Set in the notional Empire City, Alan Rudloph’s lstest self-styled ‘urban fable’ is a teasing, allusive and elusive movie, a rich tapestry woven in whispers and dreams. Modine is both Henry Potasa, a shy, awkward mechanic in his father’s garage, and Freddy Ave, a self-made hood. Gradually their twinned destinies intertwine, but can these half-men rocover a future from their past?
Rudolph’s is a cinema of digressions and abstractions and Equinox is no exception. In a sense the whole movie is a journey towards a single moment of definition, while along the way, we encounter the ironic quips and quiddities so beloved of this director: Flynn Boyle as his lonely girlfriend, entrapped in athe low-rent hell of ‘The Sheltering Arms’; Tomei as the hooker down the hall; Ferrell as the aspiring writer who pieces the story together. Ruldolph call this a ‘summation’, and is certainly harks back to his previous pictures, most especially, perhaps, Trouble In Mind. These days any film-maker who works through intimation onot intimidation, must surely be treasured.