Rick
Rickis a rare feature that makes intelligent and exciting use of audience bewilderment. From its opening scenes, this quirky update of Verdi'sRigolettothrusts viewers into a bizarre corporate culture in which mean-spiritedness, adolescent high jinks, and general dimwittedness are the norm, but there is no explanation as to why. Yet it's impossible to turn away from the madness and decadence of scenes in which Bill Pullman's middle-aged executive, Rick, engages in monstrous behavior toward subordinates or exchanges in fraternal obscenities with his young, clueless boss, Duke (Aaron Stanford), who is routinely enjoying anonymous, online sex with Rick's daughter, Eve (Agnes Bruckner). Screenwriter Daniel Handler, better known to the world as authorLemony Snicket, and director Curtiss Clayton slowly introduce enough background to unlock the central tragedy in this tale, and lead everyone to a shared, startling destiny. Cinematographer Lisa Rinzler (Pollock) sets everything against a fantastic cityscape and voyeuristic hell.--Tom Keogh