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Movies & TV

Family ties

The Invisible Circus written and directed by Adam Brooks, based on the book by Jennifer Egan, produced by Julia Chasman and Nick Wechsler, with Jordana Brewster, Christopher Eccleston, Cameron Diaz and Blythe Danner. 98 minutes. An Odeon Films release. Opens Friday

(February 16). For venues and times, see First-Run Movies, page 67. Rating: NN

Rating: NNNNN


Family ties

The Invisible circus written and directed by Adam Brooks, based on the book by Jennifer Egan, produced by Julia Chasman and Nick Wechsler, with Jordana Brewster, Christopher Eccleston, Cameron Diaz and Blythe Danner. 98 minutes. An Odeon Films release. Opens Friday

(February 16). For venues and times, see First-Run Movies, page 67. Rating:

(February 16). For venues and times, see First-Run Movies, page 67. Rating: NN

the invisible circus romancesthe dead, and it isn’t a very lively affair. Based on Jennifer Egan’s novel, it stars Jordana Brewster (The Faculty) as Phoebe, a teenager living in the shadow of her sister Faith (Cameron Diaz), who died while travelling in the fall of 1970. Six years later, the emotionally numb Phoebe decides to retrace her sister’s steps through Europe, including hooking up with Faith’s former boyfriend, Wolf (Christopher Eccleston), to find out what went wrong This drama is supposed to be about Phoebe’s coming-of-age, both sexually and emotionally, as she relinquishes her sister’s power over her.

But Faith’s journey from San Francisco hippie to confused anarchist is a far more interesting story, though first-time Canadian filmmaker Adam Brooks (Daniel’s brother) fails to take full advantage of it.

The problem is that we can only see Faith through either Phoebe’s or Wolf’s eyes, so our view of a woman whose initial altruistic beliefs are twisted into terrorist acts is too limited. We never learn what makes Faith tick — she’s only an afterimage in the minds of two characters who never understood her.

Diaz, who does a remarkable job as the charismatic Faith, can’t be blamed for sticking to her parameters.

The blossoming love between Phoebe and Wolf is also underplayed, another missed opportunity for Brooks to push some interesting buttons. We should be a lot more uncomfortable at their affair, but it’s explained away instead. A man in his 30s falling for a teenage girl isn’t shocking in itself, but we should ask, in Wolf’s mind who is he sleeping with, Phoebe or her sister?

Eccleston (Let Him Have It, Jude) is a marvellous actor, and you can see him working on Wolf, trying to give him a brooding depth that the script then erases. This is a case where the director should have trusted his actor more than his material.

If you want a quick cinematic tour of Europe, though, you should see The Invisible Circus. It fails as drama, but as a Paris, Amsterdam and Portugual travelogue, it works fine.

INGRID RANDOJA

johnh@nowtoronto.com

ingridr@nowtoronto.com

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