‘Countess’ mediocre; ‘Down’ has vibrant cast

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In theaters

THE WHITE COUNTESS, directed by James Ivory, written by Kazuro Ishiguro, 135 minutes, rated PG-13.

The latest Merchant-Ivory film, “The White Countess,” is also the last Merchant-Ivory film. In the wake of producer Ismail Merchant’s May 2005 death, the film, which director Ivory based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s script, doesn’t allow the duo to go out on the high note they deserved.

Instead, it completes what has been a gradual slide into mediocrity ever since their best effort, “The Remains of the Day,” was nominated for eight Academy Awards in 1993 but failed to win a single one.

With the exception of “Le Divorce,” a so-so movie that at least found a measure of life and looseness along the streets of present-day Paris (not exactly difficult to do), the films that followed “Day”-“Jefferson in Paris,” “Surviving Picasso,” “A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries,” “The Golden Bowl” and “The Mystic Masseur”- were so arch and static, they never came together.

All of those later films had their admirable moments, but the movies still lacked what made “Remains of the Day,” “Howard’s End,” “A Room with a View,” “The Bostonians” and “Maurice” so vital – a deep bond with the characters, not to mention a pace that gathered emotional intensity.

Over the past decade, what Merchant-Ivory have lost is their connection to people. Their interest in society, manners and class differences became so great that it overcame them and their work. They no longer were making movies about people. Instead, they were making movies about a lost and artificial ideal.

“The White Countess” is no exception. It’s a well-acted, beautifully shot movie that can be maddening in its civility. You watch it hoping for a spark, but since the movie is designed to prevent its leads from connecting emotionally until the last possible moment, the film leaves you feeling ambivalent.

Long stretches sag beneath a sluggish pace that’s sandbagged by a bloated running time.

Set in 1936, the film stars Natasha Richardson as Sofia Belinksy, a widowed Russian countess exiled to Shanghai who becomes a taxi dancer to pay the rent for herself and her slippery relatives (Vanessa Redgrave,

Lynn Redgrave, Madeleine Potter, John Wood). While none of them works and all rely on her income to live, they nevertheless resent Sofia for her chosen line of work.

They call her cheap and say she has brought shame upon the family – especially upon her daughter, Katya (Madeleine Day) – and yet there they are, more than happy to take her money.

Circumstances lead Sofia to Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes), a blind American diplomat with a troubled past who decides that what Shanghai needs is a high-brow nightclub in which wealthy people of all nationalities can come to create a little glamour and political tension.

Sensing Sofia could be the glue for such a club, he hires her to be its hostess, going so far as to name the club after her – the White Countess.

Before war begins, the club is a success, but who cares when the people you most want to see come together have made a pact never to share their personal lives?

This major misstep prevents Sofia and Jackson from growing close. Until the very end, when bombs, turmoil and familial deception start to explode around them, their relationship is kept so firmly at arm’s length, it’s tough to feel much of anything for them when their self-imposed dam finally breaks.

Watching this movie can be exasperating. You realize that with only a few tweaks, it could have been infinitely better.

Grade: C

Also opening

UP AND DOWN, directed by Jan Hrebejk; written by Petr Jarchovsky and Hrebejk, 108 minutes, rated R. Bangor Opera House, 7:30 tonight only.

Tonight at the Bangor Opera House, the River City Cinema Society continues its excellent winter series with Jan Hrebejk’s “Up and Down,” a dark satire cum dramedy set in post-Communist Prague.

Nominated last year for an Academy Award, this strange, satisfying movie finds Hrebejk (“Divided We Fall”) ambitiously following more than a dozen characters with seamless ease.

There’s barren, unstable Mila (Natasa Burger) and her husband, Franta (Jiri Machacek), who want a child but who are unable to adopt because of Franta’s thug past, which has landed him on probation.

When into their lives comes a stolen Indian child, a decision is made out of desperation to purchase the baby at a pawnshop, with Mila and Franta unprepared for the deep ripples of racism this wayward infant will ignite.

Running counter to this is the story of Martin (Petr Forman), a Czech emigre living in Australia, who returns to Prague when he learns that his estranged father, Otto (Jan Triska), a former professor, has developed a brain tumor. Bad blood boils between them, particularly since Otto left Martin’s mother, Vera (Emilia Vasaryova),

20 years ago for Martin’s former girlfriend, Hana (Ingrid Timkova). Their battles are epic and ugly, particularly whenever Vera gets involved.

As all of these lives collide, what’s revealed in the ups and downs of the lower class and the bourgeoisie the movie dissects, is behavior that’s at once reprehensible and human. Crucial to the movie’s success is the forgiveness it seeks from the audience; without understanding these people, their behavior and their questionable choices in life, the movie would break.

And yet it doesn’t. What you admire about “Up and Down” is how slyly you become emotionally involved with it, particularly since the first reaction some might have upon meeting these people is absolute revulsion.

Grade: B+

Please visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and Weekends in Television. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

The Video/DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those capped and in bold print are new to video stores this week.

BAMBI II – B+

Batman Begins – A

THE BEST OF THE ELECTRIC COMPANY – A

Black Dawn – D

BLUE COLLAR TV: SEASON ONE, VOL. 2 – C-

Bride & Prejudice – B

Broken Flowers – A-

The Brothers Grimm – D-

The Cave – C-

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – A-

Cinderella Man – A

The Constant Gardener – A-

Cry Wolf – D

Doom – C+

Dukes of Hazzard – D

Elizabethtown – B-

EMERGENCY! SEASON TWO – B

Flightplan – B-

The Fog – D

The 40-Year-Old Virgin – A

GOLDEN GIRLS: SEASON FOUR – A-

The Gospel – C+

GREY’S ANATOMY: SEASON ONE – B+

Guess Who – C+

Happy Endings – C+

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – B-

THE ICE HARVEST – B-

In Her Shoes – A-

The Interpreter – B+

Into the Blue – C-

The Island – C+

Junebug – A

Just Like Heaven – C+

Kingdom of Heaven – B-

Kung Fu Hustle – A

The Legend of Zorro – C+

Lord of War – C