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plot summary: Maya Larkin (Ryder) is a Catholic school teacher who was once possessed. During an especially intense exorcism that she's assisting with, the possessed individual says a name: Peter Kelson. Kelson (Chaplin) is an author...who might be turning into the anti-christ! Gasp!
review: Oh, my...as most of you already know, Winona Ryder holds such a special place in my heart, and it's so heartbreaking to have seen her latest films flop. Well, let's add this one to the list. : (
Lost Souls is a lost movie. Sadly, it went through many re-writes and re-shoots. Everyone was barging into the kitchen, so to speak, and with so many cooks, the dish got ruined! There's just too much going on, and nothing really going anywhere. And the ending? Wha? Huh? I read in Entertainment Weekly that the ending was re-filmed three different times before they ended up going back with the original ending. So, as you can see, there was a lot of uncertainty over how to end it all...you definitely get a sense of that when you see it. (If you see it...)
The film is really beautiful to look at, as you would imagine from director Janusz Kaminski, the cinematographer for Saving Private Ryan! (He's on-board for long-awaited projects A.I. and Memoirs of a Geisha too!) The scenes have a dark tepia-look to it, and it's very stylish and dark. Very effective.
As for the performances, although I love Winona, she didn't really bring anything to the role of Maya. Originally, it was intended for Meg Ryan (who co-produced this). Really, the character is so undeveloped, you could have stuck anyone in the role and it would have worked. (Except maybe that evil Jennifer Love Hewitt...) From what I've read, Winona only did this film because she wanted to work with Kaminski again. (He did the cinematography on How To Make An American Quilt.) As for Ben Chaplin, he didn't really want to do this film, and I think it shows. His performance was terribly uninspired.
Of course, it must have been difficult working with such a scattered screenplay! I'm sure the actors were frustrated and couldn't really develop characters when the script kept changing under their feet! There's so many plot holes, questions and things left hanging...The script is really rushed and underdeveloped.
Is it scary? Well, I was scared, but then again, I'm a huge wimp. Most of the scenes that are intended to be truly scary just made me laugh. I also read that a gentleman from The Sixth Sense was brought in to add some cheap scares. Those were the ones that had an effect on me.
And I do have to say that I thought it was nice that we had a horror film without any hardcore slasher violence. I can't remember any blood shed in this film, thank goodness. (I'm totally squeamish...)
So, even for you hardcore Noni fans (like myself), I just can't recommend this film! Maybe next time, Noni! (janice.11.00)
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