[KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE
screens Friday October 21st at 9:15 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review by Bob Ignizio
The story of local newscaster and talk show host Christine
Chubbuck, who committed suicide on air, has provided fodder for movies in the
past. Usually it's the Paddy Chayesfsky-penned/Sidney Lumet directed NETWORK that gets mentioned, but as KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE points out early
on, that film in many ways subverts its inspiration, turning the depressed and
tragic Christine into the manic male newscaster Howard Beale (Peter Finch), a
role played more for black comedy and satire than pathos. Ironically, it is Joe
Dante's werewolf film THE HOWLING
(from a script by the always sharp John Sayles) that gives more accurate voice
to its inspiration.
But this year, in one of those cases of serendipity that
occasionally happen in Hollywood, two new films aim to tell the story of
Christine without burying it in allegory. Opening next month, CHRISTINE promises to be a fairly
straightforward docudrama starring Rebecca Hall in the title role. First,
however, comes Robert Greene's not-quite-a-documentary KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE.
