Henry & June

Running time: N/A

Anais Nin and Henry Miller are not exactly household words, but for the aficionados, their writing remains among the landmarks of erotic literature. Not only was it impossible to imagine a movie being made from their books at the time they were written, but also the books themselves couldn't be sold in the United States. Philip Kaufman's personal vision brings this love affair to the screen and depicts Miller and Nin's romance in the Paris of the 1930s and their artistic and sexual relationships, not only with each other, but also with Miller's then-wife June. Lest you think this is just a soft porn film which merits its NC-17 rating (first in the industry), think again. There is plenty of time devoted to the struggles of writers to write and be recognized. Kaufman, who wrote and directed the film, displayed great courage in pursuing such controversial material which had been around for many years without being produced. While sex is almost always interesting, the true theme of Kaufman's portrait is whether unconventional lives (even of artists) can ever be morally justified or be seen to have inherent value just because they break society's rigid rules of behavior. --Ed Soohoo