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Climbing Jacob's Ladder
Horror film muddled by flashbacks and plot twists
Robb Frederick
The Collegian
As wounded American soldiers
scream in the background, Jacob
Singer races through the Vietnam
jungle, only to be met with the
flash of a bayonet that is thrust
and twisted through his
midsection.
Jacob carries the memory and
pain of that moment out of the
jungle and into his life in the
states. But Jacob returns from the
jungle with more than his share
of personal nightmares, for his
demons have taken a very real
form.
These demons, and the
psychological madness they
create, provide the basis for
director Adrian Lyne's latest
film, Jacob's Ladder.
The film is driven by a rapid
fire series of flashbacks,
jettisoning viewers from Vietnam
to New York, from the reality of
life to the equally vivid hell of
Jacob's innermost fears.
Jacob (Tim Robbins) first
notices the creatures as he rides
the subway home from his job at
the post office. A sleeping
homeless man shuffles in his
seat, revealing a withering flesh
colored tail.
When Jacob is almost run
Sex scenes darken White Palace
Critic believes NC-17 rating more appropriate
b Christi Luden
The Collegian
Another Pretty Woman?
No, I don't think so.
Although some of the same
elements are present (rich man
and poor woman, falling in love,
trying to fit into different
lifestyles, etc.) the new release
White Palace just doesn't have
what Gary Marshall had in Pretty
Woman.
James Spader plays Max
Baron, a rich business man
whose life is upset by his wife's
death. Now, still a young man in
his mid 20's, he spends all his
time with good friends and a
nagging mother.
Although many women
want to snag Max, he's still
pining over his dead wife. Still
pining, that is, until Nora Baker
steps into his life.
Nora, played by Susan
Sarandon, is a rugged looking
middle-aged waitress in a
hamburger joint called White
Palace. She's poor, sloppy, and
tough.
Nora, like Max, has lost a
loved one. Her son supposedly
died of leukemia, but we later
find out what =By happened.
The two meet in a.bar one
evening after Max leaves a
friend's stag party. Although
down by another subway train, he
notices faceless specters staring
out the train's windows and
waving from tae car's rear door.
In addition to these visions,
Jacob is plagued by memories of
his broken marriage and the death
of his youngest son.
Just when these visions bring
Jacob to the brink of madness, a
fellow veteran calls explaining
that he is also being haunted by
the demons. This testimonial,
emphasized by the friend's sudden
unnatural death, inspires Jacob to
get to the bottom of the
situation.
Lyne shows no mercy as he
directs viewers through Jacob's
search for sanity. Jacob always
finds himself in abandoned areas,
such as locked-up subway
stations and empty roads and
corridors. These scenes,
emphasized by mercilessly close
camera angles, provide a chilling
example of claustrophobic fear.
This technique is particularly
successful when Jacob is placed
on a rickety gurney and wheeled
down a bloody corridor littered
with severed limbs. When Jacob
reaches the end of the corridor, he
finds himself strapped to a table
as an eyeless doctor prepares an
injection.
The operating room supplies a
extremely intoxicated, Max
resists Nora's advances and
attempts to go home. But, Nora
misses the bus and persuades
Max to take her home.
Their hot and heavy
relationship starts here. Too
drunk to drive, Max spends the
night at Nora's. Although his
intentions are only to sober up,
Nora's are quite different.
I can not believe the hard
core sex contained in this R-rated
movie. After the initial scene
shock that created an unbelievable
tenseness in the audience, Max
turns into a nymphomaniac.
Director Luis Mandoki
takes a great storyline and makes
a futile attempt to vary it by
adding the vulgar sex scenes.
I'm sure the film could
never measure up to it's thematic
predecessor (Pretty Woman), but
Mandoki's idea of adding the
variations is despicable. The
scenes he creates would fit more
appropriately under the new NC
-17 rating.
However, I can't judge the
whole film based on those
incidents. There are some good
points.
The theme itself is varied a
bit. Two unhappy people holding
on to dead loved ones whale lives
cross and discover love again.
Both benefit. Both let go of their
The Collegian
vision of Jacob's hell, and the
effect is chilling.
As the haunted Jacob,
Robbins successfully breaks
away from the comic roles he
mastered in Bull Durnham and
Cadillac Man. Elizabeth Pena's
Jezzie, although barely developed,
shines as the film's only stable
character.
Lyne's directorial style
succeeds in frightening viewers,
but the numerous flashbacks that
propel the film are too confusing
to follow. The viewer is never
certain whether any given scene
is really happening or merely a
neurotic vision of Jacob's fears.
Even after the reason for
Jacob's trauma is explained, Lyne
throws his audience into
uncertainty.
For a majority of the film, the
complex plot twists and subtle
biblical references carry viewers
further into the hellish memories
of Jacob Singer. Near the film's
end, however, it is too difficult to
distinguish between reality and
insanity, past experience or
hallucination.
Jacob's Ladder could have
lived up to its potential if Lyne
had given his audience just a
little more substance to work
with.
pasts. Both find the happiness
they deserve.
The age difference also
affects the film. The young
twenty-year-old Max has the
perfect, storybook life with
another young woman. Nora is
an older woman. She shows her
age through her rigid appearance
and her experienced actions.
The class difference is also
entwined throughout the film.
Max has a difficult time bringing
Nora to meet his high society
friends. When he finally does, her
bitter attitude towards life ruins
any chances of being accepted.
Spader is the perfect, sweet
boy-faced man that Max Baron
needs to be portrayed as. He's
intelligent and successful, but
naive, and his soft spot is visably
noticeable in several delicate
scenes concerning his dead wife.
Sarandon is also the ideal
older woman. She's got the old
looking face and mature body,
but puccf l g., ces a teenage innocence
that causes her excitement about
gifts and Max's youthfulness.
Although I am not
impressed with the
overemphasized sex in White
Palace, it isn't a horrible film not
worth seeing. It's delicate and
moving, but be prepared for those
tense moments when breathing
ceases in the theater.
Score one for the
environment.
Recycle today for a
better tomorrow.
Thursday, November 8, 1990