What struck me most about Hal Ashby's Coming Home was its incredible use of music, both diegetic and otherwise. There were very few scenes that did not feature music, which certainly kept you in the world of the film. There were not only great popular songs of the time, but slightly lesser-known pieces, all of them fantastic.
At many points, the music seemed to be the antithesis of the emotions being displayed on screen, as in Bill's suicide scene. Other times, the music would help build tension and drama. The Chambers Brothers' song "The Time Has Come Today" was used in its full, 11-minute glory, and ends just as it seems that Bob has completely lost his mind. It leaves you hanging, not knowing what is going to happen next.
I really felt for all of the characters in this film. It is a prime example of how war can affect everyone, whether they realize it or not. It is strikingly poignant for a film that was made in 1978 and takes place a decade earlier. The parallels that can be drawn between Vietnam and today's War On Terror are disturbing, and leave one with a sense of dread and hopelessness for the soldiers who are long overdue to come home.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
That's ok with me.
Throughout The Long Goodbye, Philip Marlowe, played exquisitely by Elliot Gould, repeats the phrase "That's ok with me." Constantly mumbling to himself (and everyone else), Marlowe plays himself off as a passive observer in a world over which he has no control. But the fact of the matter is that he is a private investigator, essentially the opposite of a passive observer. However, he is most certainly not in control of his environment. The only thing he can control is himself. He is the opposite of Humphrey Bogart's Philip Marlowe, and he makes for a much more interesting character.
In a director trademark, Robert Altman often composes scenes in which our protagonist is surrounded by chaos: events and people, all doing different things at different times. He frames the shots so that we can see most of what is happening, but keeps the audio so realistic that it is hard to discern the words coming out of even one character's mouth. In contrast, there are many scenes with little or no dialogue, overpowering environmental noise, and long, near-static shots (although through research I discovered that the camera never sits perfectly still at any point throughout the film; it is always moving). It's all about realism.
Women seem to be portrayed in several different ways throughout the film, but never in a particularly good light. You have Marlowe's neighbors, the barely-clad hippie-chicks who do yoga on the balcony and seem constantly entranced by some kind of drug; Eileen Wade, the femme fatale who strings Marlowe along right up until the end; and Joanne, Marty Augustine's girlfriend, who falls victim to his rage and suffers some horrible injuries. None of these women are particularly good people, though it can be argued that Eileen is the only one of them who is specifically bad.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It moved at a slow but comfortable pace, and I became appropriately attached to the characters. I laughed nearly every time Marlowe lit a cigarette, which happens at least once in every scene, save for the final confrontation with Terry Lennox. My one qualm with the film was the ending; not the violence, not the wandering off into the distance, but the fact that Marlowe's cat never came home.
In a director trademark, Robert Altman often composes scenes in which our protagonist is surrounded by chaos: events and people, all doing different things at different times. He frames the shots so that we can see most of what is happening, but keeps the audio so realistic that it is hard to discern the words coming out of even one character's mouth. In contrast, there are many scenes with little or no dialogue, overpowering environmental noise, and long, near-static shots (although through research I discovered that the camera never sits perfectly still at any point throughout the film; it is always moving). It's all about realism.
Women seem to be portrayed in several different ways throughout the film, but never in a particularly good light. You have Marlowe's neighbors, the barely-clad hippie-chicks who do yoga on the balcony and seem constantly entranced by some kind of drug; Eileen Wade, the femme fatale who strings Marlowe along right up until the end; and Joanne, Marty Augustine's girlfriend, who falls victim to his rage and suffers some horrible injuries. None of these women are particularly good people, though it can be argued that Eileen is the only one of them who is specifically bad.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It moved at a slow but comfortable pace, and I became appropriately attached to the characters. I laughed nearly every time Marlowe lit a cigarette, which happens at least once in every scene, save for the final confrontation with Terry Lennox. My one qualm with the film was the ending; not the violence, not the wandering off into the distance, but the fact that Marlowe's cat never came home.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Five Easy Pieces
This was certainly not a typical Jack Nicholson film. It had charm, and he was certainly a ladies' man, but it had a different kind of depth than his usual roles. However, his character lacked a sense of dynamics. He remained consistent throughout the film, never really learning or changing anything. At the end, he simply let go and disappeared, which was not a transformation, it was an escape. It was an uncomfortable but effective ending for a film like that.
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