They call them the breeze
I'm a six-foot-two guy with a beard and long hair, and this qualifies me for two things: a sympathy for the shirtless political revolutionism of the 60s, and a statistical unlikeliness to cry at the movies. The two were married today as I made another step on my path of familiarization with the work of Sidney Lumet, whose movies tend to fall into one of two categories: masterpieces, and very very good. Yes, I definitely felt some moisture on my cheek during at least two scenes of his 1988 film Running on Empty.
Before I start listing the characters, I will save some space by noting that absolutely everyone does a fantastic job. Really, pick anyone off the credits and they're great - from the obvious heartbreaks (Phoenix) to the surprising against-types (Hirsch). They're son and father, joined by a mother and another, younger son, doing what any American family does as the 70s turn into the 80s - running from the FBI because of their anti-Vietnam lab bombing that, unintentionally, left a man blind and paralyzed. They move whenever the "shoes" are on their trail, and this exercise they're pros at is questioned as the seventeen-year old Danny (Phoenix) sees some opportunities for a more normal life for himself.
Lumet - what to say of him? The man can do it all: a story an eight-year old could follow, texture, heart, and wonderful two-actor scenes. It's not just the dialogue; in scenes like Christine Lahti meeting her father for the first time after fourteen years, it's often the lack of it, or the way cliched-but-necessary lines seem to deliver themselves. In Danny's failed sexual encounter with a too-good-for-her-age Martha Plimpton (did I mention the acting was superb?) it's barely anything; but it's there nevertheless.
There is almost no talk of activism, politics, and right-vs-wrong in the film. Surprised? Sure, there's a moment or two where the father starts to eagerly recite pamphlets, but it's almost endearing; he might as well be lecturing Danny about how to keep a car running past 200,000 miles. The family unit here is a bit odd, sure, but allow me to quote David Cronenberg (said of his new movie A History of Violence): to make a story general, you have to make it very specific; it's happening here, to these people, now.
If I can be pardoned another personal note: my family lived through a war in the early 90s, and I can testify to the precision and subtleness of Lumet's portrayal of such a group under social stress. I wish I could also add that I identify with Phoenix's character; alas, Danny/Michael will forever be one of the cool kids (with the cool sort of a problem) I always aspired to be. If some day I'm told that I indeed had skills of a sort in high school, that won't change the fact that they never got me noticed or hit on. Music is so much hotter than my marginal artistic and technologic abilities.
Before I start listing the characters, I will save some space by noting that absolutely everyone does a fantastic job. Really, pick anyone off the credits and they're great - from the obvious heartbreaks (Phoenix) to the surprising against-types (Hirsch). They're son and father, joined by a mother and another, younger son, doing what any American family does as the 70s turn into the 80s - running from the FBI because of their anti-Vietnam lab bombing that, unintentionally, left a man blind and paralyzed. They move whenever the "shoes" are on their trail, and this exercise they're pros at is questioned as the seventeen-year old Danny (Phoenix) sees some opportunities for a more normal life for himself.
Lumet - what to say of him? The man can do it all: a story an eight-year old could follow, texture, heart, and wonderful two-actor scenes. It's not just the dialogue; in scenes like Christine Lahti meeting her father for the first time after fourteen years, it's often the lack of it, or the way cliched-but-necessary lines seem to deliver themselves. In Danny's failed sexual encounter with a too-good-for-her-age Martha Plimpton (did I mention the acting was superb?) it's barely anything; but it's there nevertheless.
There is almost no talk of activism, politics, and right-vs-wrong in the film. Surprised? Sure, there's a moment or two where the father starts to eagerly recite pamphlets, but it's almost endearing; he might as well be lecturing Danny about how to keep a car running past 200,000 miles. The family unit here is a bit odd, sure, but allow me to quote David Cronenberg (said of his new movie A History of Violence): to make a story general, you have to make it very specific; it's happening here, to these people, now.
If I can be pardoned another personal note: my family lived through a war in the early 90s, and I can testify to the precision and subtleness of Lumet's portrayal of such a group under social stress. I wish I could also add that I identify with Phoenix's character; alas, Danny/Michael will forever be one of the cool kids (with the cool sort of a problem) I always aspired to be. If some day I'm told that I indeed had skills of a sort in high school, that won't change the fact that they never got me noticed or hit on. Music is so much hotter than my marginal artistic and technologic abilities.
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