The prospect of watching an autobiographical film about the last 16 hours in a love affair between a photographer and a dancer sounds about as appetizing as chugging cans of motor oil. Yet this independent American film from Rob Nilsson, which won a Grand Prize at the U.S. Film Festival, turns out to be a surprisingly well made low budget comedy-drama that manages to be artful without sacrificing the truths about the high and low points when a man and a woman come to that simultaneously populous and lonely intersection called love. Nilsson stars as Mel, a photographer whose apartment is covered with photos that he took in Biafra. Arriving home from a trip, Mel is ready to discuss their floundering relationship with his girlfriend Carmen (Consuelo Faust). But she doesn't meet him at the airport. Over the course of the rest of the day, Mel juggles his private and public self: going to a bar with his friend Mitch, where they sit and listen to a group of insurance businessman talk about love; providing support for his friend Bobby, who's about to try out a new stand-up comedy routine; and when no one's around, plastering photographs of Carmen over his mirror, or just plain crying. The confrontation scene between Mel and Alan (Carmen's new boyfriend) is both funny and affecting, as Mel pleads with Alan to take a banana he's holding out (as in split, but Alan doesn't get it). The film is unrated primarily because of a beautifully photographed love scene. Heat and Sunlight takes a few moments to adjust to, but audiences that stick with it will be rewarded with a film that is filled with subtle nuances (without being obscure) and true to the human heart: both in its susceptibility to and capacity for emotional pain. A bonus is the quirky soundtrack by David Byrne and Brian Eno. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman) [DVD Review--March 22, 2005--Koch Lorber, 98 min., not rated, $29.98--Making its debut on DVD, 1987's Heat and Sunlight is not the spiffiest-looking film on the block, technically speaking: shot on video and transferred to film, the image also features a fair amount of digital anomalies, and is backed by a less-than-sterling monaural soundtrack. The extras are topnotch, however, combining a personal, introspective, restlessly philosophical director's commentary track together with a fine 32-minute featurette retrospective "making-of" that mixes footage from Nilsson's 1986 self-interview and a current interview. Bottom line: for those who can get past the sometimes muddy look of this indie winner, the extras make this a solid choice for larger collections.]
Heat and Sunlight
b&w. 98 min. Connoisseur Video. (1987). $79.95. Not rated Library Journal
Heat and Sunlight
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