Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Brokedown Palace (1999)
Director: Jonathan Kaplan
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Alice (Danes) and Darlene (Beckinsale) take a high school graduation trip to Bangkok, but are nabbed with drugs planted by heroin runner Nick (Lapaine). They protest their innocence, but receive long sentences after Alice is conned into signing a confession. Hopes of a speedy release are dashed, the efforts of family and friends prove fruitless, so the young women are forced to settle down to serve their time. This far from passive experience rapidly exposes the differences in their characters and brings to a crisis their notions of trust, belonging and loyalty. Topical, in the UK at least, this revisits every Western backpacker's nightmare: their own private Midnight Express. Complex issues are raised and, true to form, director Kaplan reduces them to 'issue movie' proportions. But that said, and setting aside the possibly racist representations, the film exerts a fascination. The open possibility that one of the women may in fact be guilty is an intriguing intellectual catalyst. However, Alice's underwritten role is made to carry an unreasonably heavy burden, and it's a credit to the excellent Danes that she carries it off so lightly.Author: WH
Cast & crew
Director: Jonathan Kaplan
Producer: Adam Fields, Philippines Lope V Juban Jr
Cast: Claire Danes, Bill Pullman, Kate Beckinsale, Lou Diamond Phillips, Jacqueline Kim, Daniel LaPaine, Tom Amandes full cast
Duration: 101 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now