Martin Scorsese's remake of the film Cape Fear (1991) is a delicious and satisfying thriller of betrayal and revenge. The plot centers on a lawyer, Sam Bowden, played by the soulful Nick Nolte who conceals evidence in a trial when defending the accused rapist Max Cady, played by Robert De Niro. Once released from his fourteen year prison sentence, Cady returns to follow and terrorize Bowden and his family. Though the sets are campy (a North Carolina sunset has never looked so sienna and Spanish moss trees have never populated a backyard in so much lacy abundance) and the southern accents are strained, Scorsese's cinematography and the performances do not disappoint. The numerous quick zooms and tracking shots add a layer of paranoia and uneasiness to the plot.
Yet, it is Juliette Lewis who steals the film as Bowden's fifteen year old daughter, a Lolita in a retainer and cutoff jeans who fits the Nabokov description of "frail, honey-hued shoulders, the silky supple bare back, the chestnut head of hair." Lewis swings her arms when she talks and fiddles with her hair, but her performance is childlike, not childish. She holds her own in a scene alone with Robert De Niro as a girl captivated by the adult mysteries of sex, but shaken when asked to participate. She is self-assured without knowing it and her performance is steady and strong.
This film is not one of Scorsese's finest or most artfully done films, but it is entertaining as most revenge tales are. Cady lives by William Shakespeare's words, "if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge" and this motto guarantees two hours of substance, satisfying his palette and our own.
Image courtesy of afi.com
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