Undescribable Perfection

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The Honorary Consul is a film that I strongly feel didn't come off. The script which I could spout out great bits of thought provoking dialogue, ala: Christopher Hampton, as having seen the movie, god knows how many times, still made for an interesting affair, something different. Set in Argentina, South America, what have you, Gere who's adequate here, plays the new doctor in town. After a bit of an incident, on his arrival, he becomes good friends with a drunk nothing good for, honorary consul, which Caine plays the part, expertly. He inhibits the character totally, his drunkard, so convincing. When a ex brothel worker, Clara (Carillo, slightly wooden in the role) now married to Caine, comes between the two, where she had lay eyes on Gere earlier, the two start an affair. When the honorary consul is mistaken for a real consul, in an abduction by rebels, friends of Gere's, in return for the release of some of their fellow comrades, the relationship intensifies in this advantageous position. There are a couple of hot scenes, notably that nude intercourse one, trimmed down for t.v. where we are grateful for viewing Carillo's goodies. Gere's fate is sad in this, as the walls close in the attackers. I'm thinking The Honorary Consul, was a rush of story, too brief, for really the impact of the to kick in. The late Robert Hoskins was great as the Chief of Police, in one of his best performances, where a much tamer and pleasant Joaquin Almedia, was good as the chief kidnapper. Check out the torture job on his mate (Martinez's now deformed hand). Too which is heavily confronting, is Gere's father, a prisoner, forced to talk, in some brutal torture methods, one involving being held down in a bath tub of rotten poo. Almost for the second half, the abduction part, I found it sloppy. But seeing Carillo naked, counts for something. Beautiful opening theme song, which we owe thanks to Wings and Paul McCartney. A film worth a view for Caine fans, or even to see a younger Almedia strut his stuff.

This is an average pot-boiler from the Graham Greene novel, and although it was better than I originally remembered when watching it again recently, it certainly isn't at all memorable. That said, there are some welcome production values and the cast are worth watching. It's essentially a Richard Gere vehicle - at least in terms of the American market, and he plays an English-born Paraguayan called Dr Eduardo Plarr. Gere is an intriguing actor, or at least certainly was in the eighties. Bear in mind this performance came just a year on from his breakthrough role in An Officer And A Gentleman and you can still see the raw, almost nervous tension in his execution, and he certainly favours the minimalist approach. It's almost as if he's determined to become more than the beefcake Hollywood obviously wants him to be. Despite this assumption, however, Gere still has the obligatory love making scenes although I'm convinced when he first beds Elpidia Carrillo's character Clara, his helpful grunts are way out of sync with his theatrical pelvic thrusts. If Gere does seem to be a little uncomfortable in front of camera, then it's probably because in most scenes (the bedroom ones aside of course) he is either facing Michael Caine or Bob Hoskins. In his position, I think I would have stayed as quiet as possible, and it must have been a daunting scenario for the then 34 year old just fresh from box office success. His accent as well is all over the place. At times there is a distinct English twang to it, but then it slips into Amercian and even flirts with South American when faced with scenes with the locals. Bob Hoskins, of course, shows everyone how it should be done. Hoskins has never been afraid to take on any accent, and here he is the local chief of police, with successful results. Some critics have said that Hoskins was miscast in this film, but I strongly disagree. His demeanour throughout and the convincing accent I think contribute to an all round excellent pitch, although this is probably helped by the comfort of teaming up with director John Mackenzie again, just four years on from The Long Good Friday. The reason I think that Hoskins is so convincing here is that as he is, in physical terms, not the tallest actor on screen, he nevertheless carries weight because of his position and the corruptibility it potentially brings with it. And then there is Michael Caine. Yet again, Caine is playing a drunk, whose only passion in life seems to be the whisky bottle. As already explained earlier, Caine's legendary depiction of 'drunks' was peerless in the eighties. As an exercise in this very matter, I looked into how many 'drunk' roles he has played, and counted post-Zulu, no less than seven (I am counting Last Orders as many of the scenes were set at closing time in a pub). The best scene in this entire movie comes when Caine is at the wheel of his car whilst the US Ambassador (George Belanger) has stopped to take in the local scenic backdrops. He looks up aghast when spotting Caine sipping from a hip flask. Realising he has been rumbled, Caine swiftly raises a coke bottle to his lips within seconds, expertly switching beverages in the same take and without a blip. Ironically, this scene also has great resonance regarding the second part of the movie. I think the film is also pitched right at 102 minutes. Any longer and the plot would have become drawn out and the audience would fidget. Not a classic then, but a decent enough attempt by all concerned.

It was difficult to watch this film because of the miscasting of Richard Gere who seems at last partially anesthesthetized through the entire movie. There is not one bit of passion in his manner or his speech and, whenever he is on the screen, there is a hole through which all tension drains. Bob Hoskins is not a convincing Latin at all, neither in accent nor in manner. Better casting in these two parts would have improved this film immeasurably.An interesting, semi-error shows many of the main characters sweating through their shirts. In tropic and sub-tropic regions, locals have heat adapted well enough so that they sweat almost unnoticeably in normal conditions and thus can appear crisp and unruffled in temperatures where those of us from more temperate climates sweat like water buffalo.

Competent adaptation of a typical Graham Greene story, a tale of moral dilemma, forgiveness and redemption in a quasi-fascist South America. Direction and acting are ordinary, although Michael Caine and Richard Gere are at least well cast; Bob Hoskins (an Argentinian policeman!) less so. Not badly done, but slightly detached; Greene packs a bigger punch on the page.