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MAINSTREAM, HA! II: EQUINOX, THE MUSIC OF CHANCE, TWENTY BUCKS

© Sean Gallagher

1993 was not only a good year for movies in general, but also for mainstream movies. Movies that were intended to find a large audience generally did so without insulting our intelligence (yes, there were the bad mainstream movies, but there were more good ones). For those looking on the fringes, however, there were still movies looking to go outside regular storytelling to challenge us that were well done. Three good examples of this were Alan Rudolph's EQUINOX, Philip Haas' THE MUSIC OF CHANCE, and Keva Rosenfeld's TWENTY BUCKS.

Rudolph has usually been outside of the Hollywood mainstream; I've described his films before as what would happen in Bogart ended up in an Astaire movie. Yet this film is weird even for him; in fact, it's the damndest movie I've ever seen. But for those willing to stick with it, it can also be a rewarding movie.

It helps if you keep in mind the first line by Sonya (Tyra Ferrell), a mortuary worker, who becomes our link to the story; "I'm writing a story. It's a fairy tale, kinda." That story involves twin brothers, both played by Matthew Modine. Henry is a shy, lonely mechanic who works at the garage owned by his stepfather Pete (M. Emmet Walsh). He watches self-defense shows on TV, hangs out with his best friend Russell (Kevin J. O'Connor), and is forced to babysit for the kid of Rosie (Marisa Tomei), a prostitute who lives down the hall from him. What Henry really wants, however, is to be with Beverly (Lara Flynn Boyle), Russell's sister, who's even more desperate than Henry is. Freddy Ace is an enforcer for Mr. Paris (Fred Ward), a mob boss. Though he's good at his job, he's not really happy with it, nor with his wife Sharon (Lori Singer) or their children.

Sonya gets involved with all of this early on when she has to work on a bag lady with a letter on her. Seems the lady was once a ballerina who was married to an already married European count (also played by Modine), and who later abandoned her when she became pregnant. The letter also reveals she gave the twins up, and left them money in a trust fund. Sonya finds out the trust fund is now worth $4 million, and she can get a fee if she finds the twins.

To put it mildly, this is purple prose, and Rudolph goes even further. Besides being the password that accesses the trust fund, the title refers to the days when day and night are equal, the movie takes place in Minneapolis/St. Paul, also known as the "Twin Cities," and Sharon is schizoid. Yet Rudolph is careful to have Sonya's story serve as a balance to all the craziness, and his usual romantic pull serves to draw us into the weird twin story. It helps that the cast is up to it. Modine, playing three roles, makes each one distinctive, and he's just as good being frightened as he is dangerous. Ward and Walsh are dependable as ever. Boyle, no stranger to weird (she was on "Twin Peaks"), is touching as Beverly, who talks about herself in the third person. And Ferrell keeps us centered with her performance. EQUINOX itself isn't centered, but it'll haunt you just the same.

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