I just watched this on DVD. (Yes, it is available now, at least at "Cinefile" the best video store in L.A.) And like some of the other reviews have said, it is indeed a work of art, done in the New Wave European style of the 60's & & 70's. It's rather slow and barren and bleak (like the world its characters move through), even when it's brightly-lit, well-shot, and cutting or moving fast. It's main themes and vibes are all about alienation, emptiness, futility, despair... The closest thing cinematically I can compare it to (and yes, I mean it as a huge and honest compliment) is the best of Antonioni's brand of exquisitely-realized alienation, in things like "L'Aventura" and "Red Desert".
Here you've got a 30-ish Hollywood actress, fading in beauty and belief, played so well by Tuesday Weld that when she's on screen (which is for most of the movie) you can just see and feel the energy and light going out of her right there in front of you.
The people around her aren't even particularly evil or mean; they're just THERE. But not there for her, or even for themselves. They're just self-consumed, petty, lost in their blase confusions and self-delusions. Her (ex-)husband film director, his lead actress, the wife and the mother of her gay film-producer friend (played awesomely by a quietly-aching Anthony Perkins), the cops who pull her over, her past and present f...k-buddies, the doctors at the loony-bin she ends up in, none of them hold any particular interest or key to anything for her. They're just hollow statues along her path, much like the generic road-signs she shoots at for no seeming reason while driving between the desert and L.A.
Alone in having any meaning for her is Perkins, the gay producer who is her only actual friend. But even he has nothing to offer her except "nothing", as that is what he has come to find the meaning of life to be. Their suffering chemistry together is palpable and painful to witness, culminating in their last shared time together and parting of ways...
This movie, quiet and painful though it is, is indeed a masterpiece of its kind. And not one that would ever be made today (with any studio-backing, at least... every now and then one like this, or "Requiem for a Dream" slips by). Unfortunately, LaLa Land (where I've lived for many years), and the world at large, haven't changed. I've known a few folks here who've been SO MUCH like these characters, and sadly suffered their same fates...
I hope I've made pretty clear why I think this is a difficult yet awesome movie, and let you know why you should or should not watch it. It's Really Good for "Nothing".
Here you've got a 30-ish Hollywood actress, fading in beauty and belief, played so well by Tuesday Weld that when she's on screen (which is for most of the movie) you can just see and feel the energy and light going out of her right there in front of you.
The people around her aren't even particularly evil or mean; they're just THERE. But not there for her, or even for themselves. They're just self-consumed, petty, lost in their blase confusions and self-delusions. Her (ex-)husband film director, his lead actress, the wife and the mother of her gay film-producer friend (played awesomely by a quietly-aching Anthony Perkins), the cops who pull her over, her past and present f...k-buddies, the doctors at the loony-bin she ends up in, none of them hold any particular interest or key to anything for her. They're just hollow statues along her path, much like the generic road-signs she shoots at for no seeming reason while driving between the desert and L.A.
Alone in having any meaning for her is Perkins, the gay producer who is her only actual friend. But even he has nothing to offer her except "nothing", as that is what he has come to find the meaning of life to be. Their suffering chemistry together is palpable and painful to witness, culminating in their last shared time together and parting of ways...
This movie, quiet and painful though it is, is indeed a masterpiece of its kind. And not one that would ever be made today (with any studio-backing, at least... every now and then one like this, or "Requiem for a Dream" slips by). Unfortunately, LaLa Land (where I've lived for many years), and the world at large, haven't changed. I've known a few folks here who've been SO MUCH like these characters, and sadly suffered their same fates...
I hope I've made pretty clear why I think this is a difficult yet awesome movie, and let you know why you should or should not watch it. It's Really Good for "Nothing".