Bob Rafelson

Started by SoNowThen, May 12, 2003, 12:51:17 PM

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Ghostboy

Has anyone seen (or heard of, even) his new one, No Good Deed? It was sort of unceremoniously dumped into theaters this past Friday. Sam Jackson, Milla Jovovich, Stellan Skarsgaard are the stars. Reviews have been mixed.

cine

Yeah I had heard of it before Ebert reviewed it, since it was Jackson doing something based on a Dashiell Hammett short story, and I love Hammett.
It looks pretty good to me.. good cast, good director.. it isn't in any theatres around here so its pretty shitty that I can't see it.

SoNowThen

I hope it's better than the shitfest that was Blood And Wine. How can you have such a good cast and make such a banal, predictable movie?
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

cine

*cautiously twiddling thumbs* Hmm.. I don't know... since.. I... sorta liked that one.. actually...

SoNowThen

I loved Nicholson and Cain in it. But that's it. Even the ordinarily great cinematography of Ed Lachman I found distracting and somewhat blah.
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

cine

Yeah, it was the cast that reeled me right in (ha.. reel.. i got it..). i loved the chemistry between them and that ultimately had me really enjoying the film noir story, especially for Caine's performance.

soixante

I enjoyed seeing two legends, Nicholson and Caine, have scenes together.  That was worth the video rental price alone -- plus J.Lo thrown in for good measure.  It certainly was much better than the previous Rafelson-Nicholson film, Man Trouble.
Music is your best entertainment value.

cine

Uh, amen to THAT. It really tried but whattamess! Such a promising cast too. Kinda like that new Bob Dylan movie.

SoNowThen

Anybody who hasn't really needs to go see Stay Hungry!!! It's on dvd now...
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

soixante

Quote from: SoNowThenAnybody who hasn't really needs to go see Stay Hungry!!! It's on dvd now...

How true.  I bought my copy the 1st day, and I've watched it a bunch of times.
Music is your best entertainment value.

Redlum

Five Easy Pieces is one of my favourite films....anyway I was looking it up online and found a fairly interesting analysis based on the screenplay and a portion about Bobby's mother. I assume its based on the screenplay and not what he's construed from the opening montage, its not quite clear. Anyway, interesting all the same....

http://www.geocities.com/stuartfernie/five.htm
QuoteThe opening sequence of photos and scenes depicting the musical Dupea family sets up Bobby's character and his restless search for something in a way that is almost tragic and strongly resonates within us. He is the last child of a large family. He is clearly very special to his mother, who probably realizes that this will be her last time experiencing motherhood. There is a picture of a young Bobby asleep in his mother's arms as she looks down beaming at him. In the opening pages of the screenplay a special bond between Bobby and his mom is depicted. They are very close to one another. His mother is his teacher- he learns about music and the piano through her. When she dies, he runs out of her funeral service, unable to face the fact she's dead.

This is the point- Bobby's mother died when he was too young, when he still needed her. He didn't have the time a boy needs to grow towards his father and manhood. He was still deeply connected to her in the most fundamental way. And his mom is music. That is why he runs away from the musical life- it is too painful. The essence of music is the essence of his mother. Bobby tries to deal with the problem as an external landscape, not the internal landscape it really is and so his life is given to aimless wandering. Wherever he goes there can be no resolution. In a way a part of him has been frozen in time at the point of his mother's death and he cannot move forward with his life. There is only anger, frustration and a numbness to life that we can easily see in Bobby. When he plays the piano for his brother's student, she thinks it's beautiful, but he feels nothing. Much is made of the scene between him and his father, but of even greater importance is the ghost of his mother which hangs so close over him. We could even get Jungian about this and say the nurturing aspect of the mother archetype has been transformed into the negative side of the mother archetype- smothering and life suppressing. This archetype lies entirely within Bobby and is not his actual mother. Is there a resolution at the end, a realization and growth? No. That is the tragedy of the movie. Only a hope- by leaving his situation with Rayette for the unknown. By freeing himself of a deadend and going north - to a place that is still a frontier, a landscape that encourages introspection. That is the hope.



It doesn't matter what era of American history this story is placed - it would be equally valid and the hero would be just as restless, just as angry and just as seemingly selfish. Also - anger and frustration is something every man must confront in the modern industrial world as identity and self worth frequently collide, at least for a time, with society.
\"I wanted to make a film for kids, something that would present them with a kind of elementary morality. Because nowadays nobody bothers to tell those kids, \'Hey, this is right and this is wrong\'.\"
  -  George Lucas