This column does not have enough space to contain my love for this film. CHASE BURNSĪvailable for rental on DVD at Seattle Public Library and Scarecrow Video. It's a part of the Criterion Collection but is currently unstreamable. Still, Missing remains one of director Costa-Gavras's best works. Lemmon lost to Ben Kingsley for Gandhi-that film dominated the season. Spacek ultimately lost to Meryl Streep, who won her second Academy Award for her role in Sophie's Choice. The film is a star vehicle for Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon, who both give tremendous performances that earned them Academy Award nominations. It's distressing, and perhaps intentional. In one scene, the camera works through a building full of dead brown bodies, but the only name we learn belonged to the sole dead white one. Too often, the only Chilean bodies we see are dead. You'd think a movie about the US-backed Chilean coup of 1973 would feature some Chilean characters. If Missing was made today, I like to believe some of its parts would be made very differently. Skip this boring and overly simple biopic-the trailer tells a more interesting story! JASMYNE KEIMIG Though Quaid is meant to be playing Lewis in his early twenties, he was actually 34 at the time of filming, making the age gap between him and Myra seem even vaster. Instead of focusing on the music, what it means for white people to profit off of black culture, what the concept of celebrity permits, or incestuous and abusive relationships, Great Balls of Fire! inexplicably and awkwardly focuses on the relationship between Lewis and Myra. A fact that he refuses to denounce, which ultimately ends the cultural momentum behind his rise to fame. That all comes thundering down once it’s revealed that Lewis is married to Myra (Winona Ryder) his 13-year-old (!) first cousin once removed (!!). Instead of basically playing himself, Quaid (rather poorly) takes on a young Jerry Lee Lewis, who apparently was once in the position to unseat Elvis as rock n’ roll’s beloved white boy. That’s what makes Great Balls of Fire! notable. I see his type of white masculinity in a similar vein as Harrison Ford-both rugged, charming, naturalistic actors who more or less play the same dude in everything they are in, leaning more on their personality than ability. They really don’t make ‘em like Quaid anymore, and maybe for good reason.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |