Madeline Kahn in "Judy Berlin."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, we give this film a: Stars: Edie Falco, Aaron Harnick, Madeline Kahn, Barbara Barrie and Bob Dishy Director: Eric Mendelsohn Rated: Not rated Length: 97 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Mike Clark
Gannett News Service

(July 14, 2000) -- Writer/director Eric Mendelsohn's at least semiprecocious debut feature has earned a year's worth of huzzahs since its launch on the festival circuit.

Meanwhile, fates have further intervened to give this mood-over-matter suburban drama slightly broader audience appeal. Judy is played by Edie Falco, currently riding out a year to remember on HBO's The Sopranos; and one of several screwed-up Long Islanders is played by the late Madeline Kahn, in what turned out to be her final film.

Shot in outstanding Twilight Zone-ish black-and-white by Jeffrey Seckendorf, this compact conceit has several characters, yet centers on the repressed romantic entanglements of a middle-aged teacher, school principal and principal's wife that life has passed by, and two relatively young people on the verge of being passed by themselves.

Unfortunately, the emphasis is less on the more interesting older folk (Barbara Barrie, Bob Dishy and Kahn) than on Hollywood hopeful Judy and her friend, David (Aaron Harnick). Because sullen David is a failed filmmaker who has just returned from Hollywood, he is possibly more interesting to Mendelsohn than to anyone else.

Judy's sad souls end up sorting out their lives in the dark in a town called Babylon during an afternoon solar eclipse -- a heavy-handed set-up that plays better than it sounds because the movie is so tightly constructed and controlled.

Mendelsohn probably has done a better job launching his career than making a movie that average ticket-buyers will want to see, though fans of the spooky minor cult classic Carnival of Souls (1962) might find Judy a kindred spirit.

And though Mendelsohn is hardly the first young filmmaker to be influenced by Woody Allen, he may be the first who seems to be inspired by -- now here's a dicey proposition -- Woody Allen dramas.