Post by klep on Nov 20, 2017 7:35:51 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 11/20: The Long Goodbye
THIRD WEEK OF NOIRVEMBER: NEW HOLLYWOOD NOIR
As genres evolve, filmmakers tend to start interrogating them; changing their contexts and focuses to examine new corners. In the New Hollywood era, we started to see this happening with noir - the end of the Hays code meant the bad guys could win, and so films in the genre started to look outward and dwell more on the rot in society than the rot in a man's soul. The most famous of these neo-noirs, as they've come to be known, is Roman Polanski's Chinatown - with its incredible closing line capturing the ethos of noir's new focus. But Robert Altman created another instant classic with The Long Goodbye.
The Long Goodbye was not the first time Raymond Chandler's detective would grace the screen, nor would it be the last. But Elliott Gould's version is unforgettable. He plays Marlowe as a young man, too good for the world he lives in. He's free-wheeling, immature, and pretends to let things roll off his back. But much of that is a facade - he's clearly a man who cares about his friends, animals, and doing the right thing. In his Great Movies essay on The Long Goodbye, Roger Ebert called Gould's Marlowe "a 1953 character in a 1973 world." It's an apt description given the general idea of the two eras in our popular consciousness, because Gould's a man of values in a world that seems to have lost them.
Los Angeles in The Long Goodbye is populated by stoned hippies, mobsters, extortionists, and abusive drunk brutes. It's about as far from the stereotypical suburban nuclear family paradise promised by the 50s as you can get. But Marlowe moves through it without losing his way. It never occurs to him to take advantage of or even leer at his generally topless stoned neighbors, nor does he respond to a married client's obvious attempt to flirt with and seduce him. He loves his cat, he brakes for dogs, and he's more loyal to his friends than they are to him.
This makes Marlowe a far cry from the typical noir protagonist. Rather than being at the center of a scheme that wears at his soul, The Long Goodbye's Marlowe is on the periphery of a scheme he doesn't understand, barely sees, and is largely uninterested in. He just wants to find out who killed his friend and clear his friend's name. It never occurs to Marlowe that his friend might actually be guilty of killing his wife - he's just too naïve to thing that ill of someone he is loyal to. Marlowe meets everything he encounters with a grin and a quip, but it's clear he always cares more than he wants to let on.
Altman's style works particularly well for this film. His way of overlapping conversations lets him give Marlowe a running monolog for much of the film while also adding to the chaos and confusion of the plot Marlowe has been drawn into. Altman also freely moves his focus between characters or points in the frame to give us insights into just how little Marlowe is aware of as well as just giving us a couple good jokes.
Altman really only brings things into crystal-clear focus a couple of times in The Long Goodbye, for two sudden bursts of horrible violence. It's only in those moments that Marlowe gets where he truly stands, and it's those moments that illustrate for us the nature of neo-noir. Noir was content to let us think that blackness only lurked in the hearts of bad people - those sorry souls who had lost their way, but neo-noir wants us to understand the blackness is everywhere, and it takes a concerted effort to push it back. And in a final shot that perversely echoes The Third Man, this is a worldview that has become all too clear to Phillip Marlowe.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 11/27: Bound
FOURTH WEEK OF NOIRVEMBER: MODERN NOIR
We close out Noirvember next week with the Wachowskis' debut feature, Bound. Bound takes noir tropes and pins them to a story with more modern ideas of female empowerment and queer acceptance. It struck like a bolt of lightning and made everything the Wachowskis have done since possible. Bound is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 11/16: Lady Bird
Greta Gerwig's directorial debut is the new film in this week's featured pairing. We'll have a thread on Wednesday for discussion, though I don't think I'll be able to see the film myself before then - I'll try to get someone to fill in. Lady Bird is in theaters.
THIRD WEEK OF NOIRVEMBER: NEW HOLLYWOOD NOIR
As genres evolve, filmmakers tend to start interrogating them; changing their contexts and focuses to examine new corners. In the New Hollywood era, we started to see this happening with noir - the end of the Hays code meant the bad guys could win, and so films in the genre started to look outward and dwell more on the rot in society than the rot in a man's soul. The most famous of these neo-noirs, as they've come to be known, is Roman Polanski's Chinatown - with its incredible closing line capturing the ethos of noir's new focus. But Robert Altman created another instant classic with The Long Goodbye.
The Long Goodbye was not the first time Raymond Chandler's detective would grace the screen, nor would it be the last. But Elliott Gould's version is unforgettable. He plays Marlowe as a young man, too good for the world he lives in. He's free-wheeling, immature, and pretends to let things roll off his back. But much of that is a facade - he's clearly a man who cares about his friends, animals, and doing the right thing. In his Great Movies essay on The Long Goodbye, Roger Ebert called Gould's Marlowe "a 1953 character in a 1973 world." It's an apt description given the general idea of the two eras in our popular consciousness, because Gould's a man of values in a world that seems to have lost them.
Los Angeles in The Long Goodbye is populated by stoned hippies, mobsters, extortionists, and abusive drunk brutes. It's about as far from the stereotypical suburban nuclear family paradise promised by the 50s as you can get. But Marlowe moves through it without losing his way. It never occurs to him to take advantage of or even leer at his generally topless stoned neighbors, nor does he respond to a married client's obvious attempt to flirt with and seduce him. He loves his cat, he brakes for dogs, and he's more loyal to his friends than they are to him.
This makes Marlowe a far cry from the typical noir protagonist. Rather than being at the center of a scheme that wears at his soul, The Long Goodbye's Marlowe is on the periphery of a scheme he doesn't understand, barely sees, and is largely uninterested in. He just wants to find out who killed his friend and clear his friend's name. It never occurs to Marlowe that his friend might actually be guilty of killing his wife - he's just too naïve to thing that ill of someone he is loyal to. Marlowe meets everything he encounters with a grin and a quip, but it's clear he always cares more than he wants to let on.
Altman's style works particularly well for this film. His way of overlapping conversations lets him give Marlowe a running monolog for much of the film while also adding to the chaos and confusion of the plot Marlowe has been drawn into. Altman also freely moves his focus between characters or points in the frame to give us insights into just how little Marlowe is aware of as well as just giving us a couple good jokes.
Altman really only brings things into crystal-clear focus a couple of times in The Long Goodbye, for two sudden bursts of horrible violence. It's only in those moments that Marlowe gets where he truly stands, and it's those moments that illustrate for us the nature of neo-noir. Noir was content to let us think that blackness only lurked in the hearts of bad people - those sorry souls who had lost their way, but neo-noir wants us to understand the blackness is everywhere, and it takes a concerted effort to push it back. And in a final shot that perversely echoes The Third Man, this is a worldview that has become all too clear to Phillip Marlowe.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 11/27: Bound
FOURTH WEEK OF NOIRVEMBER: MODERN NOIR
We close out Noirvember next week with the Wachowskis' debut feature, Bound. Bound takes noir tropes and pins them to a story with more modern ideas of female empowerment and queer acceptance. It struck like a bolt of lightning and made everything the Wachowskis have done since possible. Bound is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 11/16: Lady Bird
Greta Gerwig's directorial debut is the new film in this week's featured pairing. We'll have a thread on Wednesday for discussion, though I don't think I'll be able to see the film myself before then - I'll try to get someone to fill in. Lady Bird is in theaters.