THE LENGEND OF 1900
Director Giuseppe Tornatore has had no luck with United States distributors.His original cut of Cinema Paradiso,one of the best films of the 1980s,was ruthlessly hacked to pieces by Miramax Films for its North American theatrical release.Now,a decade later,it's d閖?vu.The Legend of 1900,Tornatore's first English-language film,has seen its 160 minute Italian running length shrunk to 123 minutes at the insistence of Fine Line Features.To Tornatore's credit,he has managed to keep the story mostly intact; there are only a few occasions when it starts to ramble.Having not seen the full version,it's difficult for me to say whether the uneven nature of the episodic structure is the result of removing 25% of the film's sequences,or whether that hiccup plagues the original as well.
The entire tale of The Legend of 1900 takes place aboard a cruise ship during the early decades of the 20th century,but this is no Titanic.Told in flashback by a down-on-his luck trumpet player named Max (Pruitt Taylor Vince),the movie is presented as half-fable,half-melodrama.The main character,Danny Boodman T.D.Lemon 1900,or 1900 for short (played by Tim Roth),is found abandoned on board the ocean liner The Virginian by an engine room worker (Bill Nunn),who keeps him and gives him his name (based on the year of his birth).1900 grows up to be an agoraphobe who never knows life outside the ship.He is a genius at the piano,and his reputation spreads far and wide across the globe,but he never leaves The Virginian to claim the slice of fame that could be his.Even love cannot lure him from the open sea.On one occasion,he falls for a pretty passenger (Melanie Thierry),but lacks the courage to follow her into the city when the ship docks.The Virginian was where he was born and where he intends to die
Tornatore has a talent for developing stories that are pleasantly sentimental without turning mawkish.Does The Legend of 1900 manipulate its audience?Of course it does,but Tornatore is a master at this craft,and it doesn't feel as if our heartstrings are being plucked by someone with no talent.The director has blended one part fantasy,one part whimsy,one part comedy,and one part drama into a whole that stirs the spirit.The Legend of 1900 is an uplifting experience - the kind of movie that can make a hardened movie-goer laugh and cry at the same time.Tim Roth,who plays the lead,has called The Legend of 1900 "the antidote to my film [The War Zone]." In many ways,he's right.Where The War Zone,for all its brilliance,is dark and gritty,The Legend of 1900 is a light,airy confection.
As characters go,1900 is a little underdeveloped,and no one else gets enough screen exposure to function as more than a secondary player.Tim Roth,as engaging as ever,brings 1900 to life,imbuing him with energy and charisma.Pruitt Taylor Vince plays an adequate second fiddle as 1900's best friend.Even though the movie is told from his point-of-view,however,Max is not fleshed out as anything more substantive than a narrator.Melanie Thierry offers viewers (and 1900) a pretty face to look at,but nothing more.The film's standout supporting role belongs to Clarence Williams III,who plays real-life jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton.In The Legend of 1900's standout sequence,Jelly Roll boards the ship to challenge 1900 to a piano duel.The smokin' results are pure magic.
Production-wise,The Legend of 1900 is virtually flawless.Cinematographer Lajos Koltai fashions numerous gorgeous sequences that heighten the viewer's sense of watching something enchanting.Cruises,by their very nature,are divorced from the mundane routine of day-to-day life,but The Legend of 1900 has a truly un-real feel to it.This is a fantasy and a tall tale - the kind of thing that could never happen,but that we have no trouble accepting in a well-crafted motion picture.The movie's score,by veteran composer (and longtime Tornatore collaborator) Ennio Morricone,effectively compliments Koltai's keen visual sense.
Those attending The Legend of 1900 with hopes of re-capturing the glory of Cinema Paradiso may be disappointed.While Tornatore's latest succeeds in plumbing some of his masterpiece's emotional intensity,The Legend of 1900 is neither as deep nor as powerful as the 1990 Oscar-winner.And the dialogue is riddled with problems (likely the result of the Italian-to-English translation).In fact,this picture doesn't have much to offer audiences - except the opportunity to forget one's troubles and spend two hours taking pleasure from something uncomplicated and unpretentious.