Movie Talk

May 3,1998.

SS Lau

Of the movies I have seen recently, " Sliding Doors" is one the more memorable ones ( the other is " Spanish Prisoner"). Being an experimentalist yself, when we conduct an experiment, we often have a control experiment to compare results with. In life, there cannot be any control experiments. Once you choose a path in life, you cannot choose another path and ask " what if I did not choose this path but another, what would my life be like ". In movie land, one can do anything. That is why movies are so very interesting, because they are full of possibilities.

"Sliding doors" tells a story about a young woman who ran for a closing door of a subway caboose in London ( the "tube" as it is called over there). In one case she made it before the doors closed; and in another, she did not. Each case led to a different path in life. The story plot was interesting and there were many twists and turns along the way, none more interesting than the twist in the very last scene.

Gywneth Paltrow looks like a young Grace Kelly, and is perhaps younger in this movie than Kelly was in " To catch a thief". Paltrow may develop into a fine actress as Kelly was in time, as she gets more opportunities to play other roles.

She also said lines in her movies that Kelly would never have dreamed of saying. It just shows the change in what is allowed and considered funny in modern-day movies.

Kelly was rather irresistible in " To catch a thief", but was equally effective in "High Noon", and of course in "country girl". Paltrow has been in romantic comedies so far ( I have seen three of her movies only, one of them was not too impressive), she needs to explore to diversify. It is nice to be young,talented and pretty.