They shoot horses - properly

Robert Redford's film, The Horse Whisperer, which was given its international press preview in New York last week, is a visually breathtaking and emotionally involving drama adapted from the best-selling novel by Nicholas Evans. The drama is triggered by a shocking accident involving a truck and two 14-year-old girls on horseback. One of the girls dies; the other, her closest friend, Grace, is utterly distraught by the loss of her friend, the amputation of her own leg and the severe injuries suffered by her beloved horse, Pilgrim.

Grace's mother, Annie, a high-powered New York magazine editor, believes that the only way Grace will recover emotionally will be if Pilgrim can somehow be healed. Ignoring the advice of their vet, who believes Pilgrim should be put down, Annie approaches Tom Booker, a Montana farmer renowned for his skill with horses.

Working on both sides of the camera, as actor and director, for the first time in his career, Robert Redford plays Booker, the eponymous horse whisperer. "The term `horse whisperer' is a kind of euphemism for a state of being, a relationship between a human and a horse," Redford explains. "It is simply a way to be with horses that sends a message of understanding and compassion. Instead of beating a horse into submission, or using punishment as a tool, it's a way of developing trust and understanding."

A leisurely paced movie which unfolds over the course of two hours and 45 minutes, The Horse Whisperer joyfully celebrates the dignity, grace and beauty of horses - and it recalls Phil Alden Robinson's wonderful Field Of Dreams in its sincere and glowing eulogising of the simple ways and natural warmth of rural life. Redford could even be forgiven had he included the query, "Is this Heaven?" and the reply, "No, it's Montana."

The inevitable culture clash between the laid-back farmer and the uptight city editor is never overplayed and the chemistry between Redford and Kristin Scott Thomas (as the editor) builds palpably. More radiant than ever before (which is really saying something), Scott Thomas is quite superb, and the fine cast also features Sam Neill, Dianne Wiest, Chris Cooper, and as young Grace, the very promising Scarlett Johansson.

The remarkable landscape photography is the work of Robert Richardson, Oliver Stone's regular lighting cameraman. The screenplay by Eric Roth and Richard LaGravenese takes certain liberties with the novel by Nicholas Evans, principally in toning down the melodramatic excesses of the book's latter stages. The film, which opens in the US next Friday, goes on Irish release at the end of August.

In sharp contrast to Redford's elegiac film in every respect, The Big Hit, which was the box-office champion in New York last week, is a vigorously-paced action movie which, happily, keeps its tongue firmly in cheek throughout. Marking the latest US debut by a Hong Kong film-maker, this time Che-Kirk Wong, it features John Woo and Wesley Snipes among its producers.

The star of the movie is a perfectly deadpan Mark Wahlberg as an athletic and cool-as-ice professional assassin with a problematic personal life - his girlfriend (Lela Rochon) is milking him for money, while his fiancee (Christina Applegate) and her parents have similar intentions - and his life is further complicated when he kidnaps the daughter of a Japanese film producer. The action scenes are expertly staged and make highly effective use of sound effects. The cast also features a hammy, over-muscled Lou Diamond Philips with Antonio Sabato Jr, Bokeem Woodbine, Lainie Kazan, and Elliott Gould who patronisingly says of the Wahlberg character, "I like him in a Rain Man kind of way".

The cast of Friends have not shown any notable discretion - nor made any notable impression - in their choice of big-screen roles. Jennifer Aniston breaks the mould with The Object Of My Affection, a contrived but engrossing and likeable serious comedy directed by Nicholas Hytner, who made The Madness Of King George and The Crucible, and directed the London and Dublin productions (but not the Broadway staging) of Martin McDonagh's The Cripple Of Inishmann.

Wendy Wassestein's screenplay for The Object Of My Affection could be pitched, Player-style, as Chasing Amy with the sexes reversed. Jennifer Aniston plays a New York social worker who offers a room in her apartment to a young gay teacher (Paul Rudd) when he is dropped abruptly by his lover (Tim Daly). When she becomes pregnant, she asks Rudd, for whom she is falling, if he will act as the father of her child. How such a relationship can by reconciled with Rudd's homosexual urges is the pivot of this skilfully assembled picture in which Rudd (who was the stepbrother in Clueless) exudes a winning charm. The cast also includes Alan Alda as a high-profile literary agent forever nonchalantly dropping names, and Nigel Hawthorne as a waspish theatre critic. The movie has been chosen as one of the World Cup alternatives for Irish cinema release in June.

The never-ending story of Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut just keeps rolling along. The film, which started shooting in November 1996 and appeared to have wrapped in Janaury of this year, resumes principal photography in London this month. The US film trade papers are buzzing with reports that Jennifer Jason Leigh who plays a "small but significant role" in the film as been replaced by Marie Richardson, who was in Bille August's The Best Intentions. Leigh is in Toronto at present, co-starring with Jude Law in David Cronenberg's eXistenZ.

Tom Cruise's publicist has confirmed that he will return to London this month to film some scenes with Richardson. Sydney Pollack, who earlier replaced Harvey Keitel in the movie, is also likely to travel to London for more scenes. Jennifer Jason Leigh's manager said: "There were no disagreements. It was a tremendous experience for her. He requested her. he knew everything she had done. There were no problems."

The production - which, characteristically for a Kubrick film, has been shrouded in secrecy - was tentatively scheduled for a Christmas release by Warner Bros. That now seems impossible.

LEO fever continues unabated in the US with New York bookstores awash with books on young DiCaprio. As many as four books about Leo figured on the New York Times best-selling non-fiction chart last week - The Leonardo DiCaprio Album in fourth place, Leonardo DiCaprio: A Biography in fifth, Leonardo DiCaprio: Modern-Day Romeo in eight and Leonardo DiCaprio: Romantic Hero in 14th. Four of the first 11 places on the same chart are occupied by books about the Titanic, including James Cameron's Titanic at number one.

Pirated videotapes of Titanic were openly on sale at street stalls all over Manhattan last week. Meanwhile, Leo fans must wait until autumn for his next screen appearance - in Woody Allen's Celebrity, which also features (deep breath) Kenneth Branagh, Judy Davis, Melanie Griffith, Joe Mantegna, Gretchen Mol, Winona Ryder and Charlize Theron.

Prominent full-page ads in the film trade papers are trumpeting the premiere screening of A Bright Shining Lie on the HBO (Home Box Office) channel on May 30th. A Vietnam war drama based on the book by Neil Sheehan, it is the second film directed by Terry George, the Irish writer who made his film-making debut with Some Mother's Son. Bill Paxton heads the cast which includes Amy Madigan, Vivian Wu and Eric Bogosian.

Liam Neeson was busy in New York last week with David Hare's The Judas Kiss, in which he plays Oscar Wilde, opening on Broadway and Bille August's new film version of Les Miserables going on cinema release two days later. Variety described Neeson's performance as Valjean in the movie as "terrific". Meanwhile, Neeson's wife, Natasha Richardson, has been wowing Broadway audiences with her performance as Sally Bowles in the new production of Cabaret, which features Alan Cumming as the MC. Naively hoping to buy just a single ticket for any performance of Cabaret while I was in New York last week, I was told by the box-office that they might have some seats available in September.