The promising start. Young kiddo got the leading part in a film that Robert Altman himself felt apt to produce. A film with pretty good reviews that gave exposure for the blooming young actress.
(24 July 2000: It's funny that on both times I've been to NYC from this faraway corner of Europe, prior to embarking I seem to find online Trini vid films that I don't yet have (two on both times, and more from the "dustbins" of NYC video shops ;^)) and be able to order them for a viewing after return -- strange coincidences. Although it took this time over two months after the return that I actually got to view this film (not least because my NTSC-capable VCR broke down just when I was v. short of money...), it's now at last bagged and laudably evaluated. The original case for the tape is also of the nowadays unheard-of late-1970s chocolate box type, complete with the plastic "tray" for cassette -- nice work, anyway. "They don't do them anymore like they used to" etc. blahblah from a seventies kid... ;^))

Stakes are rising. Robert Stigwood of Grease and Saturday Night Fever fame was trying his successful formula for youth music films in yet another era, this time the contemporary Punk/New Wave movement in NYC. Reinforced with a soundtrack by several notable Punk/NW bands, it was hoped to raise the interest of the youth. Along with the "icon" of Rocky Horror Show, Tim Curry, Trini was cast -- if Stigwood's "Midas' touch" would work now too, she'd be on her way to stardom... The shooting of the film, that was taking place at the moment, was even mentioned in a Swedish New York City guidebook (or, rather, a compilation of in-depth essays on different topics, like moviemaking in NYC), "En guide till 80-talets Metropolis" (1981)... Then the film flopped terribly. Critics and general public avoided it. Nevertheless, alternative music fans and lesbians seem to have taken the film to a cult status -- the former because of the soundtrack, the latter because of the storyline. Ironically, the confrontation of these two constituents led eventually to severe cuttings in favour of Stigwood's view of a music film. Trini had now at least "alternative" fame, but the Big One was still waiting.

This television feature film was Trini's first "documentary" drama, and the only one based on modern-day events.

Trini goes Spelling. Her low-life punk character chews gum ceaselessly in this girl rocker film, but the film gains nothing spectacularly notable careerwise for her. Meant as a vehicle for Justine Bateman, the film didn't carry her any further either. But the subsequent, sharply contrasting development of Trini's and (then unknown) co-star Julia Roberts's careers was alarming indeed: the latter was afterward cast for the 1989 film Pretty Woman, with known results, and now she's one of the most booked actresses around. Talk about luck?

Two short appearances in an enjoyable, albeit rather invisible film (from box-office rankings, that is). Good supporting work from Trini anyway, she superbly interprets her 60s beatnik-intelligent role character.

First promise. The film where Trini has no less than two different promising young actresses playing her character as a kid before she enters -- isn't that a sign of a star? Anyway, this film was perhaps Trini's first possibility in her career to gain true exposure as a co-star -- moreover, in a remake of an old classic film, and next to Bette Midler herself. Did it materialize? Of course not. The film was severely scorned and Trini lost to the dust with it...

Trini, a Hispanic gypsy, as an Irish girl? That's just an indication of her powerful scale. "There's no limit..." The film: a rather big production (in British scale), with main involvement from BBC and British Screen, a good story with twists and just the right amount of rivalry, chivalry (OK, puns aside), romance and comedy, as well as superb acting performances and cinematography. A combination that should have made it next to the best of Merchant/Ivory productions at the box-office -- and give Trini at last some of the prominence that "Ivory's" Helena Bonham-Carter had gained. But (of course) no... This was the first film I saw from Trini, and I still regard her performance here as her best, most subtle so far. IMHO, one of the most severely under-rated (=forgotten) films ever.

Little Women III. Making this film must have been Trini's finest hour. A story which Trini loves and which she undoubtedly had many times dreamed to re-make. Her dream came true, of which I'm sincerely happy for her. Casting and production values were right, and subsequently the film not only became Trini's most uniformly praised in reviews, but it also was at last the film that brought her name to "public" knowledge. In a way it was a pity, though, that there were already bigger "names" in the bill that, as so often, tend to be focused on in film evaluations, leaving her still as just one in the big-name cast -- which, admittably, gave very good performances throughout, though. Nevertheless, the scary thing is the fact that of all the main cast actors/actresses in this film, Trini is the only one who's still practically unknown, despite her billing "high" on the cast listings. Let's just hope that this film wasn't already Trini's "15 minutes" in fame...

After hard work "down under", action and effects -- and a prospect of success -- back to basics. Trini appears again as a less-punchy young woman next to Andrew McCarthy. Nevertheless, a well fleshed-out and, in its "domesticity", a prominently resonant perfo from Trini, again (one of the most enjoyable, in fact) -- and not even such a background waste of her as I had expected... A television feature with guaranteed Christmas viewing, the film still left Trini's future uncertain.

A project that is at the moment little more than a confirmed rumour, and most definitely a dead end as a Trinity Project (or was it a Manhattan Project ;^)), but let this entry stay here for the time being...