Post by klep on Jan 8, 2018 7:30:36 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 1/8: Grosse Pointe Blank
HOMECOMING WEEK!
You can never go home again, Oatman... but I guess you can shop there. - Martin Blank
What do you do when you get partway through something and mess up? Well, you go back to where you think things started to go wrong and try to start again. That's the tack hit man Martin Blank (John Cusack) takes with his life in Grosse Pointe Blank, though he has to be dragged into it kicking and screaming.
Because Martin doesn't think - or won't admit - his problems go that far back. He knows he has problems of course - he's coercing a psychologist (Dr. Oatman, played by Alan Arkin) into treating him - but he thinks they're of a more recent vintage. He thinks they're a result of his job troubles - some recent bad luck and a competitor Grocer (Dan Aykroyd) pressuring him to join a union.
But circumstances force Martin to take a job in his home town of Grosse Pointe, MI the same time as his 10 year high school reunion. And in returning home for the first time in a decade, he's forced to confront the things that drove him away in the first place - as well as face the girl he stood up at the prom, the girl he's still hung up on (Debi, brilliantly played by Minnie Driver). He expects town to be like he left it, but much has changed. It's been ten years. Debi has been married and divorced, his friends have become responsible adults, his mother is in a retirement home, and his childhood home is replaced by a convenience store.
It turns out Martin is very repressed. As he goes around town reconnecting with people from his past, he's vague and evasive about his time away. At first it seems like he just doesn't want to spill his illegal activities everywhere, but it becomes clear he really doesn't want to talk about it. His father died the year he took off, and his current career path as a hitman seems to stem from his military service training him to kill and then not leaving him with better options. He's struggling with the disconnect between who he believes he is and what he actually does, and facing who he was is making him realize that disconnect may be irreconcileable.
The one thing he has going for him is that his high school sweetheart Debi still has the hots for him. Her first instinct is to kiss him, but she's not going to make it easy. She presses and presses and presses at him to come clean with her. And as he struggles with how much to tell her, Martin begins to realize that where he went wrong was in leaving her. To be the person he sees himself to be, he has to do the things that person would do. And in order to move forward, he had to go back home.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 1/15: Daughters of the Dust
WOMEN OF COLOR WEEK!
Join us next week as we celebrate women of color on both sides of the camera with this acclaimed film by Julie Dash about three generations of women in a unique black community in the early 20th century. Daughters of the Dust is available on Netflix Instant and for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 1/9: To Die For
As part of a pairing with I, Tonya, on Tuesday the Podcast crew settles in to talk about this Gus van Sant film. Join us on Wednesday for our own discussion! To Die For is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
HOMECOMING WEEK!
You can never go home again, Oatman... but I guess you can shop there. - Martin Blank
What do you do when you get partway through something and mess up? Well, you go back to where you think things started to go wrong and try to start again. That's the tack hit man Martin Blank (John Cusack) takes with his life in Grosse Pointe Blank, though he has to be dragged into it kicking and screaming.
Because Martin doesn't think - or won't admit - his problems go that far back. He knows he has problems of course - he's coercing a psychologist (Dr. Oatman, played by Alan Arkin) into treating him - but he thinks they're of a more recent vintage. He thinks they're a result of his job troubles - some recent bad luck and a competitor Grocer (Dan Aykroyd) pressuring him to join a union.
But circumstances force Martin to take a job in his home town of Grosse Pointe, MI the same time as his 10 year high school reunion. And in returning home for the first time in a decade, he's forced to confront the things that drove him away in the first place - as well as face the girl he stood up at the prom, the girl he's still hung up on (Debi, brilliantly played by Minnie Driver). He expects town to be like he left it, but much has changed. It's been ten years. Debi has been married and divorced, his friends have become responsible adults, his mother is in a retirement home, and his childhood home is replaced by a convenience store.
It turns out Martin is very repressed. As he goes around town reconnecting with people from his past, he's vague and evasive about his time away. At first it seems like he just doesn't want to spill his illegal activities everywhere, but it becomes clear he really doesn't want to talk about it. His father died the year he took off, and his current career path as a hitman seems to stem from his military service training him to kill and then not leaving him with better options. He's struggling with the disconnect between who he believes he is and what he actually does, and facing who he was is making him realize that disconnect may be irreconcileable.
The one thing he has going for him is that his high school sweetheart Debi still has the hots for him. Her first instinct is to kiss him, but she's not going to make it easy. She presses and presses and presses at him to come clean with her. And as he struggles with how much to tell her, Martin begins to realize that where he went wrong was in leaving her. To be the person he sees himself to be, he has to do the things that person would do. And in order to move forward, he had to go back home.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 1/15: Daughters of the Dust
WOMEN OF COLOR WEEK!
Join us next week as we celebrate women of color on both sides of the camera with this acclaimed film by Julie Dash about three generations of women in a unique black community in the early 20th century. Daughters of the Dust is available on Netflix Instant and for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 1/9: To Die For
As part of a pairing with I, Tonya, on Tuesday the Podcast crew settles in to talk about this Gus van Sant film. Join us on Wednesday for our own discussion! To Die For is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.