The Designated Mourner Movie Review 1997

Adapted from the play by Wallace Shawn, this pointy-headed inaction movie laments the passing of the class of people who "appreciate the poetry of John Donne" and other forms of high art. It's probably the same class that would like this movie. Set in an unnamed politically repressive country that resembles a large table, Nichols plays the eponymous mourner Jack, a journalist who once ran with a literary crowd but betrayed their ideals for survival. Richardson plays his wife Judy, the daughter of final talking head Howard (de Keyser), who is a humanist poet who doesn't like people. If you need a lecture on culture written by a man who was in "Mom and Dad Save the World" and played the geeky social studies teacher in "Clueless," then this is your movie. To quote Shawn: "Inconceivable!"

Distribution

First Look Home Entertainment, 8000 Sunset Blvd., East Penthouse, Los Angeles, CA 90048, Phone: (323)337-1000, Fax: (323)337-1078, Email: info@firstlookmedia.com, URL: http://www.firstlookmedia.com, Remarks: A division of First Look Pictures

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 94 minutes.
Originally from British.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Cops, Art & Artists, The Meaning of Life, Adapted from a Play, Big Ideas

Screenplay

Wallace Shawn

Cast

Mike Nichols, Miranda Richardson, David de Keyser

Cinematography

Oliver Stapleton

Director

David Hare

Music

Richard Hartley

Producer

Donna Grey, David Hare, Mark Shivas, Simon Curtis, BBC Films, Greenpoint Films, First Look Pictures