The New Biographical Dictionary of Film: Completely Updated and Expanded (227 page)

She married and had children. Later on, she moved in with musician Quincy Jones and had another child. There have been more films, made in Europe, but only a few are notable:
Intervista
(87, Federico Fellini);
Torrents of Spring
(88, Jerzy Skolimowski);
Night Sun
(90, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani); and
Faraway, So Close
(93, Wenders).

Her moment has passed, but she is better looking than ever—for she was only forty in 2000! She makes so many films, some for TV, some that never get a proper release, some because she will do nudity, some that give her a real part, some that are first-time directors looking for a name, and some that mean costarring with Charlie Sheen—thus
Terminal Velocity
(94, Deran Sarafian);
Crackerjack
(94, Michael Mazo);
Somebody Is Waiting
(96, Martin Donovan);
The Ring
(96, Eddy Marshall);
Fathers’ Day
(97, Ivan Reitman);
One Night Stand
(97, Mike Figgis);
Bella Mafia
(97, David Greene);
Little Boy Blue
(97, Antonio Tibaldi);
Savior
(98, Predrag Antonijevic); good in
Your Friends & Neighbors
(98, Neil LaBute);
Susan’s Plan
(98, John Landis);
Playing by Heart
(98, Willard Carroll);
Ciro Norte
(98, Ivan Cardoso);
The Lost Son
(99, Chris Menges);
The Intruder
(99, David Bailey);
Quarantine
(99, Chuck Bowman);
A Storm in Summer
(00, Robert Wise);
The Magic of Marciano
(00, Tony Barbieri);
Red Letters
(00, Bradley Battersby);
Time Share
(00, Sharon von Wietersheim); excellent in
The Claim
(01, Michael Winterbottom);
Cold Heart
(01, Dennis Rimster);
Blind Terror
(01, Giles Walker);
Town & Country
(01, Peter Chelsom);
An American Rhapsody
(01, Eva Gardos);
A
Woman in Love
(01, Giorgio Serafini);
Say Nothing
(01, Allan Moyle).

She was in
Diary of a Sex Addict
(01, Joseph Brutsman);
The Day the World Ended
(01, Terence Gross);
All Around the Town
(02, Paolo Barzman); as Gauguin’s wife in
Paradise Found
(02, Mario Andreacchio);
Beyond the City Limits
(02, Gigi Gaston); as
Mme.
de Tourvel (still innocent?) in
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
(03, Josée Dayan);
La Femme Musketeer
(03, Steve Boyum);
À Ton Image
(03, Aruna Villiers);
Inland Empire
(06, David Lynch).

Teinosuke Kinugasa
(1896–1982), b. Mie, Japan
1922:
Niwa no Kotori; Hibana
. 1923:
Hanasake J’ijii; Jinsei o Mitsumete; Onnayo Ayamaru Nakare; Konjiki Yasha; Ma no Ike
. 1924:
Choraku no Kanata; Kanojo to Unmei; Kiri no Ame; Kishin Yuri Keiji; Kyoren no Buto; Mirsu; Shohin; Jashumon no Onna; Tsuma no Himitsu; Koi; Sabishiki Mura; Koi to Wa Narinu
. 1925:
Koi to Bushi; Shinju Yoimachigusa; Tsukigata Hanpeita; Wakaki hi no Chuji; Nichirin
. 1926:
Tenichibo to Iganosuke; Kurutta Ippeiji/A Page of Madness; Kirinji; Teru Hi Kumoru Hi; Hikuidori; Ojo Kichiza; Oni Azami; Kinno Jidai
. 1927:
Meoto Boshi; Goyosen; Dochu Sugoruku Bune; Dochu Sugoruku Kago; Akatsuki no Yushi; Gekka no Kyojin
. 1928:
Jujiro/Crossways; Benten Kozo; Keiraku Hichu; Kaikokuki; Chokon Yasha
. 1931:
Tojin Okichi; Reimei Izen
. 1932:
Ikonokotta Shinsengumi; Chushingura
. 1933:
Tenichibo to Iganosuke; Futatsu Doro; Koina no Ginpei
. 1934:
Kutsukate Tokijiro; Fuyaki Shinju; Ippon Gatana Dohyoiri; Nagurareta Kochiyama
. 1935:
Kurayami no Ushimatsu; Yukinojo Henge
(parts 1 and 2). 1936:
Yukinojo Henge
(part 3). 1937:
Osaka Natsu no Jin
. 1938:
Kuroda Seichuroku
. 1940:
Hebihimesama
. 1941:
Kawanakajima Kasen
. 1943:
Susume Dokuritsuki
. 1945:
Umi no Bara
. 1946:
Aru Yo no Tonosama
. 1947:
Joyu;
episode from
Yottsu no Koi no Monogatari
. 1949:
Kobanzame; Koga Yashiki
. 1950:
Satsujinsha no Kao
. 1951:
Beni Komori; Tsuki no Wataridori; Meigatsu Somato
. 1952:
Shurajo Hibun
(two parts);
Daibutsu Kaigen
. 1953:
Jigokumon/Gate of Hell
. 1954:
Yuki no Yo no Ketto; Hana no Nagadosu; Tekka Bugyo
. 1955:
Kawa no Aru Shitamachi no Hanshi; Bara Ikutabi; Yushima no Shiraume
. 1956:
Yoshinaka o Meguru Sannin no Onna; Hibana; Tsukigata Hanpeita
(two parts). 1957:
Ukifune; Naruto Hicho
. 1958:
Haru Koro no Hana no En; Osaka no Onna
. 1959:
Shirasagi; Joen; Kagero Ezu
. 1960:
Uta Andon
. 1961:
Midaregami; Okoto to Sasuke
. 1963:
Yoso; Uso
. 1967:
Chiisana Tobosha
(codirected with Nkandrovich).

Kinugasa began directing in the year that the Japanese cinema forsook male actors in female parts. He had been a female impersonator himself, and when the retaliatory strike failed, he chose to become a director. Similarly, when sound was introduced, he went on a two-year excursion to Russia to study under Eisenstein. His enormous output, especially in the silent era, is inaccessible to Western audiences. Only
Gate of Hell, Crossways
, and the rediscovered
Page of Madness
are at all well known. They suggest a distinct talent, a master of shadow and low key, with a special interest in disturbed psychology. It seems likely that a thorough investigation of all those years would prove rewarding.

Kevin Kline
, b. St. Louis, Missouri, 1947
No one quite knows why Kevin Kline hasn’t made it bigger in movies. He’s very versatile—he has terrific, wild comic energy and a rare ability to be alarming, as well as the basic good looks and intelligence. He has a high stage reputation based on years with John Houseman’s company,
On the Twentieth Century, The Pirates of Penzance
, and a notable
Hamlet
. He got the supporting actor Oscar for
A Fish Called Wanda
(88, Charles Crichton), where he held his own with professional comics. But somehow he remains a marginal figure, never dominant, never truly displayed by a film. Is he too smart to relax with the camera?

His film debut was both brilliant and disturbing, in
Sophie’s Choice
(82, Alan J. Pakula). He followed that with the movie of
The Pirates of Penzance
(83, Wilford Leach);
The Big Chill
(83, Lawrence Kasdan);
Silverado
(85, Kasdan);
Violets Are Blue …
(86, Jack Fisk); as newspaper editor Donald Woods in
Cry Freedom
(87, Richard Attenborough);
The January Man
(89, Pat O’Connor), just the sort of film not to get into;
I Love You to Death
(90, Kasdan), one too many films with the same director;
Soapdish
(91, Michael Hoffman);
Grand Canyon
(91, Kasdan), two too many;
Consenting Adults
(92, Pakula); fine as Doug Fairbanks in
Chaplin
(92, Attenborough), but again—why?; in one of his best opportunities,
Dave
(93, Ivan Reitman); with his wife, Phoebe Cates, in
Princess Caraboo
(94, Michael Austin); finding chemistry with Meg Ryan in
French Kiss
(95, Kasdan)—but Meg Ryan does chemistry with everyone;
Fierce Creatures
(97, Robert Young), the troubled sequel to
Wanda;
very good in
The Ice Storm
(97, Ang Lee); very funny in
In & Out
(97, Frank Oz); fine as Bottom in
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(99, Hoffman);
Wild Wild West
(99, Barry Sonnenfeld); good in
The Anniversary Party
(01, Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh); but nearly drowned in the tears of
Life as a House
(01, Irwin Winkler);
Orange County
(02, Jake Kasdan).

He did the voice of Phoebus on
The Hunchback of Notre Dame II
(02, Bradley Raymond);
The Emperor’s Club
(02, Michael Hoffman); Cole Porter in
De-Lovely
(04, Irwin Winkler);
The Pink Panther
(05, Shawn Levy and Reitman);
A Prairie Home Companion
(06, Robert Altman);
As You Like It
(06, Kenneth Branagh);
Trade
(07, Marco Kreuzpaintner);
Definitely, Maybe
(08, Adam Brooks);
The Tale of Despereaux
(08, Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen); a TV
Cyrano de Bergerac
(08, Matthew Diamond);
Joueuse
(09, Caroline Bottaro).

Alexander Kluge
, b. Halberstadt, Germany, 1932
1960:
Brutalität in Stein
(codirected with Peter Schamoni) (s). 1961:
Thema Amore
(s);
Rennen
(codirected with Paul Kruntorad) (s);
Rennfahrer
(s). 1963:
Lehrer im Wandel
(s). 1965:
Portrait einer Bewahrung
(s). 1966:
Abschied von Gestern/ Yesterday Girl
. 1967:
Frau Blackburn wird Gefilmt
(s). 1968:
Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos/Artists at the Top of the Big Top; Disorientated
. 1969:
Ein Arzt aus Halberstadt; Die Unbezahmbare Leni Pelckert
. 1970:
Feuerloscher E. A. Winterstein
(s). 1971:
Der Grosse Verhrau; Das Krankheitsbild des Schlachtener-Problem Unteroffiziers in der Endsehlacht
(codirected with O. Mai and E. Zemann). 1972:
Willy Tobler und der Untergang der 6 Flotte
. 1974:
Gelegenheitsarbeit einer Sklavin/Occasional Work of a Female Slave
. 1975:
In Gefahr und Grösster not Bringt der Mittelweg den Tod
. 1976:
Der Starke Ferdinand/Strong-Man Ferdinand
. 1978: episode from
Deutschland im Herbst
. 1979:
Die Patriotin
(d). 1980:
Der Kandidat
(d). 1982:
Krieg und Frieden
. 1983:
Die Macht der Gefühle/The Power of Emotions
. 1985:
Der Angriff der Gaegenwart auf die Ubrige Zeit/The Blind Director
. 1986:
Vermischte Nachrichten
.

Alexander Kluge’s first participation in cinema was as assistant to Fritz Lang when the veteran was making his two Indian films,
Der Tiger von Eschnapur
(59) and
Das Indische Grabmal
(59), themselves throwbacks to German cinema of 1919–20. Until his enforced departure from Germany in 1933, Lang had reflected the tumult of disillusioned insecurity through allegories of criminal organizations threatening to subvert the appointed authorities. His pictures were piercing indictments of political hysteria. Kluge’s, by contrast, are fixed on the essential muddle of young reactions to the lurid history that Lang survived. Kluge’s first two features,
Yesterday Girl
and
Artists at the Top of the Big Top
, are among the most interestingly German films from the young German cinema, but they are pondering work in which wit, personality, and incident only just keep their heads above conscientious dismay.
Yesterday Girl
was Godardian, but minus Godard’s formal inventiveness and cut off from his sense of cinematic tradition. The political past, and Germany’s inexplicable escape from it, hang over Kluge’s world, and he resorted to cinema only after having begun as a novelist.

Since the late eighties Kluge has given his time to producing cultural programs for small cable TV channels in Germany. In more recent years, his filmmaking has been eclipsed by his prizewinning career as a writer of fiction and nonfiction.

Keira Knightley
, b. Teddington, Middlesex, England, 1985
She is astonishingly beautiful; she did a languid pas de deux with a green dress in
Atonement
(07, Joe Wright); and she was nominated for best actress playing Elizabeth Bennet in
Pride & Prejudice
(05, Wright). But she is about as interesting as a crème brulée where too much refrigeration has killed flavor with ice burn. As I write, she is still less than twenty-five and she has been the eye candy in the three
Pirates of the Caribbean
pictures (Gore Verbinski), where she showed glimmerings of spirit and humor as Elizabeth Swann. She is still more credible as a faintly animated photographer’s model than as an actress.

She is the child of actor Will Knightley and playwright Sharman Macdonald, and she began working as a child actress:
A Village Affair
(95, Moira Armstrong); the princess in
The Treasure Seekers
(96, Juliet May);
Coming Home
(97, Giles Foster). She was then cast as Sabé in
Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace
(99, George Lucas), and she was Rose Fleming in a British TV version of
Oliver Twist
(99, Renny Rye). She was elegant always in or out of costume, but her first real impact was as a soccer player in
Bend It Like Beckham
(02, Gurinder Chadha).

Since then, she has been in
Pure
(02, Gillies Mackinnon); and as Lara in the British TV remake of
Doctor Zhivago
(02, Giacomo Campiotti);
The Seasons Alter
(02, Roger Lunn);
Love Actually
(03, Richard Curtis); as Guinevere in
King Arthur
(04, Antoine Fuqua);
Stories of Lost Souls
(05, Col Spector); as the heroine, Laurence Harvey’s rogue daughter, in the ludicrous
Domino
(05, Tony Scott);
Silk
(07, François Girard)—a very bad film;
The Edge of Love
(08, John Maybury)—written by Knightley’s mother;
The Duchess
(08, Saul Dibb).