Fonda. She flew under the radar her entire career. Most of the roles Bridget Fonda was offered initially were the cute barista or some variation. I think she actually played a waitress who gets a $2 million tip from Nic Cage in some movie. That was her bread and butter. If I had $2 million, I'd probably give it to Bridget Fonda. Her presence just lit up movies that weren't very memorable otherwise. Fonda was the only cast member of Cameron Crowe's SINGLES who really seemed to fit; she made that movie better each time her character popped up. Then it seems like Fonda outgrew the cute barista, beginning with BODIES, REST & MOTION, to play characters you'd cross the street to avoid. This gets you to the scheming beach bunny in JACKIE BROWN and to Bill Paxton's wife in A SIMPLE PLAN. Those women were living day to day and knew an opportunity when it came along. One didn't make it and the other one, we don't know if her marriage is going to make it. Just brilliant. You could see Fonda was evolving, playing complicated and sometimes unlikable women and working with great filmmakers. She slipped into that stage of her career very naturally. It didn't come off as posturing to win awards. She pulled those darker roles off naturally. That and what she could bring to a movie with her presence always makes me smile."

   

Criterion's long out of print Laserdisc edition of Bodies, Rest & Motion

I Miss Bridget Fonda (Two Moon in the Gutter Video Uploads)

I miss the hell out of Bridget Fonda. Seriously, I miss all the charm, charisma and coolness she brought to films throughout the nineties. Never mind if she never had a breakout 'Oscar deserving' role, and never mind if she was typically better than the films she appeared in...I miss her.
My favorite Fonda, and that's saying a lot, hasn't acted since some TV work in 2002, and she hasn't been seen on the big screen since her underrated turn in 2001's Kiss of the Dragon. With that in mind, I thought two rare interviews with her from the nineties might be in order. The first is with DL and it's a real charmer. Bridget is obviously nervous but the two are clearly having a blast. At the top of her career here (Jackie Brown had just come out, speaking of award deserving performances) and she talks of her work and her famous family. It's a great clip...



The next one also has its charms although it features one of the most annoying talk-show hosts in history. Bridget is promoting Paul Schrader's Touch here and shares an extremely funny story involving Christopher Walken and Elvis. Classic, and damn isn't she adorable?



Bridget's recent appearance at the Oscars show that she hasn't aged a bit and I wish some young hot shot director would give her an offer she couldn't refuse with a great part, but even if she never makes another film I will always value the work I had the pleasure to spend lots of hours with in my twenties...I'm glad I held onto these clips and I hope they might bring a nice smile and trigger a sweet memory to someone else.

Murder To The Tune Of Seven Black Notes

Last night I caught up with Severin’s new DVD of Lucio Fulci’s 1977 feature THE PSYCHIC, or as I prefer it MURDER TO THE TUNE OF SEVEN BLACK NOTES. I had seen this film a couple of times courtesy of the old full frame VHS tape that was fairly common back in the eighties but Severin’s widescreen presentation made me feel like I was seeing it for the first time again.
THE PSYCHIC is one of Fulci’s most shocking films. Shocking in just how overwhelmingly subtle and subdued it is. Outside of a badly shot opening sequence that recalls an effect better used in his DON’T TORTURE A DUCKLING, THE PSYCHIC hardly contains any of the shock elements that Fulci would become so known for in the years just after its release. Instead THE PSYCHIC stands as stirring reminder that there was a lot more to Lucio Fulci than zombies, eye gouging and heavy gore, and it is also happens to be one of his best films.
Jennifer O’Neill (in a very good performance) stars as Virginia Ducci, a woman who discovers she has clairvoyant powers when she sees what she thinks is a murder from the past when she moves into her husband’s family home. She discovers part of her vision was correct after she finds a body buried within the walls of the house but she misreads another part of it which leads to the film’s most satisfying twist just over halfway through. While the plot turn in THE PSYCHIC is fairly easy to guesss, it is still very effective and Fulci handles it incredibly well and he builds the film slowly and methodically to one of the most striking final sequences of his career.

Fulci’s direction of THE PSYCHIC is well rendered and handled throughout the entire film. He slips occasionally with an overuse of the zoom and the film is perhaps a bit too low key for its own good at times, but it remains one of the most consistent films (tone wise) he ever shot. It is also a gorgeous looking film with the soft focus photography of Sergio Salvati being an absolute joy to watch.
Salvati is a legend to Italian horror fans, as he is the man responsible for the photography in nearly all of Fulci’s most famous works. The two started collaborating on 1975’s great FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE and would work together continually until 1981’s HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY. The great director and cinematographer were to be reunited on 1997’s WAX MASK but Fulci’s untimely death made that an impossibility. The two remain one of the great teams in Italian horror and THE PSYCHIC is one of the high marks of their time together.
Another of Fulci’s regular collaborators, composer Fabio Frizzi, also does some of his best work here as the music from THE PSYCHIC is chilling and unforgettable. Frizzi composed and performed the score with Franco Bixio and Vince Tempera and it is a key work in his canon. Fans of Tarantino’s KILL BILL will of course instantly recognize one of THE PSYCHICS key themes as it was reused so strikingly well in one of that films key sequences. While it isn’t as overwhelming and strong as his work on later productions for Fulci like THE BEYOND, Frizzi’s soundtrack to THE PSYCHIC belongs in every Italian horror fans home. It is a really wonderful record.
The production and art design of the film by Luciano Spadoni is also quite extraordinary. The house where most of the action takes place is designed beautifully and is filled with the kind of tiny subtle touches that Spadoni would successfully bring to other prestigious productions like Freda’s DOUBLE FACE (1969) and Argento’s PHENOMENA (1985).

The cast is also uniformly good in this film. O’Neill, who had just come off Visconti’s THE INNOCENT (1976) plays fear and confusion exceedingly well and she turns what could have been a one note performance into something very memorable. Genre favorite Evelyn Stewart pops up in a key supporting role and Marc Porel gives a particularly strong performance also. Overall the cast doesn’t have the same iconic feel that Fulci would later capture with actors like Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck and Cinzia Monreale, but the cast he had here all deliver competent and at time very strong performances.
The script, credited to Fulci, Roberto Gianviti and Dardano Sacchetti, is one of the strongest the director ever got to work with. Fans who are used to overlooking the many plot holes and lapses in logic that plague many of Fulci’s productions might be surprised by just how well written and structured THE PSYCHIC is.

I suspect that Fulci hoped THE PSYCHIC might be a breakthrough in the international market for him. At times it almost feels more like a British production rather than an Italian film from the period. The controlled tone of the film would be a sharp change for the director and had it been a success one wonders where Fulci’s career might have gone. The film wasn’t the success the director hoped for though and his breakthrough film two years later, the magnificent and overwhelmingly violent ZOMBIE, would be the bi-polar opposite to THE PSYCHIC. Actually it struck me last night that THE PSYCHIC’S failure might have, in a very profound way, marked the ferocious energy that Fulci injected in the films he made in the five years following it.
THE PSYCHIC would do decent business in Italy in the summer of 77. It wouldn’t get a release Stateside and in Britain until 1979 though after ZOMBIE was released and forever categorized the versatile Fulci has just a gore director. In the mid nineties Quentin Tarantino announced he would be re-releasing the film in theaters and on disc like he had Jack Hill’s SWITCHBLADE SISTERS and Arthur Mark’s DETROIT 9000 but unfortunately this never happened. Severin’s welcome DVD of it will surprise a lot of people who only think of Fulci as just an over the top gore director, and I hope it leads to the release of films from the early part of his career like BEATRICE CENCI (1969).
Severin’s DVD is a fairly good presentation of the film. I have a feeling this was probably a tricky film to bring to disc as its memorably soft focus photography could be easily spoiled in the wrong hands. Despite some light picture fluctuation and grain I was fairly happy with the quality of the release. Early copies of the DVD reportedly had some severe low level sound issues but luckily my copy was a corrected one and the new mix is quite splendid and full.
Extras include a short trailer advertising its 1979 American release and a fascinating 25 minute plus collection of audio interviews with some of the films key behind the scenes figures. One wishes that Severin would have made this feature a full audio commentary but what it is here is very solid and it gives a good overview of the films history and what it was like to work with Lucio Fulci.

A final postscript rests with mega Italian Horror buff Bridget Fonda who absolutely adores this film. I am a purist at heart but I must admit my love for Fonda would cause me to welcome the remake she proposed several times throughout the nineties. She would be really splendid in the role and I hope if the film ever does get remade that the now retired Fonda returns for it.
THE PSYCHIC is a really strong film and the Severin’s DVD of it is one of the best releases of the past year. Check it out if you haven’t gotten a copy yet.

Passing Notes In Fifth Period History Class With Phoebe Cates

I knew a girl in high school named Allyson. We became friends in my senior year, and we would pass notes back in forth in a mind numbingly boring fifth period history class. Allyson played a relatively small role in my life but even now, well over fifteen years since I last saw her, there isn’t a month that goes by where I don’t stop for an instant and think about her and remember those funny little words that passed between us or the way she brightened up that fifth period class on a daily basis.
The film career of Phoebe Cates is a bit like that friendship I had back in high school. It is a relatively minor one, with a small number of films and only a couple of bona fide classics. She never won any awards and has all but completely retired now but something special still remains and, like Allyson, a small secret smile comes across my face when I think of her.

I don’t know a lot about her. I know she is from New York and she is just shy of a decade older than I am. Typically I crave to know the minute details of my favorite film figures but some I just prefer to keep on the screen. Phoebe has always been in that latter category, although of course her reputation as one of Hollywood’s best moms should be mentioned.
After some early commercial and modeling work she made her big screen debut before her twentieth birthday in 1982’s PARADISE. This rather weak little film is made memorable by the breathtaking young sun scorched Cates, and a DVD release would be most welcome.
She would quickly become one of the early eighties most interesting young stars with just her second film, Amy Heckerling’s legendary FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (also from 1982). This Cameron Crowe scripted work remains one of the best high school themed films ever shot and it introduced many film lovers to not only Cates but also Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sean Penn, Judge Reinhold, Eric Stoltz,, and Forest Whitaker among others. Cates is delightfully moving in the picture and her scene arising out of the swimming pool in Reinhold’s fantasy is a moment frozen in many film lovers’ dreams. It’s an iconic moment that ranks, for people who grew up with it, with Marlon Brando stripping off his shirt in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE or Marilyn Monroe’s dress blowing up in THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH.

Had FAST TIMES RIDGEMONT HIGH done better on its initial release Phoebe Cates could have probably become a huge star, but for two years after she was stuck in mostly youth oriented roles that were a major step backwards from Heckerling’s film. Noel Black’s PRIVATE SCHOOL (1983) certainly has its charms but it hardly broke any new ground for the talented Cates (or its impressive cast which included Betsy Russell, Matthew Modine and Sylvia Kristel), while the less said about her television films like LACE the better.
Phoebe got probably her greatest role though in 1984 with her charming turn as Kate in Joe Dante’s GREMLINS. She oozes charisma and a sexy wholesomeness that hadn’t been seen in American cinema since the early sixties in this role, and I still don’t think I have gotten over seeing her for the first time in this film back when I was eleven during its first release. Her reading of the film’s most controversial scene, where she admits why she hates Christmas, is one of the funniest and most moving sequences from the eighties and is for me the absolute highlight of the film.

Like after FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, the film career of Phoebe Cates should have took off following GREMLINS. She has never been what one would call prolific though and her roles since have been sporadic. She’s added spark to some disappointing films like DATE WITH AN ANGEL (1987) and BRIGHT LIGHTS BIG CITY (1988) and appeared in some good ones like the irresistible SHAG (1989) opposite Bridget Fonda and Dante’s own GREMLINS sequel in this period but she never regained the momentum she had in 1984.

After 1991’s irritating DROP DEAD FRED Phoebe Cates virtually vanished from the screen. Her slight returns have been especially sweet though. 1993’s BODIES, REST AND MOTION is one of the great forgotten films of the nineties, and her work with Bridget Fonda in the film shows her as an actress capable of a lot more depth than probably even her biggest fans had previously recognized. 1994’s PRINCESS CARABOO might not be overwhelmingly noteworthy but Cates is stunning in the film to watch and the fact that it is her last starring role makes it almost haunting.
Phoebe Cates retired from the screen after starring in PRINCESS CARABOO just past the age of thirty to raise her children. She has appeared just once since in a film, 2001’s THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY for her old friend and FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH survivor Jennifer Jason Leigh. Nearing forty in the film, Cates is still breathtaking and for people who grew up with her and Leigh it is something special to see them together again. THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY is a fitting farewell to Cates, it’s a strong and personal film from first time director Leigh and Phoebe delivers a nice low key performance for her.
Occasionally I will do a search for Phoebe Cates to see what she is looking like these days, and pictures of her at Premiere’s with her husband Kevin Kline show her to appear seemingly ageless. Now in her mid forties, she still contains more style, sweetness and natural beauty than most actresses half her age could ever hope to. Whether or not she ever returns to the screen remains to be seen but the small legacy she left us is an endearing and potent one. Much like many of us might never recover from a secret crush or a lost friendship from high school, the film career of Phoebe Cates is not likely to fade anytime soon for people who grew up loving her.

For more on Phoebe please visit this rather wonderful fan site.

Overlooked Classics: Jackie Brown

I have decided to not attempt any major review on JACKIE BROWN for a few reasons. The main reason being that so much as already been written on the film, by writers much more eloquent than I am, that I am not sure of what I could add. I typically try to focus on films that haven’t been written on enough, and that certainly isn’t the case with JACKIE BROWN.
The other two reasons have to do with Tarantino himself. I figure fans of his already have a clear favorite and they are unwavering in their dedication towards it. Secondly, that people who don’t care for his work won’t be swayed by anything I can write…
So instead of a review I am going to offer two things to the table. The first is a simple list of things I believe about the film. Some you might agree with and some you might not. I offer no evidence for any of these, but I believe them all nonetheless and am not likely to change my mind anytime soon.
The second thing I will offer is a personal story about the first time I saw the film, what it meant and what it continues to mean to me. You may or may not want to skip over this, as it is really just my way of paying a personal tribute to a film that has come to mean a lot to me.

First up is the list:

1. The slow pacing that many people have complained about is deliberate, and is among the cleverest things Quentin Tarantino has ever accomplished. The slightly off pacing fits in perfectly thematically with the characters in the film.

2. This film is among the greatest works dealing with that particular time in a person’s life when they have just slipped past their prime. That weird moment when you are not old, but youth is no longer in the cards for you either.

3. This is the last great performance that Robert De Niro gave us, and what Samuel L. Jackson says to him after he shoots him foreshadows what many of his fans would like to say to him today.

4. There have been few characters as truly terrifying as Samuel L. Jackson’s Ordell and Jackson has never been better in a role.

5. The opening shot of Pam Grier is one of the perfectly designed and realized entrances in film history.

6. The first time Robert Forster lays his eyes on Pam Grier is one of the most romantic shots in modern film.

7. Robert Forster is the most underrated film actor alive.

8. It is tragic that more directors weren’t smart enough to give the extremely talented Bridget Fonda more parts of this substance.

9. Bridget Fonda’s line delivery of her thoughts on ambition might be the funniest in any Tarantino film.

10. This is one of the only films made since the seventies that actually looks like it could have been made in that decade.

11. Pam Grier’s “Long Time Woman” is one of the great-lost soul tracks of the seventies.

12. Enough attention hasn’t been paid to the fact that Tarantino used a song from a Jess Franco work during one of the films key moments.

13. Sid Haig’s cameo is the perfect bit part as it is long enough to be substantial but not short enough to be just distracting.

14. The film’s soundtrack is one of the best examples of a score being used as a series of interior monologues ever.

15. The Delfonic’s “Didn’t I Blow Your Mind” is one of the five greatest love songs ever written.

16. Tarantino’s film finally helped give legitimacy to one of the most undervalued, misunderstood and underestimated genres in film history.

17. The final shots of Robert Forster and Pam Grier in this film are among the most moving in all of modern film.

18. Pam Grier was robbed when she wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award.

19. The true heart and soul of Quentin Tarantino can be found in this film.

20. JACKIE BROWN is the best film Quentin Tarantino has ever made.

MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIE:

I first saw JACKIE BROWN on Christmas night in 1997 in Lexington, Kentucky. I was 24 years old and I was frankly at a very low point in my life. I had recently dropped out of college to take care of my sick father, had broken up with my girlfriend of two years and was dealing with some serious problems of an emotional and chemical nature.
Seeing JACKIE BROWN that Christmas night, as a rare light snow fell in Lexington, was a special moment that gave me a rare healthy escape from the things happening in my life. I clicked with the film immediately and it gave me comfort for months after when things really began to hit a real low point for me.
The months leading up to JACKIE BROWN for me were interesting. I had liked RESERVOIR DOGS and PULP FICTION but unlike my best friend David (who I saw JACKIE BROWN with) they weren’t two of my favorites. Tarantino didn’t become really one of 'my guys' until JACKIE BROWN, and it is because of this film that I really count him among my favorites. I have loved and admired all of his work so far but JACKIE BROWN is the one that really hits me emotionally.

I remember that Christmas day clearly. The morning was spent with my mom and dad outside of Louisville, and then I had to go and open the video store that I managed in Lexington. Christmas days in video stores are interesting, as the first half is totally dead and the second is slammed. I can still picture the way that empty parking lot looked to my chemically induced glazed stare as the Jack Lemmon picture SAVE THE TIGER playing behind me refelected on the store windows.
I worked until the early evening and while the snow didn’t amount to much of anything it was lovely to watch falling. Shortly before I left work one of my favorite customers came in, a beautiful woman named Elizabeth whom I would always give free films to. I promised I would tell her how the new Tarantino film was but ironically I can’t remember now if I ever did.
I picked my friend David up at his house and we were off. The theater was fairly packed with mostly excited guys my age, and some couples. The hallway to the theater was lined with various poster designs for the film, and I remember stopping and admiring the shot of Bridget Fonda for a couple of minutes.

It is odd the things you remember. I can remember where we sat and that the floors were still sticky from the previous show. I remember there was a girl I knew named Whitney, who resembled Sherilyn Fenn, sitting a few rows up, and I reminding myself to try and speak to her on the way out...although I can’t remember if I did.
Like I said the film and I clicked perfectly. I actually felt like it was screening just for me as the disappointment that most of the audience was feeling was palatable. I responded to the characters, the slow pacing, the photography, the music and the vision it presented of the human spirit just passed its prime.
I had the same reaction the two other times I saw it in a theater. Thinking back on it now, I wish I would have seen it a dozen times but the three were it.
Thinking on the film and listening to its soundtrack helped keep me afloat for months after until I crashed landed completely. It is odd how my best memories are usually small good things that happened during my worst possible periods, but that is the way it has always gone for me.

So it has been ten years since JACKIE BROWN. I am in a much better place now but damn I am not 24 anymore, and the fact that I won’t be 34 anymore in ten years pretty much guarantees that the film will grow even more special to me.
The theater where I saw JACKIE BROWN closed down a few years ago, and I don’t remember having more than a flurry on Christmas day since. I haven’t seen my father, my friend David, Elizabeth or even that girl Whitney who looked like Sherilyn Fenn in years and I don’t expect I ever will again. JACKIE BROWN remains for me though and I find myself gravitating towards it each Christmas. Surprisingly this violent and sun baked essay on regret and disappointment has become my favorite Christmas film.
These days I feel a lot like Max Cherry at the end of this film...standing, frozen...not unhappy but frustrated in his inability to hold onto what is slipping away and lamenting his inability to move forward.

Long Awaited Fulci DVDs Finally Announced

It looks like the great dvd company Severin is going to release Lucio Fulci's very interesting 1977 feature MURDER TO THE TUNE OF SEVEN BLACK NOTES (THE PSYCHIC) on October 30th. The short press release can be read here:

http://www.severin-films.com/news.html

I am very pleased that this film is finally getting a release on Region One disc. I have only seen the old full frame VHS version of it and have long wanted to see an uncut widescreen edition of the film. I am also glad Severin is handling it as they have done some exceptional work in the past couple of years since they arrived on the scene.
The disc will include a rare Fulci interview as well as interviews with the cast and crew.
THE PSYCHIC was originally announced back in the mid nineties as a film that Quentin Tarantino was going to release on disc but that never happened. Tarantino is a big fan of the film and there were even talks at one point that he was going to remake it with fellow Italian Horror fanatic Bridget Fonda but that also never came to be.
While I don't remember the film being among Fulci's best, I do remember being very intrigued by it and always thought a good transfer could be eye opening, or splintering as this is a Lucio Fulci film:).
Also being released by Severin on the same day is The EROTICIST starring the lovely Laura Antonelli (an actress I have meaning to post on for awhile now). I am greatly anticipating both releases and am sure Severin will deliver the discs with quality presentations.

Artist and Muse #21

I must admit it took me awhile to warm up to the films of French director Luc Besson. In the eighties his films felt too Americanized and cold for me to consider him in the same league with other French directers his age such as Leox Carax and Jean Jacques Beineix.
All that changed in 1994 when I saw an evening showing of THE PROFESSIONAL with my uncle at a near empty theater in Bowling Green, Ky. Besson's exciting and moving film centers on a hired and lonely assassin Leon, played beautifully by Jean Reno, who takes in a young teenage girl played by Natalie Portman in her first role.
I liked THE PROFESSIONAL (or LEON as it titled in its superior longer form) so much that it made me go back and re-view Besson's previous output that I had originally been so hesitant about. While I still find LA FEMME NIKITA to be slightly overrated (I actually prefer Bridget Fonda in the American remake), his SUBWAY has become one of my favorite French films of the eighties.

The most haunting aspect of LEON is the performance of the just thirteen year old Portman. It is one of the great performances by a child actor in screen history and I still think one of the best performances of the nineties by a child or adult. She reminded me a lot of a young Natalie Wood, she had that same kind of depth and that same haunted old before her time look in her eyes. I remember seeing her on Letterman at the time of the LEON'S release and being so impressed by how obviously intelligent and thoughtful this young girl was.
Portman's talents have largely been wasted since her debut in LEON, most notably in the STAR WARS prequels, but her work in Mike Nichols CLOSER and James McTeigue V FOR VENDETTA served as splendid reminders that she might indeed be the best actress of her generation.
Besson has unfortunately only directed a handful of features since and none have measured up to LEON, although count me in as an admirer of both THE FIFTH ELEMENT and THE MESSENGER. Rumors have floated around for years about a follow up to LEON with Portman repeatedly saying she would do it in a heartbeat. I am torn between thinking they should just leave the original alone and wanting Besson to attempt it. Luc Besson needs to get his mojo back with a live action feature that puts him back on the streets of his early films, if that means a sequel to one of the most perfect films of the nineties then so be it.