Gaudi Afternoon

(Spain)

From left, Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Lewis, Judy Daivs, Lili Taylor co-star Susan Seldelman's return to the bigscreen, the comedy "Gaudi Afternoon."

Most Viewed: 'New Moon' crosses $200 million(4891 views) Invictus(2127 views) The costs of Hollywood spending(1759 views) Hollywood sea of change(1502 views) Pearce hops on to 'Hungry Rabbit Jumps'(677 views) Football player elbows vampires on Turkey day(676 views)

Pic marks a return to films for Seidelman ("Desperately Seeking Susan") after 12 years centered on television (notably, the early episodes of "Sex and the City"). Using the expatriate community of Barcelona, Spain, as an exotic backdrop, this humorous yarn about a rootless writer-turned-reluctant amateur detective is as imaginary as the colorful jungle that appears in the heroine's fantasies.

A gorgeous animated opener, magically scored by Bernardo Bonezzi, sets a dreamy, fantasy tone which the rest of the film strives to match. Cassandra (Judy Davis) is a frazzled American translator living on her own in a cozy walk-up that would make the "Moulin Rouge" production team cry kitsch. "Home is where I plug in my laptop," she narrates in insidious voiceover. Having spent years avoiding mommy and Michigan, she is now Freudianly stumped translating a novel about mothers and daughters.

Cassandra's solitude is invaded by a mysterious brunette, Frankie (Marcia Gay Harden, drenched in red from head to toe), who offers her much needed cash to find a missing person. Frankie is actually a man in drag -- or a "pre-op transsexual," as he eventually reveals -- and is looking for his (female) ex, Ben (Lili Taylor, as a snapping bulldog in a baseball cap). Ben left Frankie for a spacy hippie goddess, April (Juliette Lewis), and took their young daughter, Delilah (Courtney Jines), with her.

After much unnecessary bitching, Cassandra takes the job and finds the runaways living it up in what happens to be the most famous building in Spain, the wavy La Pedrera, designed by art nouveau pioneer Antoni Gaudi. Their handsome, wealthy host is Hamilton Kincaid (an ambiguous Christopher Bowen) from San Francisco, who involves Cassandra against her will in his magic act in a strange nightclub-cum-cabaret.

Protesting all the way, Cassandra gradually lets down her emotional defenses as this oddball "family" draws her into their various problems.

Gaudi is the film's mascot and inspiration, with his La Sagrada Familia church and Parc Guell also employed as locations. Seidelman strives to make her frothy, insubstantial story and characters parallel his ornamental architectural style, in which appearances are deceptive and everything changes form when viewed close-up.

Davis looks very New York in her baggy coat and heavy framed glasses, with a prissy, touch-me-not attitude that's a tad too grating. Harden and Lewis camp it up with all stops out, drawing auds into the joke, while Taylor dives into the butch role of Ben with gusto.

Camera (color, widescreen), Josep M. Civit; editor, Deirdre Slevin; music, Bernardo Bonezzi; production designer, Antxon Gomez; associate producer, Nadine Luque; casting, Kerry Barden, Pep Armengol. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (market), May 14, 2001. Running time: 88 MIN.