Word: pinero
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...film is based on Pinero's well-received play of the same name that garnered the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award three years ago, and Pinero seems to have made few concessions to the different demands of the film medium in preparing the screenplay. In short, the first 15 minutes of the movie suggest a play that has been filmed rather than one that has been adapted for the screen. The evocation of a prison atmosphere takes priority over the proper development of a suitable movie plot...
...narrative takes a sharp turn after Pinero acquaints the audience with his principals. While the inmates are gathered in the open space on one of the floors in the prison, a new character enters the picture. He strikes an obvious contrast with the hardened thugs who people the prison, given his layered haircut, handsome WASP features and sharp-looking sports suit. Introduced to the assembled inmates as Clark Davis (Bruce Davison), the new prisoner immediately attracts thepaternalistic attention of the leader among the white prisoners, a tough Irish ethnic named Charlie "Longshoe" Murphy (Joseph Carberry). Longshoe willingly takes Davis under...
...ostracizing of Short Eyes functions as a prelude to the crux of Pinero's work, the examination of the peculiar brand of morality that governs the behavior of inmates. Pinero is making a critical argument. Even the most incorrigible criminals in our society do draw the line at some point; the dehumanizing effects of incarceration do not completely erase some sense of what is right and what is wrong, however loose the criteria may be. In no one is Pinero's point better epitomized than in Juan (Jose Perez), a stocky Puerto Rican who stands alone as the only inmate...
...MAJOR SHORTCOMING keeps the film from being an artistic triumph: Like the initial works of most gifted writers, Pinero's script has the mark of a genuine talent that needs polish. Though the morality parable in the film points to a considerable amount of insight and sensitivity, the motifs are at times carried out in a clumsy fashion. Short Eyes's mea culpa about his perverse affinity for young girls is riddled with cliches, and Davison's acting in the title role approaches the pedestrian throughout the narrative, making the character look like just another wimp with a kinky habit...
...movie, this time following a young Puerto Rican out of the prison amidst jeers from his abandoned lovers in the penitentiary. Crafted for a theater's stage, Short Eyes as a movie remains a gut-wrenching work to watch, and despite its flaws, the promise shown by Pinero's script should make moviegoers think twice before passing up the film...