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New Century of Cinema
DOWSE Guide to the
Movies
by Tony Lee editor of
Pigasus
Press
Julian Po
Director: Alan Wade
83 minutes (12) Entertainment
review by Steven Hampton
Christian Slater, one of America's best young character-actors, stars in the title
role of this weirdly amusing romantic tragedy. He's the stranger who wanders into a
nowhere town and announces to the suspicious locals that he intends to kill himself,
but not today. The mysterious Mr Po, who may simply be a writer down on his luck, acts
as a volatile catalyst, stirring the town's people out of a complacent lethargy
bordering on the senescent. There's a doubting preacher who loses his faith, a mechanic
who wants to be movie star, a mute woman who takes the stranger in as boarder, and a
girl who falls hopelessly in love with him. Like unknowns in the closed communities of
similar dramas, Po is unthinkingly respected or admired, but instantly loathed and
despised before the story's end. With some keenly observed performances, this quietly
develops into an intriguing situation full of dry humour (a bunch of kids dog Po's
every move) almost worthy of David Lynch, if by way of Frank Capra. To say any more
would spoil the fun. If you liked Doc Hollwood and U-Turn this should
appeal. Its tone is pitched somewhere between the bright jokiness of the former and
the sinister darkness of the latter.
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