Eye on Tinseltown

More inspired by than adapted from Leo Tolstoy's story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," Bernard Rose's film is set in the very fast lane of a modern Hollywood that would have chilled the great Russian author to the bone. Ivan is a high-powered agent who snags a major actor as...

By David Ehrenstein

October 17, 2002

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More inspired by than adapted from Leo Tolstoy's story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," Bernard Rose's film is set in the very fast lane of a modern Hollywood that would have chilled the great Russian author to the bone. Ivan is a high-powered agent who snags a major actor as a client and lures him into a worthless project. Just as he's about to savor this "triumph," he' s diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Shot on High Definition video, this exceptionally well-made but exceedingly bleak peek at tinseltown would be unbearable were it not for the sympathetic performance of Danny Huston (son of John, brother of Anjelica) as a man who realizes too late that he's wasted his life. Peter Weller and Lisa Enos (who produced and co-scripted) are standouts in the large cast of a film that is sometimes unpleasant but is never dishonest.

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