“Love Notes” was the movie I should have reviewed last week. But, I couldn’t track this down on DVD or streaming…and I ended up having to buy a freaking VHS cassette of the movie! Most copies I found were going for $20+, which is far too high a price point for such an outdated medium. I finally got one, in great shape, for under $10 (including shipping). So, was the odyssey of getting this dramatic sensual anthology worth it? Yeah, it was.

It is an anthology, so as per usual, I will describe and review each plot separately, then do an overall impressions paragraph or two.

Backroads To Vegas (Story 1) - Directed by Christopher Webster.

This is the wraparound story, in which a mysterious man, Cal (Rick Tyler-Barnes), who is being hunted, hijacks Kathryn’s (Margaux Hemingway) car, and forces her to start driving towards Las Vegas. To help herself stay calm, and to make the time pass, she tells three tales of dangerous passion.

 

There are very few shots of the mysterious hitchhiker and the driver speaking to each other face to face. We get lots of long exterior shots looking in at these two through the windshield or windows, with very obviously ADR-ed lines to move the scene forward; which certainly caused some unintentional laughter.

The direction of this segment is lacking style, but the clumsy rerecorded lines aside, there are inspired moments. The use of different tapes as a way to signify each new story, replete with very different musical styles is a cool choice, the way Cal fakes his death in the very beginning, and then there is the ending. While I will need to rewatch it to fully understand the ending (although, it could just be obtuse as all hell), I appreciate that it is not an easy or expected ending, even if I did laugh at the awkward dancing and the slow fade out used to signify… lofty artness, I guess?

The two actors aren’t bad, but I find it hard to critique their performances when some of the issues with their line readings clearly stem from the audio stuff.

 

Katrina (Story 2) - Directed by Paula Barrett.

The first story told to us is set in early 1900s, during the time of civil war in a random South American country. Comandante Vasquez (Joe Basile) lusts after famous opera singer, Katrina (Anneliza Scott) . Unbeknownst to him, she is sleeping with the second-in-command of the rebel forces, Andres (Guri Weinberg). The two have a night of passion, but Andres is captured in the morning, leaving her place. The comandante offers her a deal- give into a night of lust with him, and the rebel leader will go free, otherwise he is to be killed in the morning.

Despite having unrest and a civil war as a backdrop, this tale feels small. I get the scope the filmmakers were aiming for- by focusing on just these three people, it’d be a microcosm of the entire war. Due to lack of budget, and some unintentionally amusing dialogue, it doesn’t work. Part of that comes from a lack of true fervor during the night before the arrest. The sex is all soft lighting, atonal instrumental music, gently wafting curtains, lots of fade ins and outs, and lacking any real sensuality. But, it is not lacking in the laughter department, because they are just trying too damn hard.

 

The actors’ lack of chemistry is the biggest culprit. While none of them are awful in their own individual roles, they have all the chemistry together of a wet blanket atop a couch, thus, any heat that should be smoldering onscreen is absent.

 

The ambition here is admirable, but the drama does not work. The direction is standard, the acting flounders in its attempt to be arousing, and the script is inadvertently campy.

Rachael (Story 3) - Directed by Kirsten Bulmer.

Set in present day (for when the movie was made- 1996), we are introduced to William (Marklyn Kennedy) and Rachael (Janelle Paradee), an expectant married couple. Adam (Casper Van Dien), William’s brother, comes to stay with them for the Christmas season. Due to complications during birth, the baby dies. Rachael is understandably depressed, William throws himself into his job and yells at her when he comes home. Adam starts helping Rachael around the house- cleaning, cooking, etc.- so she can grieve, and his brother can calm down. Adam and Rachael grow closer and closer during this, and then a day after a particularly bad fight, Adam and Rachael give into their passions. Does this help Rachael get over her grief, or does her guilt just add more weight to her shoulders? Are they caught?

 

Without a doubt, this is my favorite section of the movie… and I’m not just saying that because of my love for Mr. Van Dien. It is the best acted of the lot though. Marklyn Kennedy as William has a tricky role- needing to come off as a well meaning and loving husband, then once tragedy strikes, do a 360 to true assholery, and have a too little, too late change of heart, which brings about a full break. He pulls it off well. His chemistry with his two co-stars is strong. Rachael is played by Janelle Paradee, and she is also very good. Balancing the sympathetic, the object of desire (it does seem that she and Adam have a strong connection even before the shit hits the fan), and a need to feel alive again, her cheating on William is understandable.

 

As for Van Dien, his charisma is on full display, and he is a lot of fun. His character is the most one note here, as he is more a passenger on their journey, but when he defends Rachael to William, after he berates her, it is genuine, and his musical talents (Adam is a cellist) are easy to buy into.

 

The sex scene is very tame, no substantial nudity, simple lighting, and basic camera moves (ie- slow push in to the bed, etc.). It’s more love making than fucking, and it works for the story, but again, these three anecdotes are meant to revolve round being consumed with passion, until driven mad. So thematically within the anthology, it doesn’t work.

The dialogue often lacks subtlety, causing some lines to be unwieldy. But the ending was a surprise, and for its scant 10-15 minute runtime, it packs a pretty decent emotional wallop.

 

This should be attributed to Bulmer‘s skill behind the camera. Lots of shadow and light play to show the characters’ feelings in any given scene, coupled with strong pacing and editing means there is no fat here. Energetic and intense editing also helps propel this forward. Excluding a few asinine lines, this story works really well.

 

Selena (Story 4) - Directed by Suzanne Genc.

After the collapse of society, the remaining survivors have crafted new societies and civilizations. A young priestess, of sorts, Selena (Kathleen Kelly) meets a dying young man, Ambrose (Louis D’Alto). As she heals him, they start an intense but ill fated affair. His father, a doctor (Joe Estevez) finds out, and it fills him with such rage that she was able to heal Ambrose, while the doctor has to scrounge around for any medicine at all, so he sets out to kill her. Does love win the day? Is Selena’s destiny revealed? Can this be any more confusing?

The action in this yarn is mostly explained via voice-over narration, as we bear witness to scenes of Selena and Ambrose swimming naked, holding each other, and having sex. There’s copious nudity and sex here, which will be enough for some. Those sequences are the best shot erotic moments, between all the stories. The outdoors location allowed the director to do some creative lighting, and interesting shot compositions.

 

But the story is fractured- Selena’s destiny- which is droned on and on about- is very vaguely defined. How the man fits into it even less so. The VO is hilariously mismatched to the scenes we see, with the narration sounding detached and dispassionate, whereas the images are steamy and carnal. This got a lot of laughs from me. Add to that, the wacky, hysterical (as in actual hysteria), nonsense that is the ending, and you get a very funny segment. But the vigor and keenness of this sequence to present a different take on the usual erotic fare is admirable.

 

The acting from everyone, especially Kathleen Kelly as Selena is good. Her awakening of her powers and coming into her own, is well shown, as is her fragile relationship with the destiny she’s been given, versus the man she is falling for; again, all this with virtually no dialogue. D’Alto is also good, but he just needs to stand there, be naked, and look good. He accomplishes those things well. Joe Estevez, as Ambrose’s father, does what he can, but his role requires him to sound like a maniac, which isn’t too hard for Mr. Estevez.

 

“Love Notes”, which was conceived and produced by Christopher Webster (director of the wraparound story) is too goofy at times, too impersonal at others, and often has badly written dialogue. But, for all its faults, it is compulsively watchable. This all comes down to one simple word- ambition; he clearly knew what he wanted to say with this project, and he got other filmmakers who shared that sensibility. The three stories being told start in the past, then we move to the present, and then we jump ahead into the future. All of which keeps the movie engaging, and it cements this as something more than your average made-for-Skinemax movie, even when I am laughing at it.

 

The various ways everything ties together, aside from the erotic aspect, each section prominently features music- in the wraparound, Kathryn used to be a stage singer; Katrina sings opera; Adam is a cellist; and the entirety of “Selena” (the story, not character) is set to a pound drum beat and heavy strings for its entire runtime- while the incidents that play out are all slightly larger than life, very passionate and dramatic, very, shall we say, operatic (please see title as well, “Love Notes”!).

 

It is clear that a lot of love, ambition, and real effort went into the production. Not everything works, and things are a bit muddled at times, while the dialogue is almost always overwrought. But, the good acting, interesting connections between the segments, and the very ambitious ideas make this one weird success.