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Nude Celebs: Sarah Polley - The Event could have been a great movie. An ultra-independent low-budget flick with a cast-list filled with half-a-dozen well-known stars, the movie very nearly crumbled under the deplorable direction and pacing of the first hour. But any viewer who is patient enough to make it to the second hour will certainly understand why the likes of Parker Posey, Jane Leeves, Olympia Dukakis, and Sarah Polley put The Event on their resumés. This is a emotionally shattering tale of loss, longing and trust powered by a fantastic screenplay that should have been more competently brought to the screen by writer/director Thom Fitzgerald.
While parallels do exist between The Event and the AIDS drama It’s My Party, The Event is crafted first and foremost as a mystery. Parker Posey plays a district attorney’s assistant investigating a number of similar deaths among the gay, HIV+ community in New York City. Her research leads her to the case of Brian (played at times both touching and infuriating by Brent Craver) who passed away in the company of several of his friends and family. As she peels away the layers of Brian’s story, we see how his death unfolded in a series of non-chronological flashbacks, each piece getting us closer to the truth, which in the end is shocking yet appropriate.
The Event misses the mark of being a classic thanks to pedestrian direction, confused acting and several jarring narrative tricks, but it is still recommended for the power and revelation loaded into the movie’s final third.
- Format: Color, NTSC
- Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Studio: Velocity / Thinkfilm
- DVD Release Date: April 13, 2004
- Run Time: 110 minutes
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