Gerald Wright's Movie Coverage      

Tribeca Film Festival- April 25th-May 6th   

Two in One

World Narrative Competition
2006, Ukraine
Director: Kira Murtova
124 minutes

This is a stage act murder setting turned into a dark comedy melting into a real film that is set up in two parts. The first part, "Stagehands" the stage act that is when a dead actor Borisov is found hanging from one of the props during a final dress rehearsal by the dim witted cleanup and stage hand Victor. It's assumed that Borisov committed suicide, but the cast continually rehearse and stagehands casually move their props to prepare for opening night. It's as if the show must go on, without any genuine concern of the corpse. The cast lay the blame on Victor who found the body, but he insist it wasn't his doing. Meanwhile, with all the traffic over and around the dead body, evidence is disturb - but who's to care the police hasn't showed up (and it's been quite some time). Opening night for the show is about to start and it seems another body turns up dead (is it Victor?). So on with the show.

As the theater opens and the audience takes their seats, the performance starts with the second part of this rich psychological farce. The stage performance now takes on a film adaptation of the "Woman of a Lifetime". The story of a wealthy older man with a grown daughter living in his large home. He is in search of his perfect woman. The only problem is that he is a perverted old womanizer who believes in incest if he can't land a woman. This film lurks just beneath the surface of banal reality, but cleverly funny.

Gerald Wright is a film critic for Rotten Tomatoes.com and has also served as a film festival judge.

More of his work can be found at the following website:
www.FilmShowcase.Blogspot.com