My review was written in June 1992 after watching the movie on video cassette.
The experimental feature "Lost Prophet" contains some arresting visual imagery but lacks the narrative to sustain audience interest. It's booked for a one-week stand at Gotham's Le Cinematographe.
James Burton, who looks a bit like Tom Hulce is featured as a lonely wanderer shown in Jack London-esque survival situations in an opening reel in forests and paddling across a lake in a canoe.
Debuting director Michael de Avila uses an annoying technique of blackouts between sequences in which Burton's voice-over is unintelligible mumbling about a prophet. Hero meets a strange young woman (Zandra Huston) wh spouts mystical mambo jumbo and reads from a book entitled "Mick Prophet".
Burton's wanderings in a strange mansion are relatively uneventful, and random incidents involving a foul-mouthed young kid (James Tucker) and real estate agent (Drew Morone) don't' add up to much. Morone also appears as the shaggy-haired Mick Prophet, with Burton or his alter ego donning a wig in the Prophet role as well.
Lack of continuity or explanation of the author's various symbols is a serious drawback which denies "Lost Prophet" any commercial future. Acting by the ensemble is unimpressive.
The experimental feature "Lost Prophet" contains some arresting visual imagery but lacks the narrative to sustain audience interest. It's booked for a one-week stand at Gotham's Le Cinematographe.
James Burton, who looks a bit like Tom Hulce is featured as a lonely wanderer shown in Jack London-esque survival situations in an opening reel in forests and paddling across a lake in a canoe.
Debuting director Michael de Avila uses an annoying technique of blackouts between sequences in which Burton's voice-over is unintelligible mumbling about a prophet. Hero meets a strange young woman (Zandra Huston) wh spouts mystical mambo jumbo and reads from a book entitled "Mick Prophet".
Burton's wanderings in a strange mansion are relatively uneventful, and random incidents involving a foul-mouthed young kid (James Tucker) and real estate agent (Drew Morone) don't' add up to much. Morone also appears as the shaggy-haired Mick Prophet, with Burton or his alter ego donning a wig in the Prophet role as well.
Lack of continuity or explanation of the author's various symbols is a serious drawback which denies "Lost Prophet" any commercial future. Acting by the ensemble is unimpressive.
