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Boxing Helena
Boxing Helena (1993)...Doctor Nick Cavanaugh
Plot Synopsis: A provocative story about a timid doctor's obsession with a beautiful but unattainable woman, and the grotesque lengths to which he goes in order to bring her into his life. Julian stars as a "mad doctor" who holds the woman captive and gradually amputates all of her limbs. The directing and writing are a little heavy-handed, but Julian gives a truly fine performance as the obsessed and tormented Nick.
Review: Well, I liked it a lot better than I figured I would. It's not a bad movie, even if the story and direction are a bit heavy-handed. You want to say to first-time director Jennifer Lynch: "Enough already with the symbolism, I get your point!". I also had to deal with a preconceived notion that I was going to hate this film, simply because of the bizarre (and unpleasant) nature of the story, and the fact that I was concerned that seeing Julian play someone who would commit such atrocities (without the dark humor of the Warlock films) would grate against me every moment of the film.
Amazingly I overcame a lot of that as I watched the film, and can count myself pleasantly surprised. Julian did a brilliant job, and certainly can be credited with saving the film from being pulled down into the muck by the Kim Bassinger casting scandal.
In the end, the only significant problem I had with the film (beyond the aforementioned heavy-handedness), was that (likely due again to that same heavy-handedness) I kept thinking in the back of my mind, from the very first scenes of the film: Beep... Beep... Nut Alert! Nut Alert! It's obvious to anyone who knows anything about mental illness and obsessive-compulsive behavior that Nick Cavanaugh was in serious need of daily therapy and heavy doses of medication. While he certainly was getting some medication, obviously it wasn't doing the job, nor was he being monitored sufficiently for someone with his level of mental disturbance. But if he had been, where would you have gotten anything to make a movie from, eh?
Sherilyn Fenn plays the arrogant, self-absorbed Helena so believably that I didn't have much sympathy for her. On the other hand, the sweet little boy Nick is so ruined by his parents that every time I caught a glimpse of those bits of cotton in Julian's ears I kept wishing I could be left alone in a room with that horrendous mother of his.
When
it comes right down to it, I didn't find watching the film to be as thought-provoking
an experience as had been promised by some other reviews. That was
simply because the message was spelled out so clearly from the very
beginning of the film that no thought was required. But I came away
from the experience even more impressed with Julian's acting skills,
and wondering yet again: why is this man not as well known as a John
Malkovich or even a Christian Slater? Why is he not getting the
parts? After a performance like this, I can't even reason that it's
his looks that hold him back. He transcends that. It's time the rest
of Hollywood figured that out.
Availability: available for rental or purchase at most video stores.