The Long Goodbye

The first Robert Altman film I've ever seen, and what a great first impression.

This film uses an interesting technique with it's sound design-leaving in large parts of dialogue in from the background. This makes you feel as if you are an observer-maybe you won't catch every plot point stated, but as this movie progresses you can still figure out what's going on. This technique in this movie allows you to infer what is going on rather than being force-fed every bit of information. I found this quite annoying at first, but I grew to love it. It allows you to learn more about Marlowe because you witness his interactions with anyone he crosses paths with. there is more room for interpretation on what kind of person he is.

Marlowe is a well written independent character. Within the first few minutes of the movie his quirky personality shines, and this quirkiness rolls over into the way he works. It makes for quite an entertaining private investigator-and a good one.

Overall, The Long Goodbye was a great movie.

Five Easy Pieces

Five Easy Pieces

Directed by Bob Rafelson

It's interesting to see Jack Nicholson at an early age. Overall as an actor, he doesn't really blow my mind, but in Five Easy Pieces, he does a pretty solid job.

Five Easy Pieces is about a man, Robert, and his journey through adulthood without any real goals. This film prime real estate for young people because what Robert is going through, many people my age are going through as well-feelings of constantly being uncomfortable with where you are at in your life. The natural reaction to these feeling, at least for me, are to change my surroundings. Going somewhere new can give you the illusion of completely starting over just as Robert did. However, this isn't something that should be carried through adulthood. You'll never be satisfied with yourself constantly changing in that manner. Robert's only relationship that mattered in his life was with his sister. He detached himself from everyone, accept for a woman whom he met when he visited his parents house. Bobby let go and became vulnerable with this woman. She seemed to be the only one who had a chance at saving this mess that had become Bobby's life, but she turned away from him. This caused him fall back to what he knew-run when shit gets bad.

Now, to back away from meaning applicable to my life, Five Easy Pieces has characters who incredibly well written and compliment each other perfectly. The best example of this is the aesthetic between Rayette and Bobby. This film has little/no score, which is a choice that I find crucial when a filmmaker wants to really suck its audience in. I mean, life doesn't have any music, so why should a slice-of-life film?