Alrighty folks... so far we ain't heard word one on this flick. 'O'... a modern teen updating of the OTHELLO story. But... The mere mention of the name of Julia Stiles... a young actress who I promise you... YOU will know who she is.... someday. This year if ya check out her IMDB.COM page, you'll see she's turned out 5 films and a mini-series this year and already has two additionals aimed at 2000. A few years back I had a chance to meet this young lady at the showing of WICKED... It is a little film that I champion around a bit, but never seemed to get seen. It's sad really, because the film does kick some ass. Apparently we are about a week away from release now and Juliet here is coming in to make us all not look like idiots for not mentioning the film. So here ya gooooo....
Tonight I saw the new Miramax film O, based on Othello. I must admit I'm not a fan of Shakespeare (I just can't dig the dialogue), but my roommate dragged me to see it so I went. O MY GOD.
All I have to say is Miramax is back! I kinda lost faith in "the max's" teen films after She's All That,The Faculty, and Scream 2, so I went into this one with low expectations. I was very pleasantly surprised. This movie kicked ass!
It's set in the 90's and stars Mekhi Pfifer as Odin. Odin is a (black) highschool basketball star, in a mostly white prep school going out with the prettiest (white) girl in school played by Julia Stiles (Ten Things I Hate About You). His life seems perfect. Too perfect. His coach (played by Martin Sheen) seems to love Odin like (or maybe more) than his own son, Hugo (played brilliantly by Josh Hartnett). This sets Hugo off, and he plots to destroy Odin's relationship (and his life) by planting the seed of jealousy.
This film reminds me of the Old Miramax, (pre Freddie Prinze Jr.)when they made movies with balls, like: Priest, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game. While this is a different type of film, I left the theater with the same feeling I had when I saw those films, WOW. This is honestly the first realistic portrayal of teen life I've seen since KIDS. In this movie we see teens doing coke, having interracial sex.... This movie's gotta lotta balls.
This movie was everything Cruel Intentions (which was saved by a great soundtrack, and the promise of sexy scenes) failed to be. Smart, hip,sexy, and most important, entertaining. The scenes between Pfifer and Stiles generated some serious heat (this movie won't do any business in the south). I give Ms. Stiles alot of credit for taking that role, where as alot of white actresses would be scared of the risk involved in doing such hot and heavy love scenes with a black actor. Onscreen interracial sex is a taboo in Hollywood (ask James Toback). I heard that Julia Roberts wanted a love scene in The Pelican Brief with Denzel Washington,and was told no by the producers, who said that Middle America wasn't ready for that yet. The acting was great from top to bottom (even Mekhi Pfifer). I don't know when this movie's coming out, but I'm definitely hoping it gets the support of Miramax's marketing department because this one is a winner. Juliet
