FIVE CORNERS

US, 1987, 95 minutes, Colour.
Jodie Foster, Tim Robbins, Todd Graf, John Turturro, Michael R. Howard, Elizabeth Berridge, Kathleen Chalfont.
Directed by Tony Bill.

Five Corners is a Bronx story about a group of strange characters in a particular area, Five Corners.

The film was written by John Patrick Shanley who grew up in the neighbourhood. He has commented that he grew up in an area where heroin was prevalent. This screenplay is, in a sense, his reporting about the Bronx. He wrote this screenplay for Tony Bill in 1987, the same year that he won an Oscar for his screenplay for Moonstruck. He continued to write screenplays including Live From Baghdad, an interesting ethical discussion in a telemovie about reporting from Iraq in 2002. Shanley also directed the film Joe and the Volcano. In 2005 he won the Pulitzer Prize for drama with Doubt, a film about sexual molestation in a Catholic school.

The film was directed by Tony Bill, probably better known as an actor, who has directed a number of feature films including Six Weeks, My Bodyguard and the television Oliver Twist.

Jodie Foster was emerging at this period as a strong adult performer after her success as a child actress. She was to win the Oscar the next year for The Accused and three years later for Silence of the Lambs. Tim Robbins was also emerging as a lead actor and appeared the next year in Bull Durhum and Erik the Viking. He was to win an Oscar as best supporting actor in Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River, 2003. Another actor also emerging at this time was John Turturro who went on to be an award-winning writer, actor and director.

1.Interesting drama? Comic touches? Black comedy? A slice of life in New York City, the Bronx?

2.The title, the neighbourhood, the streets and the shops, the apartments? Authentic locations? Atmosphere? The musical score and Beatles songs?

3.1964, the re-creation of the period, its flavour? The presidential race, US politics? Post-Kennedy? assassination? The initial years of the Vietnam war? The prevalence of drugs? Yet the ideals? As seen from the retrospect of the 1980s?

4.Five Corners as a place, its people, characters intersecting just like the streets?

5.The portrait of Linda, her relationship with her father? The experience of the rape? Jamie saving her, Harry the hero? The threats from Heinz? Her work, the pets? Her fears? Relationship with Mrs Fitzgerald? The encounter with Harry, fear, the phone, midnight? The penguin? The battering, taken, on the roof, rescued? The role of Jamie?

6.Harry, the police, his mother? Tough? The changes in him, attitudes of non-violence, love? Jamie and Linda? His mother and her hopes? Mississippi and the interview, the black hatred? Heinz, love? The dog? Reflecting, his fear for Linda, the role of the police, the chase, the dog, finding her, Jamie, the roof? The fight, wounding – and the issue of violence or not? His going to Mississippi?

7.Jamie, his character, his limp, love, clash with Linda, his fears, Harry, care, the chase, the roof and the fight?

8.Heinz, his being in jail, the rape? His arrival, the pie, the madness of his mother, Harry and the accosting, going to Linda again? The penguin, the battering? The chase? His requests for his mother? The killing, Linda on the roof, the fight and his death? Sanity and madness?

9.The two odd people, the holiday, the arrows, the five-dollar girls, going out, the lifts, drive, lawless, killing Heinz, scot-free?

10.The girls, Sal, the glue, five dollars, going out, the bed, the lift? Sal and the angers, the crash? A future?

11.Mrs Fitzgerald, the widow, her relationship with Harry, concern? The dog, Linda? Mississippi issues? The drink and the cards? The blacks, the ending?

12.The blacks and their neighbourhood, tough, the rich whites, the visit at the end? Dramatising racism?

13.The picture of the police, sensible, eccentric? The prisoners? The friends of the Fitzgeralds? The stalking and chasing? Harry and the shooting?

14.The men in the shop, Harry, the language, the black men?

15.The theatricality of the writing and performance? The drama? The issues? The strength of the characters?