River Made to Drown In

It's been sitting on a shelf since 1997 and the director is the pseudonymous "Alan Smithee" (the credit given to films that directors wash their hands of): one of these signs alone would be enough to set off alarms; together they should spell disaster. And yet here we have a finely attuned and deftly executed little film, unassuming and unpretentious, about hustlers in Hollywood and the impossibility of escaping one's self. Rich lawyer Thaddeus (a pre-coming-out-of-the-closet Richard Chamberlain), dying of AIDS, pays a visit to Allen (a pre-Sopranos Michael Imperioli), a hustler/former lover trying to go straight as an artist, involved now with a wealthy gallery owner named Eva (Ute Lemper). Thaddeus implores Allen to also help find someone else from the past, Jaime (James Duval), who's still hustling. Eventually raising the question of who's hustling whom, James Merendino (the real director) creates a fractured and unsensationalized exploration of society's castoffs. Along the way, Imperioli proves he's got more in him than just goombahs, and Chamberlain is just downright heartbreaking. Recommended. (M. Johanson)