VC Pick: Running on Empty (1988)

Tags

Drama, Romance, VC Pick

I did nothing wrong, and yet
Here I bear another’s debt.
I flee because they feel they must,
And I must follow, share their sweat,
And leave my future in their dust.

Still I love them dearly. How
Can I think to leave them now?
I’ll stay as long as they may need me,
Wait until our lives allow
Dreams my patience guaranteed me.
________________________

MPAA rating: PG-13 (mainly for a few F-bombs)

Since my schoolwork and home life haven’t given me an abundance of time for watching movies of my own choice (or reviewing them), that limitation has also applied to my dear Viewing Companion (VC), who hasn’t gotten to choose a movie for well over a month now. In trying to fix that, she introduced me to Running on Empty, the kind of former Oscar contender that you only discover either by accident or from some obscure recommendation. It’s a surprisingly effective drama in all respects, especially highlighting the squandered potential of young star River Phoenix, who received a Best Supporting Actor nomination from the Academy five years before his death.

Phoenix plays a teenage boy named Danny who can never be known as Danny. With his younger brother, he lives a life on the run, following his parents Arthur and Annie Pope (Judd Hirsch, Christine Lahti), a pair of former revolutionaries fleeing the FBI for an anti-war bombing back in 1971 (based on real-life radicals Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dohrn). He’s earnest and well-meaning, the kind of kid who may come off as a punk based on how little he says but becomes more endearing the longer you spend with him. Taking on his latest persona of “Michael,” he clearly loves his parents but is torn between wanting to protect and help them and desiring a life of his own, including a promising musical career and young love (with an acerbic Martha Plimpton of The Goonies). Likewise, his parents are conflicted as well, his father insistent on staying ahead of the law and his mother wondering when and how to let her son move on from their mistakes.

Directed by Sidney Lumet, Running on Empty has no shortage of strong acting, and though Phoenix got most of the praise at the time, Lahti’s Golden Globe-nominated role plays the heartstrings even more. The film doesn’t offer any easy answers. Danny wants to be free of the burden of his parents’ crimes, but doing so would mean either exposing them or never seeing them again after their next move. His mother is willing to turn herself in for his sake, but that would mean leaving her other young son parentless if she and Arthur are jailed. Everyone in this sweet and tight-knit family wishes for normalcy, but there’s no simple way to reach it. Add in the danger of Annie and Arthur being lumped in with other Communists who have not mellowed their violence as the Popes have, and it’s clear that no resolution will satisfy everyone.

The performances are what really distinguish Running on Empty as an engaging and realistic drama, and for some reason, its empathy and sincerity made me think of Dominick and Eugene, another Oscar-worthy film from 1988 that is oft-overlooked. However, while my VC loves it and is no doubt irked by my reservations, Running on Empty doesn’t quite make my list. Perhaps it’s simply my underlying annoyance at Arthur and Annie’s actions, claiming that they’ve accepted the consequences of their actions when they really haven’t. True, they’ve suffered by constantly running, but accepting jail time would have freed their children from that kind of life as well. Then again, Danny would have grown up without his parents, but maybe the Popes should have thought of that before carrying out bombings while he was two years old!

See what I mean? The moral questions at play here are hard to answer. And while I can be irritated by the Popes’ mistakes, those mistakes were made, and the ongoing fallout from them makes for a unique ethical quandary that remains surprisingly relatable and somehow manages a satisfying conclusion. Running on Empty may be a footnote in someone’s forgotten ‘80s collection, but it’s a hidden gem worth revisiting, as much for the reminder of River Phoenix’s talent as for the poignant questions of conscience.

Best line: (Lorna, Danny/Michael’s girlfriend) “Why do you have to carry the burden of someone else’s life?”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
589 Followers and Counting

 

Blindspot Pick #7: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Tags

Drama, Romance, Sci-fi

Memories are funny things,
Immortal in some form at least,
For though they twist,
They still exist
And lie in wait to be released.

I cannot say if what’s recalled
Is how it was or how I felt.
For how I feel
Can shape what’s real
Within the memories I’m dealt.
_________________

MPAA rating: R (mainly for language, as well as sexual content)

Despite my falling behind on it, this Blindspot series has been a good opportunity for some firsts. Last time, I reviewed my first Marilyn Monroe film with Some Like It Hot, and now it’s my first exposure to Charlie Kaufman’s existential surrealism. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is sort of like Donnie Darko was for last year’s Blindspots, a film so audacious in its subtlety that I couldn’t help but enjoy its unusual narrative, whether I fully comprehended it or not.

On its surface, Eternal Sunshine is a tale of love gone wrong. Introverted Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) has his life jump-started by the effervescent and capricious Clementine (Kate Winslet), not once but twice. We see them meet on a train from Montauk, only to learn that they’ve already been in a relationship, which ended when Clementine had her memories of Joel erased by the enigmatic Lacuna corporation. In retaliation, Joel commissions the same procedure for himself, and as the irresponsible technicians (Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo) slack off while doing their sci-fi work over the course of a single night, Joel revisits his memories and finds more worth saving than he remembered.

In many ways, Eternal Sunshine is structured as a puzzle that gradually allows itself to be solved, and I love those kinds of movies. Hints are dropped early, with many left till the end to be fully explained, and since Joel’s memories are peeled back from the most recent to the oldest, a lot of the plot is told literally in reverse, which is still easier to follow than anything in Memento. It’s watching these unraveled story threads come together that makes the film even more compelling, beyond the often relatable romance elements. (I’ll admit I saw some of myself in Joel’s self-conscious outlook.)

Since so much of the story takes place inside Joel’s head, it takes numerous surreal turns along the way as it visualizes abstract concepts. Trying to prevent the erasure, Joel tries revisiting previously redacted memories, where faces and lighting are distorted, and later mixes his mental version of Clementine with unrelated childhood memories. It can get weird, or “warped” as Clementine puts it, but even its odder elements remain understandable in the abstract realm of Joel’s mind. Couple that with juggling two Clementines (one in Joel’s head as a representation of his memories of her, the other the real one struggling with her own deleted memories) and a couple ethics-challenging subplots surrounding the Lacuna staff, and Eternal Sunshine clearly boasts an intellectual complexity unique to most Hollywood fare. No wonder Kaufman won Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars that year, and I wish I’d known of the name’s poetic origin when I compiled my Top Twelve Poems in Movies list.

The actors also rise to the challenge, with Jim Carrey standing out even more than Kate Winslet’s manic girlfriend. Even in past dramatic roles like The Truman Show, there were traces of his trademark goofiness, but here he deftly subdues himself to fit the often somber tone of the script. There’s an elegiac urgency to scenes where memories are being erased, people snuffed out of existence and buildings torn apart on a metaphorical, metaphysical level. The effects used are simple but impressive in setting the scene for a series of inescapable dreams.

So often people say they wish they could forget something, but the sci-fi premise of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind challenges them to rethink what might be lost along the way if such a wish were granted. In some ways, the core relationship of Eternal Sunshine isn’t much different from (500) Days of Summer, which also shows the gradual souring of a once-so-sweet romance, albeit in a somewhat more linear fashion. (It’s funny when a film like (500) Days of Summer can be considered “linear” by comparison.) Eternal Sunshine asks whether the memory of such a soul-crushing break-up is worth retaining, especially if we as human beings might end up repeating the same mistakes consciously or not. As Captain Kirk said in one of the few good parts of Star Trek V, “You know that pain and guilt can’t be taken away with a wave of a magic wand. They’re the things we carry with us, the things that make us who we are. If we lose them, we lose ourselves. I don’t want my pain taken away! I need my pain!” Perhaps not everyone would agree that they need it, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be better for it.

 

Best line:  (Mary, played by Kirsten Dunst) “’Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.’  Nietzsche. Beyond Good and Evil. Found it in my Bartlett’s.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up (a darn close one)

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
589 Followers and Counting

 

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Tags

Action, Drama, Thriller

The thrill of a life that is lived on the edge
Lasts only as long as one’s love for the ledge.
Eventually, danger
Is no more a stranger,
And those once so thrilled
Can be left unfulfilled.

And yet who can blame them for normalcy’s dream,
For craving some quiet when life’s been a scream?
While risk has its place
In its white-knuckle pace,
Who wouldn’t wish for
Just a little bit more?
______________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

Now that I’ve gotten around to watching the third Mission: Impossible film, I finally see the unlikely trend that this series seems to have pulled off. Unlike most franchises, its sequels are getting better. Perhaps it was too early to tell that when J.J. Abrams’ third entry hit theaters in 2006, but Mission: Impossible III is easily the best MI so far.

Having shed his long-hair phase and Thandie Newton as his girlfriend-of-the-week, the Ethan Hunt in this threequel is far from the confident flirt in M:i-2; he’s now happily engaged to Julia (Michelle Monaghan) and content to train new agents rather than risk his life in the field, all while keeping Julia and her friends in the dark as to his top-secret career. However, he is soon drawn back to the field to rescue his captured protégé (Keri Russell) and stop a highly dangerous arms dealer (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Leave it to J.J. Abrams to once again reignite a series’ potential, and I bet it was this franchise stint that made him desirable to direct the Star Trek reboot three years later, aided by his frequent co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. From the very first intense scene, he sets the stakes high before flashing back to show how events led there, which isn’t the only Abrams trademark you may notice. (Who else revives characters by pounding on their chest?) Eschewing the over-emphasized slow-motion of its predecessor, this feels like the Mission: Impossible movie I’ve been waiting for. The first two had their defining moments, but M:i:III  has all the twists and turns you’d expect from a spy thriller while building to a surprisingly satisfying conclusion.

Ethan’s desire for a normal relationship and life makes him far more personable than his past appearances, and you can feel his desperation when that life is threatened. Likewise, the villain makes more of an impression, with Hoffman relishing and making the most of his coldly murderous role as black marketeer Owen Davian. One detail I especially liked was the revelation of how those famous face masks are made, including the spy trickery of copying someone’s voice, which is revealed to not be as fast and easy as the second film made it seem.

As I said, this is a Mission: Impossible film done right. Despite the overly-complex plot and the occasional line of hackneyed dialogue, the twists and fast-paced action kept me entertained from start to finish. My VC even pronounced it as (probably) her favorite Tom Cruise movie. If the other films in the series are supposed to be better than this one, I can’t wait for more. Ghost Protocol, here I come!

Best line: (IMF leader Brassel) “Mr. Musgrave, please don’t interrupt me when I’m asking rhetorical questions.” (Although Ethan’s “I’m gonna die unless you kill me” comes close too.)

 

Rank: List-Worthy

 

© 2018 S.G. Liput
589 Followers and Counting

 

Slowing Down

As some might have noticed, I’ve slowed down on blogging considerably. Between a family medical issue and my starting a new college class, it’s been hard to keep up with my usual schedule of movie-watching and writing.

Nevertheless, I just wanted to let everyone know that I’m still around and will post when I have time.  This slower schedule will probably last into January, but I at least want to finish up my Mission: Impossible marathon and my Blindspot series, which I’m behind on but making progress.

I hope everyone has a good Labor Day! Stay tuned; I’m far from done with this blog.