Primal Fear. Ugh.
Tag: richardgere
Internal Affairs
Internal Affairs. The main reason I watched this was becase I’d recently watched Infernal Affairs, so I figured why not. Pretty solid! I love the undercurrents of menace and heat. So much imagined, suggested, inferred. And always fun to see a charming star like Gere play someone who’s just a terrible human being.
Imaginary Book #1
A spread from my forthcoming imaginary book, Hangin’ Out: Up-ending Masculinity in 1980s Cinema. Richard Gere in American Gigolo (1980). Josh Brolin in The Goonies (1985). Michael Keaton in Batman (1989). Kyle Machlachlan in Twin Peaks (1990).
American Gigolo
American Gigolo. Fantastic movie. One current is an electric crime drama (and the challenge of justice for outsider groups). Another is the steady melancholy, loneliness, and emptiness of the protagonist’s life. Awesome clothes. And OMG Lauren Hutton. Another good movie that explores the tensions between a criminal profession and desire for a normal life: Thief, of course.
Arbitrage
Arbitrage. Throws you in the middle and lets you figure out the details, as you watch a dude try to keep his composure while bullshitting his way through a very bad week. If you like this, you may also like Michael Clayton (I do), which is similar in its cool, polished tone – dig the soundtrack.
Days of Heaven
Days of Heaven. Third viewing (first, second). I don’t typically use words like “rapturous” or “transfixed”, but I feel like I need to here. I just sit there slack-jawed for 90 minutes. I don’t know how you can make a biblical, romantic prairie drama have such momentum. This is the first Terrence Malick movie I ever saw, and I still think it’s his best. I have to keep it in my top three, up there with Out of the Past and Heat.
Days of Heaven
Days of Heaven. Re-watched. Re-loved. Still near the top of my all-time list. (My first viewing.)
Days of Heaven
Days of Heaven. My first Malick film, and luckily an interesting, beautiful one. The story has scattershot narration by a young kid. Sometimes she has wise observations and sometimes she has immaterial asides. With this distance in age, we sort of see the characters in the central love triangle at a remove, a little more inscrutable. We see the drama and the tragedy but Malick’s not looking for your tears, I don’t think. The story’s too thin to bear it. The magic’s in the editing. The shots are elliptical, working by collage and juxtaposition and suggestion. Check out some lovely stills. Nice soundtrack from Mr. Morricone, to boot.
Mark Larson 