Reversal of Fortune (1990)
Directed by Barbet Schroeder
Wealthy Sunny von Bülow lies brain-dead, husband Claus guilty of attempted murder; but he says he's innocent and hires Alan Dershowitz for his appeal.
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What critics compared Reversal of Fortune to
As for debut screenwriter Kazan, as the offspring of two award-winning screenwriters (Robin Swicord, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Nicholas Kazan, Reversal of Fortune), she, too, could be challenged by a kind of “second album syndrome” as she struggles to match her parents’ earlier contributions to film.
Her father, Nicholas Kazan, authored the script for Reversal of Fortune .
Her grandfather, the Broadway and Hollywood legend Elia Kazan, directed A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront; her parents are screenwriters Robin Swicord (Little Women, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Nicholas Kazan (Frances, Patty Hearst, Reversal of Fortune, Matilda).
As Jeremy Irons famously says in “Reversal of Fortune,” “You have no idea.”
The screenplay, by Oscar nominee Nicholas Kazan (“ Reversal of Fortune ”), shows us Hobbes at home (he lives with his brother and nephew) and at work (Jonsey is a good pal, but a lieutenant played by Donald Sutherland seems to know more than he says).
"FALLEN" features performances by such terrific actors as Denzel Washington, John Goodman and Donald Sutherland, and was written by Nicholas Kazan, who wrote the scintillating "Reversal of Fortune," and was directed by Gregory Hoblit," who did "Primal Fear" and also directed Emmy-winning "L.A. Law" episodes.
Aside from Washington and the rest of the cast, it boasts a script from Nicholas Kazan (Reversal of Fortune) and direction from Gregory Hoblit (NYPD Blue, Primal Fear).
So if Fallen , a modest and relatively unassuming thriller written by Nicholas Kazan (Reversal of Fortune) and directed by Gregory Hoblit (Primal Fear), is one of the better films in this genre, it’s not because it faces a lot of competition.
French producer and sometime director Barbet Schroeder ("Les Tricheurs"/" Reversal of Fortune") helms his first American film that plays out as a lowlife seriocomedy as written by Charles Bukowski; it portends to be autobigraphical about skid row poet Bukowski's life.
Still, it would be tough to engage and simple to shake off without the visuals and the atmospheres concocted by director Barbet Schroeder (Maîtresse, Reversal of Fortune) and genius cinematographer Robby Müller (a repeat all-star on crews coached by Wenders, Jarmusch , and von Trier ).
But this film, very well-written by Nicholas Kazan ("Frances," "At Close Range," "Patty Hearst") and expertly directed by Barbet Schroeder ("Barfly"), proves to be about much more than just von Bulow.
If there's something a bit dilettantish about the career of former ace producer Barbet Schroeder (The Marquise of O, Celine and Julie Go Boating, The American Friend) as a director (More, Maitresse, Barfly), it can't be denied that he's been steadily picking up skill and craft.