Post by klep on Aug 29, 2016 6:40:52 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 8/29: Blow Out
In order for you to last long in film as a director, you really have to love movies. It's not enough to like them; the business will beat mere "like" out of you pretty quick. You have to love it; you have to need it. But while all long-working directors love cinema in some way, few so plainly put their love of it on display as Brian De Palma. He's known for his flashy choices: split-screens, strange angles, first-person tracking shots, and so on. His detractors find all of that crap annoying, but in the immortal words of Scott Tobias, "That shit... is cinema!"
That shit is all on display in Blow Out. It starts cheekily enough with the slasher flick send-up that opens the film, but De Palma plays with sound throughout - using Jack's (John Travolta) sounds diegetically or making you confused what's a "real" sound and what's "artificial". It's De Palma's love of split screens that give us moments like the owl shot as Jack enjoys collecting sounds, or that chilling shot of Burke (John Lithgow) grabbing an ice pick as his target in the distance walks away, oblivious. He enhances the growing paranoia of the film with shots such as the low-angle, through-the-window view of Jack hiding his film. And of course there's that bravura "hero shot" at the end, heartbreakingly and beautifully backdropped by fireworks.
But beyond all these stylistic flourishes there's also a powerful substance underneath that they serve. It's a powerful thriller with a hero whose growing paranoia is justly earned trying to expose a mess that's bigger than he can deal with. But it doesn't start that way, and there's a pivot point in the film that I think is where it goes from "fun" to "great." When the film starts, it's more or less just a whodunnit, even a jokey one. Jack has fun with his work, and when he saves a pretty girl - Sally, played by Nancy Allen - from an accident he's as concerned about getting a drink with her as he is the mystery.
When he finally does get that drink though, Jack ends up giving us a powerful backstory. Prodded by Sally, he reveals that before he did sound for movies, he did a stint as a radio guy exposing corrupt cops. And on one pivotal case, the man he wired was exposed and killed. It's clear that Jack feels a deep guilt over that death, and from that moment the film is no longer about a curiosity, a puzzle - now it's a man's redemption story. Jack's increasing frustration is the frustration of a man who sees his big chance to make things right slipping away from him. And when he fails - again - it leaves him broken and the audience stunned.
That shit, my friends, is cinema.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 9/5: No Country for Old Men
One of these days we'll get to After Hours, but in the meantime we'll celebrate Labor Day by watching one of the best movies of the best year for film of this millennium: the Coen's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. No Country for Old Men is available on Netflix Instant and Amazon Instant Video, where it is free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 8/25: Pete's Dragon
The new Pete's Dragon was the current film of the latest Next Picture Show podcast, and we'll have a day to discuss it and its parallels with The Black Stallion on Wednesday. Pete's Dragon is still in theaters.
In order for you to last long in film as a director, you really have to love movies. It's not enough to like them; the business will beat mere "like" out of you pretty quick. You have to love it; you have to need it. But while all long-working directors love cinema in some way, few so plainly put their love of it on display as Brian De Palma. He's known for his flashy choices: split-screens, strange angles, first-person tracking shots, and so on. His detractors find all of that crap annoying, but in the immortal words of Scott Tobias, "That shit... is cinema!"
That shit is all on display in Blow Out. It starts cheekily enough with the slasher flick send-up that opens the film, but De Palma plays with sound throughout - using Jack's (John Travolta) sounds diegetically or making you confused what's a "real" sound and what's "artificial". It's De Palma's love of split screens that give us moments like the owl shot as Jack enjoys collecting sounds, or that chilling shot of Burke (John Lithgow) grabbing an ice pick as his target in the distance walks away, oblivious. He enhances the growing paranoia of the film with shots such as the low-angle, through-the-window view of Jack hiding his film. And of course there's that bravura "hero shot" at the end, heartbreakingly and beautifully backdropped by fireworks.
But beyond all these stylistic flourishes there's also a powerful substance underneath that they serve. It's a powerful thriller with a hero whose growing paranoia is justly earned trying to expose a mess that's bigger than he can deal with. But it doesn't start that way, and there's a pivot point in the film that I think is where it goes from "fun" to "great." When the film starts, it's more or less just a whodunnit, even a jokey one. Jack has fun with his work, and when he saves a pretty girl - Sally, played by Nancy Allen - from an accident he's as concerned about getting a drink with her as he is the mystery.
When he finally does get that drink though, Jack ends up giving us a powerful backstory. Prodded by Sally, he reveals that before he did sound for movies, he did a stint as a radio guy exposing corrupt cops. And on one pivotal case, the man he wired was exposed and killed. It's clear that Jack feels a deep guilt over that death, and from that moment the film is no longer about a curiosity, a puzzle - now it's a man's redemption story. Jack's increasing frustration is the frustration of a man who sees his big chance to make things right slipping away from him. And when he fails - again - it leaves him broken and the audience stunned.
That shit, my friends, is cinema.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 9/5: No Country for Old Men
One of these days we'll get to After Hours, but in the meantime we'll celebrate Labor Day by watching one of the best movies of the best year for film of this millennium: the Coen's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. No Country for Old Men is available on Netflix Instant and Amazon Instant Video, where it is free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 8/25: Pete's Dragon
The new Pete's Dragon was the current film of the latest Next Picture Show podcast, and we'll have a day to discuss it and its parallels with The Black Stallion on Wednesday. Pete's Dragon is still in theaters.