Ray Pride

Intimacy and the slow burn of desire: Alan Rudolph's loopy, inspired 1984 "Choose Me" is a one-of-a-kind, whimsical, on-a-whim romance that continues to shine. Opening on a nighttime city street outside a tavern with Teddy Pendergrass' song of the same name, Rudolph goes from neon abstraction to a musical number, of sorts, as Eve, his female lead (Lesley Anne Warren) slinks into the night. Soon she'll meet one of the great trickster figures in contemporary movies, Keith Carradine's pathological liar and romantic, who turns out to live life on the rebound and never to tell a lie. They're involved in different ways with Dr. Nancy Love (Genevieve Bujold), a radio sex advice host. The farcical interchange of lives and lies in 1980s Los Angeles makes for a modern classic as much to be discovered as described. His knack for crackpot dialogue is at its best here, too. 114m.

"Choose Me" plays Friday at Block Cinema, Evanston. See Short Runs for details.

(2003-10-01)

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