Peter Bogdanovich
- DarkImbecile
- Ask me about my visible cat breasts
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Re: Peter Bogdanovich
That is some excellent work and a badass level of commitment, soundchaser! I assume we all can now just send you requests for other restoration jobs as needed, right?
- soundchaser
- Leave Her to Beaver
- Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2016 12:32 am
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
Thanks! I appreciate that it's been so warmly received -- I know it's not perfect, but it was a lot of fun even when it was frustrating. As to what that says about my commitment to doing other restoration work...I'll let you decide.DarkImbecile wrote: ↑Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:18 pmThat is some excellent work and a badass level of commitment, soundchaser! I assume we all can now just send you requests for other restoration jobs as needed, right?
- barryconvex
- billy..biff..scooter....tommy
- Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:08 pm
- Location: NYC
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
Thank you soundchaser for putting in the time and effort. Can you do anything about removing Burt Reynolds from the rest of the movie?
- soundchaser
- Leave Her to Beaver
- Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2016 12:32 am
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
You jest, but some people would surely be thrilled that this print omits Cybill Shepherd’s opening number entirely...
- barryconvex
- billy..biff..scooter....tommy
- Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:08 pm
- Location: NYC
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
Daisy Miller
From Bogdanovich's dvd introduction it seems pretty clear his heart wasn't totally in this one and it was more of an attempt to keep his old lady happy than anything else. It's not bad and I'd watch it again without reservation but it's a film that hinges on the lead and Shepherd's out of her depth here. The character's meant to be a shallow American, a carefree flower whose perceived uncouth manner and ignorance of class customs upsets the staid ex pat family one of her suitors belongs to, but unfortunately Shepherd interprets carefree as simplistic and plays Daisy as a one note dumbbell. Every line reading is delivered in the same breathless cadence and her attempts at coy playfulness seem neither coy or playful as she leads her two would be suitors around by the nose in a manner that feels more like Jaycee Farrow than Daisy Miller. Bogdanovich strangely omits several scenes leading up to the film's finale which consequently feels hurried and robbed of the impact it should've had. The costumes and locations are gorgeous, Leachman and Brennan are both excellent as usual, if a little underused, and if Shepherd's performance were as fully realized as Barry Brown's this could've been a great one.
From Bogdanovich's dvd introduction it seems pretty clear his heart wasn't totally in this one and it was more of an attempt to keep his old lady happy than anything else. It's not bad and I'd watch it again without reservation but it's a film that hinges on the lead and Shepherd's out of her depth here. The character's meant to be a shallow American, a carefree flower whose perceived uncouth manner and ignorance of class customs upsets the staid ex pat family one of her suitors belongs to, but unfortunately Shepherd interprets carefree as simplistic and plays Daisy as a one note dumbbell. Every line reading is delivered in the same breathless cadence and her attempts at coy playfulness seem neither coy or playful as she leads her two would be suitors around by the nose in a manner that feels more like Jaycee Farrow than Daisy Miller. Bogdanovich strangely omits several scenes leading up to the film's finale which consequently feels hurried and robbed of the impact it should've had. The costumes and locations are gorgeous, Leachman and Brennan are both excellent as usual, if a little underused, and if Shepherd's performance were as fully realized as Barry Brown's this could've been a great one.
- barryconvex
- billy..biff..scooter....tommy
- Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:08 pm
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Re: Peter Bogdanovich
That's really unfortunate, Shepherd is great in the movie. She can't sing but there's so much more to it than that. Harder to defend is her LP of Porter tunes from 1974 called Cybill Does It... ...To Cole Porter.soundchaser wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 2:24 amYou jest, but some people would surely be thrilled that this print omits Cybill Shepherd’s opening number entirely...
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
Whether you like him or not, you’re basically asking to take out at least half of the jokes!barryconvex wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 1:51 amThank you soundchaser for putting in the time and effort. Can you do anything about removing Burt Reynolds from the rest of the movie?
- barryconvex
- billy..biff..scooter....tommy
- Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:08 pm
- Location: NYC
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
I know, I know... I just couldn't resist getting one more lick in. I do like to take potshots at ol' Burt, God rest his virile soul, but I promise that was the last one.
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
I’m curious to how you’d react to Starting Over if you haven’t already seen it, as it really is Burt in completely downplayed apathy mode that gives way to deadpan humor as well as honest drama in depicting the behavior of the emotionally confused as numbed. It may sway you a bit from his louder perfs, or at the very least surprise (and the two female perfs are so great you can’t lose)
- barryconvex
- billy..biff..scooter....tommy
- Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:08 pm
- Location: NYC
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
I'm pretty sure I watched Starting Over years ago but I don't remember anything about it if I did. Funnily enough I've come here today to praise Burt for his work in Nickelodeon which I think worked so well for me partly because he had Ryan O'Neal as a foil in a great many of his scenes. It's not just O'Neal though, I genuinely liked Reynolds approach in this one as it differed from his usual take on boorish- something which he usually handled with overbearing arrogance coupled with a healthy dose of oily smarm should his character have a love interest, but here he ditches his usual schtick and goes for sweet and dim with a brilliantly effective southern accent that grounds his character when his ego becomes over inflated after the first act.
I loved the movie as a whole even if I missed seeing Shepherd in a role that she would've been perfect for. I've read a couple of reviews now (including Ebert's original from 1976) dismissing the work of Ryan O'Neal. Am I missing something? I thought he was truly inspired here, giving one of his greatest performances, the very heart of the movie. The entire sequence after he arrives by train to the desolate prairie town and ends up joining the film crew while discovering his talent for directing is one of the best of Bogdanovich's career and O'Neal is the engine for it.
Nobody could walk the tightrope of nostalgia as deftly as Bogdanovich did during his career peak and the back to back triumphs of this and At Long Last Love are so effective because he keeps the mood light and away from slushy mawkishness, writing sentimentality into his characters' natures as one of their many aspects which allows it to come across naturally, as if it were something inherent in the DNA of both films. Period costumes and other details only fill in part of the picture, he cast great actors and got great performances out of them and Reynolds work here is a perfect example.
I loved the movie as a whole even if I missed seeing Shepherd in a role that she would've been perfect for. I've read a couple of reviews now (including Ebert's original from 1976) dismissing the work of Ryan O'Neal. Am I missing something? I thought he was truly inspired here, giving one of his greatest performances, the very heart of the movie. The entire sequence after he arrives by train to the desolate prairie town and ends up joining the film crew while discovering his talent for directing is one of the best of Bogdanovich's career and O'Neal is the engine for it.
Nobody could walk the tightrope of nostalgia as deftly as Bogdanovich did during his career peak and the back to back triumphs of this and At Long Last Love are so effective because he keeps the mood light and away from slushy mawkishness, writing sentimentality into his characters' natures as one of their many aspects which allows it to come across naturally, as if it were something inherent in the DNA of both films. Period costumes and other details only fill in part of the picture, he cast great actors and got great performances out of them and Reynolds work here is a perfect example.
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
I can understand criticisms of Ryan O’Neal, but I think he’s just been used tremendously well in several films. His range is limited insofar as he can demonstrate emotion but naturally comes off as desperate and childlike, which risks this emotion being read as inauthentic. So his best roles capitalize on this very quality. In What’s Up, Doc? he’s a screwball type allowing for him to flounder in an exaggerated archetype, in Nickelodeon he plays another half-screwball, half-director ‘stand in’ caricature embodying immature narcissism and genuine star struck innocence/ignorance, and in Paper Moon (probably his best “acting” job) he literally plays a con artist who is inauthentic as a career so his personality bleeds between real and manipulative scenes well and highlights how ill-equipped and selfish he is in handling life. Barry Lyndon is even more of an obvious usage as the character is meant to be solipsistically unaware and thin in wearing a weak mask of fake emotionality that breaks as soon as he gets anything worthwhile or is threatened in the slightest way. Personally I like him a lot, but part of that is due to the roles he’s been molded, or molded himself, into!
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
I showed Nickelodeon every year in my film studies class and it never failed to be one of my students’ favorite films. One student’s mom told me how he even picked it to be the big family movie watching event at their Christmas that year
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
The 70s project is a long way's off but looking at my own current list, four Bogdanovich films are in the top twenty, and could easily all sneak into the top ten depending on how optimistic my mindset is during the polling! He is the MVP of that decade for me, and his best film isn't even in it.
This is as good a time as any to mention that Nickelodeon, while not having a great stateside release, has a good R2 DVD that I bought on eBay for ~$6 a few months ago (and see currently listings around that price for a sealed copy). Unfortunately it appears to no longer be available to stream for free on amazon prime though. I slept on this one for years after struggling to look in the right places and couldn't recommend it highly enough for fans of the director. For someone who made at least five perfect films, rankings become arbitrary but this one is close enough to my heart to edge itself into the third spot some days.. (and the first two are in my all time top ten)
This is as good a time as any to mention that Nickelodeon, while not having a great stateside release, has a good R2 DVD that I bought on eBay for ~$6 a few months ago (and see currently listings around that price for a sealed copy). Unfortunately it appears to no longer be available to stream for free on amazon prime though. I slept on this one for years after struggling to look in the right places and couldn't recommend it highly enough for fans of the director. For someone who made at least five perfect films, rankings become arbitrary but this one is close enough to my heart to edge itself into the third spot some days.. (and the first two are in my all time top ten)
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: Peter Bogdanovich
There was a stateside double feature with Last Picture Show that had two versions of Nickelodeon— the original color and the revisionist black and white version with two additional scenes (that don’t add much). Before that came out I had the UK disc though and can recommend
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
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Re: Peter Bogdanovich
That's this version. If I already have this, is it worth getting the UK edition?
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
I was aware of that stateside release but didn't think it had the color version too - or the additional scenes. Too bad they aren't worthwhile.
When is someone going to release At Long Last Love again on blu-ray? The current OOP edition is going for The Third Man prices by third-party sellers for god's sake
When is someone going to release At Long Last Love again on blu-ray? The current OOP edition is going for The Third Man prices by third-party sellers for god's sake
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
The UK version is the same as the color version on the Sony R1 disc, no reason to pick it up if you already have it. The black and white version is a one and done viewing experience, but I’ve returned to the color version for teaching and can confirm it’s on there
The extra scenes are an additional scene of Stella Stevens’ romantic frustration that better sets up her final choice in the film, and a pie fight
The extra scenes are an additional scene of Stella Stevens’ romantic frustration that better sets up her final choice in the film, and a pie fight
- jazzo
- Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:02 am
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
Looks like Paper Moon, Targets and Last Picture Show have been added to the Criterion Channel. Or maybe they were already there (I don't actually subscribe to the channel). In either case, does this bode well for Criterion editions of Paper Moon and Targets, and maybe a new deluxe edition of Last Picture Show (with Texasville's director's cut, of course)?
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
I've been surprised at how long they've waited on The Last Picture Show after annual reissues of singles from the set back to back years. Seems like an easy release to manufacture using the same material, so maybe it'll be an upgrade? But I doubt it. Paper Moon has been on the shortlist of "Why has nobody in the states put this out on blu-ray yet?" for a while now, it's pretty mindboggling.
- barryconvex
- billy..biff..scooter....tommy
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Re: Peter Bogdanovich
Texasville is the one I'm most looking forward to revisiting, my lone viewing was at least 25 years ago around the time I first saw Last Picture Show. After revisiting Paper Moon and finally watching What's Up, Doc for the first time my estimation of Ryan O'Neal has expanded even further. His range isn't huge but give him a (semi) comedic role and he's like a duck in water.
- jazzo
- Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:02 am
Peter Bogdanovich
Absolutely. And I’ve never seen the laserdisc director’s cut, only the DVD theatrical version. I figure if I just keep posting in this forum like Criterion is actually releasing this thing, eventually they’ll have no choice but to do so.
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
If you are able to track it down, I'd highly suggest Illegally Yours (I found it somewhere on the internet streaming for free, after some digging, but don't remember where). Rob Lowe does his John Ritter/Ryan O'Neal screwball-Bogdanovich impression and nails it pretty well. Also, probably more in tone with Texasville, I'm finding that The Thing Called Love is only growing on me as I reflect on it, especially as the film appears to be Bogdanovich finally having recovered to a place where he can therapeutically face his past shedding some defenses, recalling TAL from a more clinically reserved space. In some ways it's his most tragic film because he's reaching out for and able to see this magical perspective from the past and yet cannot bring himself to grasp it with the same subjective alignment of optimism. On a broader scale this mirrors how nostalgia works for many of us as we grow and pine for that past mental state and young attitude on our way to self-actualization, so it becomes a reference for a stage of universal therapy as well as specific to Bogdanovich's own life path.
- jazzo
- Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:02 am
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
I am also finding much comfort, during these unsettling times, in revisiting the humanistic comedies and dramas of Peter Bogdanovich, so in that spirit, I was very happy to sit down with THE THING CALLED LOVE the other night, which is something that I haven’t seen since its original theatrical release back in 1993. I remember only being so-so on it back then. But this was the expanded director’s cut, and I have personally found that all of PB’s expanded DVD versions work just beautifully for me, giving even more weight and depth to already impressive films, as their characters search for pathways out of the narrow (and often self-imposed) physical and/or emotional parameters they find themselves stuck in.
These longer cuts live and breathe and, most importantly, they seem do so with real honesty.
But I am somewhat sad to report that THE THING CALLED LOVE (TTCL) has evolved, in the almost-thirty years since I first watched it, from being so-so to insufferable. While the intentions of this film are admirable – to chronicle the lives of people, not only trying to break into an industry that had almost no entry point (at least back in 1992), but also who love someone who might be damaging to them, or who doesn’t necessarily return their feelings in the same way – the execution of those intentions is ultimately a failure, although not an absolute one, just in comparison to the wonders PB is usually capable of.
Bogdanovich has never been an in-your-face visual stylist, although I would argue that his images are quite breathtaking in what they chose to capture or, particularly when he uses long-lenses for voyeuristic observation, not capture through their classical frame, but TTCL feels very flat to me, like a TV movie from the eighties. That might simply be a result of its budgetary restrictions, but nothing in it every really comes alive, and I’ve never felt that way about any of PB’s aesthetic before.
Neither of the leads are remotely likable as characters, constantly passing judgement on others that they feel are beneath their talents, even when they find themselves enjoying the company of the very folks they are condescending to or judging. I suppose an argument could be made that these foibles make them more human and, consequently, more realistic, but I’m not sure that James and Miranda actually earn that realism. Their internal flaws feel more convenient than honest, like they were necessary shorthand for dramatic thrust in the film, but not necessarily for the internal development of their characters. Because, in spite of the modest successes in careers and relationships by picture’s end, they just don’t seem to change all that much. And, I’m not trying to suggest that every character needs “growth”. I find Paul Thomas Anderson’s THE MASTER invigorating for that very reason, as both men remain the same sociopaths that they were when the film began, except now at peace with their behaviours and societal separation. But something about TTCL’s two lead characters’ emotional flaws and inertia strikes me as hollow, I guess because I feel that they aren’t really flawed, they’re just assholes.
I understand that Sandra Bullock’s Linda-Lue and Dermot Mulroney’s Kyle are searching for kinship in such a competitive community – especially considering how they seem to lack much of the self-confidence that James and Miranda exude and draw people in with. We all have friends or loved ones circulating in our lives that are bad for us. But Kyle and Linda-Lue are so earnest and so generous, I just don’t believe their forgiveness of such awful, selfish people, or why they would feel a connection to these two in the first place.
Incidentally, Bullock, Mulroney, and K.T. Olsen as the manager of the communal country music club, are the best things about this film, and all three of their performances come off far more honest than the two leads.
Samantha Mathis is flat-out terrible. She’s unable to make a single believable connection with any other actor on screen, jokes fall flat as pancakes around her, and none of her dialogue flows naturally. She was never a great actress, but whatever cynical-yet-earnest aspect of her PUMP OF THE VOLUME performance that eighteen year-old me was entranced by in 1990, sure didn’t transpose to her work in TTCL two years later. I do feel bad for her. It is, without question, hard to act or perform music in front of anyone, and this film asks her to do both, often simultaneously. Yet she just can’t seem to do either very well. She confuses sarcasm with intelligence, and seems more interested in pouting than emoting. It isn’t surprising that her career stalled out after this. She doesn’t inspire confidence that she can carry a film.
And, like most of my generation (X), I was (and am) a huge River Phoenix fan. Despite the fact that his brief filmography is littered with a many stinkers as there are gems, even his earliest performances had depths and textures that most of his North American male contemporaries simply weren’t delivering, or capable of delivering, really, (although that might be unfair. I seem to recall Ethan Hawke admitting in an interview that he was only ever offered roles that his friend, River, turned down, so he never really got the opportunity to show his depths and abilities until much later in his career). So, the big surprise to me with this go-round of TTCL, was how horrible I thought Phoenix was. He, too, chooses to emote (and sing) though a permanent scowl that distracts from his actual performance, and consequently calls way too much attention to the artifice of it. He goes for tortured and moody, but it’s all affectation and quite off-putting.
I feel no warmth for either of them, which is something that I suppose I require if I am being to asked empathize with flawed, self-indulgent, but genuinely well-intentioned characters trying to create art.
In the interview on the disc’s special features, Bogdanovich calls it River Phoenix’s fist mature performance. That unfairly dismissive statement seems to come from the egotist part Bogdanovich that occasionally seeps out, but I couldn’t disagree more. Phoenix was giving beautiful, nuanced performances in every stage of his career, not just once ol’ PB got a hold of him. If he means “adult”, rather than mature, I would argue that Phoenix’s performance (and Lili Taylor’s performance, for that matter) in Nancy Savoca’s 1991 picture, DOGFIGHT, is his most subtle and moving adult role, and would heartily recommend that sublime gem to anyone looking for an honest chronicle of lonely, damaged people learning to trust themselves enough to forge connections with others.
Oddly enough, the film that THE THING CALLED LOVE reminded me most of (and seems to be spiritually connected to) is another phony-baloney picture about youth entering the confusing world of adulthood, released right around the same time; Ben Stiller’s REALITY BITES. That film – an undeserved touchstone for many GenXers – like this one, is also anchored by two horrible lead performances embodying two horrible characters who need to belittle their best friends’ choices and begrudge them the little victories in their lives in order to feel better about themselves. And, also like TTCL, the supporting characters in Reality Bites, as portrayed by Steve Zahn, Janeane Garofalo, and Ben Stiller, and far more relatable and interesting to watch than Winona Ryder or Ethan Hawke, even when the film tries (and, in my opinion, fails) to villainize Stiller’s otherwise fairly sweet character with one horribly contrived hollow note as a “corporate sellout”, inferring that his misguided attempt to jump-start his girlfriend’s fledgling filmmaking career was reason enough to choose, instead, a life with a condescending and abusive douchebag like Hawke’s character, Troy.
Between these two films and Cameron Crowe’s SINGLES, something must have been in the water back in the early nineties that made filmmakers think assholes needed a voice.
I wish I liked THE THING CALLED LOVE MORE. I really do. It’s the type of low-key, character-driven film that usually fits snug inside my heart. But in the end, I couldn’t, although I also couldn’t hate it. I just felt deflated by it. I would choose any of Bogdanovich’s other work, or something like ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (which is what this mess of a picture desperately wishes it could be), over it any day of the week.
These longer cuts live and breathe and, most importantly, they seem do so with real honesty.
But I am somewhat sad to report that THE THING CALLED LOVE (TTCL) has evolved, in the almost-thirty years since I first watched it, from being so-so to insufferable. While the intentions of this film are admirable – to chronicle the lives of people, not only trying to break into an industry that had almost no entry point (at least back in 1992), but also who love someone who might be damaging to them, or who doesn’t necessarily return their feelings in the same way – the execution of those intentions is ultimately a failure, although not an absolute one, just in comparison to the wonders PB is usually capable of.
Bogdanovich has never been an in-your-face visual stylist, although I would argue that his images are quite breathtaking in what they chose to capture or, particularly when he uses long-lenses for voyeuristic observation, not capture through their classical frame, but TTCL feels very flat to me, like a TV movie from the eighties. That might simply be a result of its budgetary restrictions, but nothing in it every really comes alive, and I’ve never felt that way about any of PB’s aesthetic before.
Neither of the leads are remotely likable as characters, constantly passing judgement on others that they feel are beneath their talents, even when they find themselves enjoying the company of the very folks they are condescending to or judging. I suppose an argument could be made that these foibles make them more human and, consequently, more realistic, but I’m not sure that James and Miranda actually earn that realism. Their internal flaws feel more convenient than honest, like they were necessary shorthand for dramatic thrust in the film, but not necessarily for the internal development of their characters. Because, in spite of the modest successes in careers and relationships by picture’s end, they just don’t seem to change all that much. And, I’m not trying to suggest that every character needs “growth”. I find Paul Thomas Anderson’s THE MASTER invigorating for that very reason, as both men remain the same sociopaths that they were when the film began, except now at peace with their behaviours and societal separation. But something about TTCL’s two lead characters’ emotional flaws and inertia strikes me as hollow, I guess because I feel that they aren’t really flawed, they’re just assholes.
I understand that Sandra Bullock’s Linda-Lue and Dermot Mulroney’s Kyle are searching for kinship in such a competitive community – especially considering how they seem to lack much of the self-confidence that James and Miranda exude and draw people in with. We all have friends or loved ones circulating in our lives that are bad for us. But Kyle and Linda-Lue are so earnest and so generous, I just don’t believe their forgiveness of such awful, selfish people, or why they would feel a connection to these two in the first place.
Incidentally, Bullock, Mulroney, and K.T. Olsen as the manager of the communal country music club, are the best things about this film, and all three of their performances come off far more honest than the two leads.
Samantha Mathis is flat-out terrible. She’s unable to make a single believable connection with any other actor on screen, jokes fall flat as pancakes around her, and none of her dialogue flows naturally. She was never a great actress, but whatever cynical-yet-earnest aspect of her PUMP OF THE VOLUME performance that eighteen year-old me was entranced by in 1990, sure didn’t transpose to her work in TTCL two years later. I do feel bad for her. It is, without question, hard to act or perform music in front of anyone, and this film asks her to do both, often simultaneously. Yet she just can’t seem to do either very well. She confuses sarcasm with intelligence, and seems more interested in pouting than emoting. It isn’t surprising that her career stalled out after this. She doesn’t inspire confidence that she can carry a film.
And, like most of my generation (X), I was (and am) a huge River Phoenix fan. Despite the fact that his brief filmography is littered with a many stinkers as there are gems, even his earliest performances had depths and textures that most of his North American male contemporaries simply weren’t delivering, or capable of delivering, really, (although that might be unfair. I seem to recall Ethan Hawke admitting in an interview that he was only ever offered roles that his friend, River, turned down, so he never really got the opportunity to show his depths and abilities until much later in his career). So, the big surprise to me with this go-round of TTCL, was how horrible I thought Phoenix was. He, too, chooses to emote (and sing) though a permanent scowl that distracts from his actual performance, and consequently calls way too much attention to the artifice of it. He goes for tortured and moody, but it’s all affectation and quite off-putting.
I feel no warmth for either of them, which is something that I suppose I require if I am being to asked empathize with flawed, self-indulgent, but genuinely well-intentioned characters trying to create art.
In the interview on the disc’s special features, Bogdanovich calls it River Phoenix’s fist mature performance. That unfairly dismissive statement seems to come from the egotist part Bogdanovich that occasionally seeps out, but I couldn’t disagree more. Phoenix was giving beautiful, nuanced performances in every stage of his career, not just once ol’ PB got a hold of him. If he means “adult”, rather than mature, I would argue that Phoenix’s performance (and Lili Taylor’s performance, for that matter) in Nancy Savoca’s 1991 picture, DOGFIGHT, is his most subtle and moving adult role, and would heartily recommend that sublime gem to anyone looking for an honest chronicle of lonely, damaged people learning to trust themselves enough to forge connections with others.
Oddly enough, the film that THE THING CALLED LOVE reminded me most of (and seems to be spiritually connected to) is another phony-baloney picture about youth entering the confusing world of adulthood, released right around the same time; Ben Stiller’s REALITY BITES. That film – an undeserved touchstone for many GenXers – like this one, is also anchored by two horrible lead performances embodying two horrible characters who need to belittle their best friends’ choices and begrudge them the little victories in their lives in order to feel better about themselves. And, also like TTCL, the supporting characters in Reality Bites, as portrayed by Steve Zahn, Janeane Garofalo, and Ben Stiller, and far more relatable and interesting to watch than Winona Ryder or Ethan Hawke, even when the film tries (and, in my opinion, fails) to villainize Stiller’s otherwise fairly sweet character with one horribly contrived hollow note as a “corporate sellout”, inferring that his misguided attempt to jump-start his girlfriend’s fledgling filmmaking career was reason enough to choose, instead, a life with a condescending and abusive douchebag like Hawke’s character, Troy.
Between these two films and Cameron Crowe’s SINGLES, something must have been in the water back in the early nineties that made filmmakers think assholes needed a voice.
I wish I liked THE THING CALLED LOVE MORE. I really do. It’s the type of low-key, character-driven film that usually fits snug inside my heart. But in the end, I couldn’t, although I also couldn’t hate it. I just felt deflated by it. I would choose any of Bogdanovich’s other work, or something like ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (which is what this mess of a picture desperately wishes it could be), over it any day of the week.
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
I'm sorry you didn't like the film jazzo, and I can't really argue much with what you've said (other than your reading of The Master, and the throwing around of the word "sociopath" - maybe it doesn't follow the 'expected' path to showing characters pining for validation and emotional connection where it comes off as almost impenetrably hazy and complex, but to say these characters were numb to that need is against the entire point of the film!) What moves me about That Thing Called love is 100% influenced by where it fits in Bogdanovich's own filmography and viewed in that context vs. in a vacuum the film takes on a different meaning. I don't think the flat and deflating nature of the milieu or characters has to do with budget or acting so much as energy from the filmmaker, who at this point was beginning to access some semblance of passion but still stunted by his own trauma and incapable of diving into that optimism. I liken it to the idea of someone who is coming out of a depression and believes that they're acting normally but their expression looks despondent even if they feel okay relative to how they did before. There is a 'realism' to this film as Boganovich sees it within his fantasy world, the magic stripped away to acknowledge the muck within everyone and everything, but still glimmers of positivity in music, and hope in the act of connection even if they don't amount to the majestic levels of his earlier work, and earlier love. It's very much a film about resilience in him as a person reflected into a picture with twisted ambivalence between the optimism his heart wants and the pathos his heart feels.
Since I didn't watch it outside of this context, I can't judge it any other way, but if I try to I can absolutely see its flaws and how its characters could come off in a repellent way. It may not be a great film, but it's probably my favorite of his post-TAL work, at least as far as drama, solely due to the energy it brings within this contextual analysis - though an argument can certainly also be made for Texasville, which does something similar in peeling back the cinematic romantic skin of The Last Picture Show to reveal the core of Bogdanovich's blunt worldview in that moment in time.
Since I didn't watch it outside of this context, I can't judge it any other way, but if I try to I can absolutely see its flaws and how its characters could come off in a repellent way. It may not be a great film, but it's probably my favorite of his post-TAL work, at least as far as drama, solely due to the energy it brings within this contextual analysis - though an argument can certainly also be made for Texasville, which does something similar in peeling back the cinematic romantic skin of The Last Picture Show to reveal the core of Bogdanovich's blunt worldview in that moment in time.
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- Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 3:07 pm
Re: Peter Bogdanovich
I'm of the opinion that Noises Off! and The Thing Called Love is one of the strongest double-punches from a major
director in the last 30 years. The former is just one of the funniest films I have ever seen in my entire life. It's rare to experience a
comedy that is so perfectly executed and has every single element work perfectly in sync, but that one does. Thing Called Love
is so beautifully observed and constructed.I'm glad you mentioned Singles, jazzo, as it is an interesting counterpoint to it.
Singles feels inauthentic and forced, not to mention the fact that Cameron Crowe can't write a third act to save his life.
I adore Mathis and Phoenix's performances, and you can't help but recognize that he might be the biggest actor in the world today
if he was still with us.
director in the last 30 years. The former is just one of the funniest films I have ever seen in my entire life. It's rare to experience a
comedy that is so perfectly executed and has every single element work perfectly in sync, but that one does. Thing Called Love
is so beautifully observed and constructed.I'm glad you mentioned Singles, jazzo, as it is an interesting counterpoint to it.
Singles feels inauthentic and forced, not to mention the fact that Cameron Crowe can't write a third act to save his life.
I adore Mathis and Phoenix's performances, and you can't help but recognize that he might be the biggest actor in the world today
if he was still with us.