Five Corners

Five Corners is so filled with inspired, memorable moments that it's tough to completely fault it when it inanely begins spiraling out of control towards the conclusion. After all, the entire picture is so beautifully messy from the outset that any hope for rational tie-ups is equally absurd. This indie ensemble piece (back when John Turturro, Jodie Foster, and Tim Robbins were considered indie actors) follows a group of Bronx teenagers during a 48-hour period in 1964. At the center of the action is just-released, unreformed rapist Heinz (a sinister turn by Turturro), who returns to his old neighborhood looking for payback. His victim, Linda (Foster), calls on her protector--and the man who put Heinz in jail--Harry (Robbins), but unfortunately, her hero now listens to Dylan and preaches antiviolence. After Heinz bludgeons a penguin from the zoo (director Tony Bill's way of showing that Heiz is crazy!), he turns his attention to Linda. As he moves to a desperately unnecessary violent climax, Bill tries showing a cross-section of these tense times but never has a firm grasp of the era. It's definitely not your usual period piece. Screenwriter and former playwright John Patrick Shanely (Moonstruck) uses a number of surreal touches (people are shot with arrows, girls huff glue in the back of convertibles, mothers are tossed out of windows, and then there's that penguin) that keep you off guard. Oddly, this is a film that you admire more afterward than you enjoy it while watching it. Note: Cinematographer Fred Murphy's compositions are shamefully lost on this cut-rate DVD transfer. The picture quality is often hazy, and hardly better than a low-cost video. --Dave McCoy