Swoon

Stars: Craig Chester, Daniel Schlachet. The third filming of the sensational murder of a 13-year-old boy by gay Jewish teens Nathan Leopold Jr.(Craig Chester) and Richard Loeb (Daniel Schlachet) in the 1920s (the others were Hitchcock's fascinating experimental 1948 film Rope and Richard Fleischer's yet-to-be-released-on-video 1959 film Compulsion), director Tom Kalin's version is more notable for its graphic depiction of a homosexual affair than for any additional light it might shed on the baffling case. Shot entirely in black and white, Swoon interweaves snippets of the boys making whoopee or partying with transvestites while voiceover narration alerts us that plans are being made to commit a horrendous crime. In occasionally gripping fashion, Kalin methodically takes viewers through the crime and the punishment, with Leopold and Loeb's sexual practices becoming the focus of the trial (as indeed it is of the movie) rather than the brutal murder of which they've been accused. In an extended coda, we find out what happened to the pair during their time in jail (and out). No fresh insights are offered, no real attempt is made to create a compelling story, no rapport with the audience is attempted or, apparently, even intended. Like the work of Derek Jarman and Todd Haynes (as opposed to say Hector Babenco's Kiss of the Spider Woman), homosexuality is not used as a theme within a movie; it's a raison d 'etre to make a movie. Audience: Critics liked it. But audiences who think they're getting a "thriller," as the box proclaims, will find they're in for an evening of low-budget art.