Adelphi theatre, London
Lawrence Kasdan has recorded his surprise at the idea of his screenplay for the 1992 movie, starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, being used as the basis for a musical. My own reaction, having seen the finished product, is more one of mild dismay. Although the show is staged with enormous technical efficiency, it is one more example of the necrophiliac musical morbidly attracted to a cinematic corpse.
I admit that the book by Alexander Dinelaris shifts the focus so that the rock star, Rachel Marron, occupies centre-stage rather than the bodyguard, Frank Farmer, who seeks to protect her from a venomous stalker. But, even though the songs are now foregrounded, the central paradox of the story remains unresolved.
The more Rachel and Frank fall in love, the more of an incompetent loon he seems. In this version he not only escorts the threatened superstar to a bar,...
Lawrence Kasdan has recorded his surprise at the idea of his screenplay for the 1992 movie, starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, being used as the basis for a musical. My own reaction, having seen the finished product, is more one of mild dismay. Although the show is staged with enormous technical efficiency, it is one more example of the necrophiliac musical morbidly attracted to a cinematic corpse.
I admit that the book by Alexander Dinelaris shifts the focus so that the rock star, Rachel Marron, occupies centre-stage rather than the bodyguard, Frank Farmer, who seeks to protect her from a venomous stalker. But, even though the songs are now foregrounded, the central paradox of the story remains unresolved.
The more Rachel and Frank fall in love, the more of an incompetent loon he seems. In this version he not only escorts the threatened superstar to a bar,...
- 12/6/2012
- by Michael Billington
- The Guardian - Film News
Jason Solomons talks to David Michod, director of hotly tipped Aussie crime drama Animal Kingdom, starring Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn and the Oscar-nominated Jacki Weaver.
He also meets Mark Henderson, kidnap victim-turned-documentarist, who reveals what it was like to meet his Colombian captor in My Kidnapper.
Xan Brooks joins Jason to review the week's other releases, including Oscar-nominated financial documentary Inside Job, Truffaut's Day for Night, Confessions and Justin Bieber tour film Never Say Never.
Jason SolomonsXan BrooksIain Chambers...
He also meets Mark Henderson, kidnap victim-turned-documentarist, who reveals what it was like to meet his Colombian captor in My Kidnapper.
Xan Brooks joins Jason to review the week's other releases, including Oscar-nominated financial documentary Inside Job, Truffaut's Day for Night, Confessions and Justin Bieber tour film Never Say Never.
Jason SolomonsXan BrooksIain Chambers...
- 2/17/2011
- by Jason Solomons, Xan Brooks, Iain Chambers
- The Guardian - Film News
This whole thing seems surreal, and it’s the perfect buffet for the creativity-starved story crisis monster that’s smashing around Hollywood right now eating buildings and not paying parking tickets. Who might have known that originality would come from a true story. Mark Henderson found himself in 2003 among a group of hostages taken deep into the Colombian countryside by the National Libteration Army (Eln). After over 100 days, they were released to safety, but a year later Henderson received an email from someone claiming to be one of the kidnappers. That was followed shortly by a facebook friend request. That was followed by Henderson making a documentary about his kidnapping and his journey back to the very place he was held hostage to meet one of his kidnappers face to face. Check out the trailer for My Kidnapper yourself: Beautiful stuff. A few of the shots look so professional as to be staged a bit, but...
- 2/15/2011
- by Cole Abaius
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
In My Kidnapper (2010), three members of a group of eight backpackers who spent 102 days in captivity after being kidnapped in Columbia in 2003 return to the country to confront the men and women who detained them, in an attempt to finally put the most distressing experience of their lives behind them. The film plays out as an anthropological analysis of the effects of being kidnapped, and how this event has irrevocably changed the lives of those involved.
The film's main focus lies on one member of the kidnapped group, Mark Henderson (who also directs), and immediately we are invited into his mindset as he describes how hard it is to be going back there, and how the presence of a Colombian Army escort only makes matters worse.
The personal tone expressed by the opening sequence is present throughout My Kidnapper, and as we closely follow Mark’s journey it resonates profoundly...
The film's main focus lies on one member of the kidnapped group, Mark Henderson (who also directs), and immediately we are invited into his mindset as he describes how hard it is to be going back there, and how the presence of a Colombian Army escort only makes matters worse.
The personal tone expressed by the opening sequence is present throughout My Kidnapper, and as we closely follow Mark’s journey it resonates profoundly...
- 2/15/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
Mark Henderson's charged documentary revisits his kidnap in Colombia. Can he and his captor be Facebook friends?
In 2003 Mark Henderson was one of eight tourists captured and held by leftwing guerrillas in the Colombian mountains. His documentary is both a self-styled "search for closure" and a gripping survivor tale in which Henderson (joined by three other survivors) retraces his steps, relives the ordeal and interviews the captor who friended him on Facebook. The abduction, it transpires, turned out to be a disaster for all concerned. The former hostages are still haunted and volatile. The freedom fighters saw a propaganda coup blow up in their face, while the local peasants are still living in poverty, hating guerrillas and paramilitary alike. My Kidnapper – charged, complex and always compelling – revisits the ruins and speaks to the ghosts.
Rating: 4/5
DocumentaryXan Brooks
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is...
In 2003 Mark Henderson was one of eight tourists captured and held by leftwing guerrillas in the Colombian mountains. His documentary is both a self-styled "search for closure" and a gripping survivor tale in which Henderson (joined by three other survivors) retraces his steps, relives the ordeal and interviews the captor who friended him on Facebook. The abduction, it transpires, turned out to be a disaster for all concerned. The former hostages are still haunted and volatile. The freedom fighters saw a propaganda coup blow up in their face, while the local peasants are still living in poverty, hating guerrillas and paramilitary alike. My Kidnapper – charged, complex and always compelling – revisits the ruins and speaks to the ghosts.
Rating: 4/5
DocumentaryXan Brooks
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is...
- 2/11/2011
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
Mark Henderson had been held captive in the Colombian jungle for three months. After his release, he'd managed to put his ordeal behind him when his former kidnapper contacted him. It led to an extraordinary journey
You can't fault Mark Henderson for enterprise. In 2003, he was kidnapped by leftist guerrillas in a remote, mountainous jungle area in the north of Colombia and held for three months. The experience would have broken many people, and few would have wanted to relive it. But as well as being a victim, Henderson is also a film-maker, and here was a powerful story, albeit a painfully personal one. When, out of the blue, he got an email from one of his kidnappers, a young Colombian called Antonio, he knew he had to go back and make a film.
It could have been an adventure movie: he and seven other young backpackers are taken at...
You can't fault Mark Henderson for enterprise. In 2003, he was kidnapped by leftist guerrillas in a remote, mountainous jungle area in the north of Colombia and held for three months. The experience would have broken many people, and few would have wanted to relive it. But as well as being a victim, Henderson is also a film-maker, and here was a powerful story, albeit a painfully personal one. When, out of the blue, he got an email from one of his kidnappers, a young Colombian called Antonio, he knew he had to go back and make a film.
It could have been an adventure movie: he and seven other young backpackers are taken at...
- 1/26/2011
- by Stephen Moss
- The Guardian - Film News
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