1068 Smooth Talk

[DarkImbecile]

Smooth Talk



Suspended between carefree youth and the harsh realities of the adult world, a teenage girl experiences an unsettling awakening in this haunting vision of innocence lost. Based on the celebrated short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, the narrative debut from Joyce Chopra features a revelatory breakout performance by Laura Dern as Connie, the fifteen-year-old black sheep of her family whose summertime idyll of beach trips, mall hangouts, and innocent flirtations is shattered by an encounter with a mysterious stranger (a memorably menacing Treat Williams). Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Smooth Talk captures the thrill and terror of adolescent sexual exploration as it transforms the conventions of a coming-of-age story into something altogether more troubling and profound.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director Joyce Chopra, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Conversation among Chopra, author Joyce Carol Oates, and actor Laura Dern from the 2020 New York Film Festival, moderated by TCM host Alicia Malone
• New interview with Chopra
• New interviews with actors Mary Kay Place and Treat Williams
• New interview with production designer David Wasco
• KPFK Pacifica Radio interview with Chopra from 1985
• Joyce at 34 (1972), Girls at 12 (1975), and Clorae and Albie (1976), three short films by Chopra
• Audio reading of the 1966 Life magazine article “The Pied Piper of Tucson,” which inspired the short story by Oates
• Trailers
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• An essay by poet and memoirist Honor Moore, a 1986 New York Times article by Oates about the adaptation, and Oates’s 1966 short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

New cover based on an original theatrical poster by Vincent Topaz

[CSM126]

This is a phenomenal movie - one of the finest coming-of-age tales ever filmed. Dern and Williams are electric, performing an extremely precise screenplay that really shows the power of words. Just by saying all the right (or wrong) things, this strange man cuts this girl to the bone and changes her entire world. It’s really something to behold. I look forward to revisiting it when this disc comes out (lucky me I managed to sell the Olive disc for a pretty penny on eBay a few months back). I’m glad to see Smooth Talk get a special edition, since its ripe for discussion and contextualization.

[Boosmahn]

This looks like a stacked edition. The inclusion of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? is great, and I'm interested to see the other Oates-related content.

[colinr0380]

Excellent! I have been curious about this since its opening credits got mashed up with those from Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing in an Are Sounds Electrik video earlier this year!

And it is interesting to see it was produced by Martin Rosen, better known as director of the animated films of Watership Down and The Plague Dogs!

[therewillbeblus]

This is a pretty cynically twisted coming-of-age story when framed as such, but it's an apt descriptor. The script and deliberate pace ruminate on the liberations from restrictions of adolescent yearning, before slamming the door on the ignorance and innocence at once with consequences of what's really out there, and- more pessimistically- the inescapability of avoiding real-world horrors when your sexual development and mere presence is in the field of vision of others outside of your control. What's arousing and what's scary, the blurry line between dangerous and confident, all collide to immerse the viewer in the confusing and daunting experience of sobering up to the world without the skills to see clearly, which is reflected in the enigmatic responses of Dern that mimic flirtation but are questionably rooted in pleasure from the high-stakes games or fear-based defensive mechanisms. The discomfort certainly comes from being afraid of the other's unpredictable force, but there's also a strong hint that the real stinger is sourced in how what transpires may make Dern's own slight perversions of power dynamics conscious to herself, which is unbearable to any and all breeding from her social context. The tonal change may shock some, but it's earned, and boy is it difficult to earn this stomach-dropping third act.

[beamish14]

It's interesting that Smooth Talk and Girlfriends were released by Criterion in close succession. Both are incredibly strong feature debuts
from filmmakers with scant additional major motion picture credits, and it's frustrating that they were both basically cut down by the industry. Chopra
was let go from Bright Lights, Big City by producer James Bridges, ostensibly because she "choked" and was too indecisive on set and she also had her
1990 film The Lemon Sisters recut by Miramax. Other directors like Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust) and Rosalind Chao (Thousand Pieces of
Gold) are still trying to make theatrical follow-up features 3 decades later.

[_shadow_]

Nice to see Criterion use the original poster art, since that's a rarity for them. I wish they would do that more, or embrace reversible covers allowing for new and original artwork.

[PfR73]

...Rosalind Chao (Thousand Pieces of Gold)...

I think there might be a mistake here? According to IMDb, this film was directed by Nancy Kelly, with Rosalind Chao as an actress. I looked it up after reading your post b/c I'm familiar with Rosalind Chao as an actress from Star Trek and M*A*S*H but hadn't been aware she'd directed anything.

[beamish14]

...Rosalind Chao (Thousand Pieces of Gold)...

I think there might be a mistake here? According to IMDb, this film was directed by Nancy Kelly, with Rosalind Chao as an actress. I looked it up after reading your post b/c I'm familiar with Rosalind Chao as an actress from Star Trek and M*A*S*H but hadn't been aware she'd directed anything.

Ha! Good catch. Yes, Nancy Kelly directed it. Excellent film that got a nice restoration and re-release from Kino.

[dwk]

"New interviews with actors Mary Kay Place and Treat Williams" have been added to the special features.

[yoloswegmaster]

Svet Talk

[dwk]

Smooth Beaver (sorry)

[Boosmahn]

It could've been "Smooth Tooze" if GT had reviewed it...

[swo17]

Do you guys even know how puns work?

[Boosmahn]

Half of the DVDBeaver "puns" on this forum aren't puns at all!

[dwk]

Puns? I thought the point was to replace a word with Beaver to make the dirtiest sounding title possible.

[soundchaser]

Yeah, properly speaking it’s more “wordplay” than it is “puns.” (Although the alternative of my custom user title “Beaver to Heaven” came close.)

[barryconvex]

Edit this down to just the third act between Dern and Williams and you're left with one of the great short films of the 80s. Innocence crashing into experience and how it's represented with all its subtleties in two incredible performances has never been so elegantly (so smoothly) captured by any other film that comes to mind. As a whole it just didn't work for me as everything preceding that final 20 minutes seemed completely out of touch with the youth of that era. Along with the frigid mother, the favored sister, the corny soundtrack I really had a tough time with it and still see the first two acts as unnecessary padding added to a truly exceptional short subject.

[pistolwink]

I agree w/ all of that.

The score was puzzling. The various scenes where Dern and other teens were supposed to be deeply feeling the music were unintentionally funny given how square and inapposite that music was. Each music cue felt like there was an "*insert rock music here*" notation in the script and they made do with some music made for when you are put on hold when calling your insurance company's billing department.

This film had a lot going for it in the details, and I suppose the bifurcated structure—the total shift in tone, temporality, etc.—should have been provocative. But it was hard for me to find anything in the first 2/3 that added a great deal to the 1/3 and vice-versa.

[therewillbeblus]

Would that last act be nearly as effective isolated from the two acts preceding it though? The impact is in the sharp turn taken, as Dern sobers to the darkness of the 'reality' she ignorantly wanted to filter as wholly positive in false binary expectations. Williams' enigma's ultimate reveal still contains the smooth talk she expected but also consequences of power and relentless pursuit, reflecting her own inability to turn it off like a movie, blind to the disempowerment in actually living the postured-dream. I think the drama that leads up to this tragically aggressive repercussion for simply engaging in the world helps earn it, and part of that delusional psyche-building of simplified schemas necessitates a home life being seen as 'oppressive' and an outside adult world seen as 'free' and full of possibilities in blanket terms, regardless of how accurate they are. I like to see these acts as serving to support Dern's own self-delusion until the other unwanted possibilities show themselves outside of the fantasy, and both the sugared outside world and bitter home life become messily intertwined and swapped (no coincidence the last act takes place at her 'home'). It's a brilliant trick of a film, but while the punchline is undoubtedly what makes it great, the pitch relies on that windup to affect the audience with such potency. I don't even think the film would work thematically without enough exposition of Dern seeking and enveloping herself in these dreams with half-measures.

[John Cope]

I've always loved this movie since I first saw it many years ago. As someone who grew up in that era I can tell you that for me at least it never seems out of touch. It's absolutely resonant in its smallest details throughout. The long final confrontation is of course the most powerful part but without the slowly developing context of the minutiae gathered around it it wouldn't mean as much and I wouldn't believe it as much either.

[barryconvex]

I can see what you're both saying blu and JC, totally valid counterpoints but I still disagree. Dern at this age and with her incredible skill set somehow already in place needed maybe one expository scene to convey where her character's head space was. No, that's not nearly enough time to develop her entire worldview and showcase her experiences but even without those I feel like I still would've understood something about her and where she was coming from in that last act. One other thing I didn't mention previously- I'm kinda in the dark about Levon Helm's character. From what I gathered he's a typical of the era aloof father. Not uncaring just somewhat clueless about how to relate to teenage girls but Helm is so passive in his portrayal that he comes off more like a distant relative than the man who raised two girls. As the prominent male figure in Dern's life there are aspects of his personality that affect how Dern deals with Williams later on but those subtleties seem more inherent to Dern's character and her skill as an interpreter to incorporate them and not because of anything Helm did or didn't do. I don't want this to sound like it played a big part in my enjoyment of the film, it didn't, it's something I've been trying to square with Dern's character and the way she views the opposite sex.

And then there's Williams who could be any number of things leaning against his GTO in the driveway. My first thought was he was conjured by Dern in a manner similar to a demon in a horror movie. Then I was certain he was a type of Charlie Starkweather figure, a spree killer with Dern as his unwitting accomplice. Neither of those is entirely correct or incorrect but the sense of dread Williams brings to these scenes smiling behind those mirrored sunglasses is as palpable as the sunlight shining down. Another great touch are the symbols on his car which he takes a great deal of pride in pointing out. What exactly do they represent? I have no idea but the choice to leave them unknown makes perfect sense coming from an unknowable character in a moment that's impossible to fully pin down. Williams only appears briefly before the final act and really, he didn't need to be seen at all and it all plays so beautifully when he and Dern do have their time together. Along those lines if Dern came to that scene without the previous two acts of character building it would not have bothered me in the slightest. This is probably personal preference more than anything but I felt that taking it as a separate piece adds a similar abstract element to Dern's character that fits perfectly in a scene already dripping with the enigmatic.

[Mr Sausage]

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[Nw_jahrles]

I thought the parts of the film were greater than the whole. The major set-piece involving Arnold Friend’s surprise visit to the house is executed very effectively from the performances to editing, but for me it turns a character study into a morality play, using scare tactics to demonize Connie’s actions earlier in the film.

[therewillbeblus]

I don't think the film demonizes her actions at all. It's a social horror, one that validates Dern's desire to escape 'reality' into fantasy but- just like real life- there are consequences to simply engaging with the world that she hasn't foreseen. Dern is flirting with her surroundings ignorantly, but it's significant that she never ventures in full-measures outside of a contained morality- she's anxious and tries to stay in the sweet spot of dreaming while walking and not fully consummating these 'deviant' ideals in practice in a way that loses herself. The film seems to be arguing that part of her wants to lose herself to a grown different version of herself that she would hardly recognize, as one vies for in adolescence, but that she cannot escape her 'self' any more than she can the harsh terrain of this outside world. It's absolutely a character study- but one where the actual moment of 'growth' occurs in the last and least-sexy way Dern or we expected, bringing us back to those moments where we were destroyed in real time by the world's invasiveness crushing our dreams and forcing mature development at once. One lesson Dern learns, that is incredibly valuable, is that these 'vacations' from the banal frustrations of constraints in everyday life are ruses and inevitably lead to new forms of restrictions beating us down with reminders of powerlessness. It's tragic that it takes such trauma for her to have this revelation, even if it will save her pain and allow her to stop chasing the mirage of 'feeling good' as a saving grace in the long run.

I think I responded to a similar criticism more in depth last year:

The impact is in the sharp turn taken, as Dern sobers to the darkness of the 'reality' she ignorantly wanted to filter as wholly positive in false binary expectations. Williams' enigma's ultimate reveal still contains the smooth talk she expected but also consequences of power and relentless pursuit, reflecting her own inability to turn it off like a movie, blind to the disempowerment in actually living the postured-dream. I think the drama that leads up to this tragically aggressive repercussion for simply engaging in the world helps earn it, and part of that delusional psyche-building of simplified schemas necessitates a home life being seen as 'oppressive' and an outside adult world seen as 'free' and full of possibilities in blanket terms, regardless of how accurate they are. I like to see these acts as serving to support Dern's own self-delusion until the other unwanted possibilities show themselves outside of the fantasy, and both the sugared outside world and bitter home life become messily intertwined and swapped (no coincidence the last act takes place at her 'home'). It's a brilliant trick of a film, but while the punchline is undoubtedly what makes it great, the pitch relies on that windup to affect the audience with such potency. I don't even think the film would work thematically without enough exposition of Dern seeking and enveloping herself in these dreams with half-measures.