Word: irena
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Irena (Natassia Kinski) is the embodiment of this duality. She is a cat person. Cat people have the peculiar tendency of transforming into black leopards when sexually aroused. They can regain human form only by killing. Only if they mate with their own kind can they avoid this dastardly B-movie fate...
...this is unknown to Irena, when she goes to New Orleans to live with her brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell). Having been raised in orphanages and foster homes, Irena has never met Paul, but she has dreamt about him. Paul has likewise dreamt about Irena--dirty dreams. He too is a cat person...
...Irena recoils in horror and disbelief. She has already fallen in love with another man--the curator...
Innocent yet animal. Irena embodies the conflict between the two natures of sexuality, and Kinski, emulating her success in Tess, gives an admirable performance. Though the sexual theme holds great potential for creating vivid, powerful characters, Irena could be played by a stuffed animal. The audience, primed with Cinderella fairytales and pubescent fantasies, already knows Irena's conflict. And so director Paul Schrader (American Gigolo, Hardcore. Blue Collar) uses his characters as no more than props...
McDowell's performance as the brother comes closest to avoiding sterile characterization. A minister of a Pentecostal sect. Paul has struggled desperately to overcome his affliction through religious faith. But Schrader gives only a taste of Paul's struggle and abruptly throws the focus back to Irena...