Simpatico
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Simpatico |
| Original title | Simpatico |
| Country of production | USA , UK , France |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1999 |
| length | 102 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Matthew Warchus |
| script | Matthew Warchus, David Nicholls |
| production |
Jean-François Fonlupt , Dan Lupovitz , Timm Oberwelland |
| music | Stewart Copeland |
| camera |
Laurent Basset , John Toll |
| cut |
Pasquale Buba , Seth Fluff |
| occupation | |
| |
Simpatico is an American - British - French drama film from 1999 . Directed by Matthew Warchus , who wrote the script with David Nicholls based on the play of the same name by Sam Shepard . The British theater director made his feature film debut. It tells the story of a penniless drinker (played by Nick Nolte ) and a wealthy horse racing stable owner ( Jeff Bridges ) who try to pay off their debt from a long-ago betting fraud together. In order to atone for their deeds, the two temporarily take on the role of the other.
The film was produced by Emotion Pictures , Kingsgate Films , Zeal Pictures and the French studio Canal + .
action
The wealthy Lyle Carter owns a horse farm in Kentucky . As he prepares to sell its successful racehorse Simpatico, he receives a desperate phone call from his old friend Vinnie Webb of California . Vinnie withholds incriminating evidence against Lyle, who, in turn, supports the private detective in disguise and seedy alcoholic. More than twenty years ago, both men and Lyle's wife, Rosie, had organized cheating at horse races in Southern California. They traded slow horses for fast horses to bet on the underdog. However, Lyle's and Vinnie's scams had been spotted by the easy-going race inspector Simms, who checked each horse's number tattoo on the inside of the lower lip prior to the races. Thereupon Rosie seduced the older Simms and was secretly photographed by Vinnie. The trio used the photos to blackmail Simms. An anonymous tip from Rosie ruined the elderly father's career and life, while Lyle left with Rosie.
Lyle travels to California to see Vinnie. He pretends to give him the old negatives of the photos, which were never published, as well as other evidence. Instead, Vinnie, plagued by guilt and the urge to be educated, steals Lyle's car and papers and travels to the Midwest using his identity . Meanwhile, Lyle and Vinnie's girlfriend Cecilia start looking for him. He confides in the kind-hearted supermarket saleswoman and finances her a trip to Kentucky while he stays in California. While the previous loser Vinnie blossoms, the successful Lyle takes on the bad habits of Vinnie in no time.
Vinnie visits Simpatico and Simms. He is now active in the horse business under a false name and lives near Lyle's stud. However, Simms is not interested in making amends with Vinnie's evidence. Instead, the former race inspector sends Lyle a message. Thereupon Cecilia looks for Simms as a messenger and promises him financial compensation. The naive Cecilia collapses during the conversation and is let in by Simms that it is a trap. However, she refuses an offer from Simms to share the property with him.
Rosie, who has since become fond of alcohol, is visited by Vinnie on the day Simpatico is sold. His plan to swap his former lover for the negatives fails - Rosie falls into a fit of rage, steals Vinnie's gun and realizes that the relationship that suggested twenty years ago has ended and she has become a prisoner of a life's lie. Vinnie then returns to California, where he meets Lyle, who no longer intends to return home. Both burn the negatives together. Rosie takes one last ride on Simpatico. She shoots the beloved black stallion after she has learned from Lyle that the sale has a fraudulent background - the animal will become sterile in a few months, which in addition to deceiving the buyer would also result in Simpatico's death. Months later, Cecilia returns to Kentucky, where she and Simms attend the famous Kentucky Derby .
Reviews
The film received mixed reviews in the United States. The US industry service Variety classified the film as a tragic comedy or "melancholy comedy", which is more impressive in its "sharp details" than its "general sound". Much of the "handsome, clever humor" has been taken from the play. The “taste performance” of the actors would give Simpatico a “bittersweet grace”. The achievements of Jeff Bridges and Nick Nolte as well as Albert Finney and Catherine Keener were praised. Stephen Holden ( The New York Times ) called Simpatico an "unconventional, awkward film," but also recognized the good performances of Nolte, Finney, Bridges, Sharon Stone and Keener. For all its flashing brilliance, the film never finds a consistent style, yet Simpatico has decency and is far from the usual Hollywood film adaptation of a difficult play.
Oliver Rahayel ( film-dienst ) rated Matthew Warchus' film debut as "solid work" and praised the two main actors Nick Nolte and Jeff Bridges. Sharon Stone's appearance remains “concise and concise”, while Albert Finney gives his character “a highly abysmal note”. Heinrich Oehmsen ( Hamburger Abendblatt ) agreed to praise the actors , while complaining about the complicated structure of the film, which lacks speed. Lars-Olav Beier ( Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ) pointed out Nick Nolte's overacting and the double rhythm of the film that arises between the changes in location and the leaps in time. Simpatico can only share the inner drama of its heroes in a few moments.
The lexicon of international films wrote that the film was a "high-profile and well-acted" "psychological drama". He put "on the dialogic qualities of the theater presentation", but "without letting it dominate" and merged "the plot into a dense network of guilt and atonement".
Awards
The film was nominated for the Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award in 2000.
backgrounds
The film is based on Sam Shepard's play of the same name, which was performed off-Broadway from November 1 to December 18, 1994 at New York's Joseph Papp Public Theater and at the New York Shakespeare Festival . The production had 40 performances and was starred with Ed Harris (Carter), Fred Ward (Vinnie), Beverly D'Angelo (Rosie), James Gammon (Simms) and Marcia Gay Harden (Cecilia). Harris received the Lucille Lortel Award in 1995 and D'Angelo the Theater World Award in the same year .
The film was in Los Angeles , in Lexington ( Kentucky ) and Louisville turned (Kentucky). It had its world premiere on September 15, 1999 at the Toronto International Film Festival . The film grossed around US $ 902,000 in cinemas in the United States . The theatrical release in Germany was on July 13, 2000.
literature
- Shepard, Sam: Simpatico: a play in three acts . New York: Vintage Books, 1996.- ISBN 9780679763178
- Shepard, Sam; Eberth, Michael: Simpatico . [Frankfurt am Main]: S. Fischer, 1995.
Web links
- Simpatico in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Simpatico at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Simpatico at Metacritic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Company credits in the Internet Movie Database (accessed November 28, 2010)
- ↑ cf. Evaluation by Metacritic.com - Of the 26 US reviews taken into account, the majority (10) rate the film as "mixed", six as "positive" and nine as "negative" according to the evaluation method of Metacritic.com
- ↑ cf. Harvey, Denis: Cast gives comedy a boost . In: Variety, September 20-26, 1999, p. 85
- ↑ cf. Holden, Stephen: 'Simpatico': American Dream as a Rigged Game of Chance , February 4, 2000 (accessed November 28, 2010 via nytimes.com)
- ↑ cf. Criticism in film-dienst 14/2000 (accessed via Munzinger Online )
- ↑ cf. Oehmsen, Heinrich: Guilt and atonement and a horse . In: Hamburger Abendblatt, July 13, 2000 (accessed via LexisNexis Wirtschaft )
- ↑ cf. Beier, Lars-Olav: In the end there was fire . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 14, 2000, No. 161, p. 44
- ^ Simpatico in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on October 17, 2007
- ↑ cf. Entry ( Memento of the original from August 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the Internet Off-Broadway Database (accessed November 28, 2010)
- ^ Filming locations for Simpatico, accessed on October 17, 2007
- ↑ Simpatico premiere dates, accessed on October 17, 2007
- ↑ Box office / business for Simpatico, accessed on October 17, 2007
