Yesterday the saga of getting a new computer concluded. My new MacBook showed up a few weeks ago with a bad memory card. So every time I turned on the computer it would beep at me. Terrible for my self esteem. We sent it back and it returned, as good as new, yesterday. Much too much fun. Also came with an iTouch, which is more fun than the computer. My dad is very jealous of the whole thing.
Aside from messing with my new computer, I watched "The Deer Hunter" yesterday. It wasn't as depressing as "Holocaust," but close. We've moved from World War II to Vietnam and from Berlin to rural Pennsylvania.
So, made in 1977, released in 1978, directed by Michael Cimino. Stars Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken. Oh and Meryl Streep. Of course. Tells the story of five guys in a mill town in Pennsylvania. The story starts on the eve of Steven's (John Savage) marriage to Angela, who is pregnant with another man's child. The next week Steven, Nick (Walken) and Michael (De Niro) ship out to Vietnam. They don't waste time. But before leaving they must go through the male bonding experience of hunting for deer. Hence the name. I'm sorry, I cannot understand the appeal of hunting for some reason other than survival. It's destructive and the mountains look really cold. But very symbolic. They head off to Vietnam and it all goes downhill from there.
I never know when to stop recapping. I don't want to give away the whole film, but there's no point in talking about it if I'm rambling on about base abstractions.
Meryl plays a woman named Linda who starts off the film involves with Walken's character. I thought she was interesting because she's a witness to events the main characters experience. By being distanced (literally, she stays in the US while the men go to Vietnam) we can see it in another perspective.
It's one of those movies where stuff just happens. The audience is plopped down in the middle of a story. We're expected to pick things up as we go and hope a story appears. Lack of exposition, that's what I'm trying to say. Luckily, Cimino's knows what he's doing and we don't get lost, but I could see it going very badly. I'm slow, I didn't have a clear handle on the plot until fifteen minutes in. Before that we witness Steven's Russian (I think) mother in a church bemoaning her son's marriage to a strange woman and quick departure to Vietnam. "I don't understand, father," she moans to the priest. Don't worry, we don't either.
But we get it eventually and it's a very gripping story.
I took notes for the beginning for the movie, before I lost interest. Christopher Walken stole his hairstyle from Luke Skywalker. There's an excellent scene in which we get the a pre-show to Hairspray while all five guys lipsynch and play pool in flannel shirts. If it were a different movie it might lead to gay love. It's not. Still very much a buddy movie though. But enjoy those happy scenes. There's only like two.
Cast-y bits: John Cazale, who plays Stan (who plays one of the five guys), was Meryl Streep's fiancee at the time. He was really sick with bone cancer during filming and the producers were worried he might die before the project was finished and wanted to replace him. Meryl threatened to quit if they did. Isn't she awesome? Unfortunately, Cazale died shortly after filming finished. He was only in five films in his career but all of them were nominated for best picture. Quite the legacy.
Overall cool movie scale: 8. It's the kind of movie that makes you think. I always recommend those.
Action scale: 9. This was intense! I got my car chase (more of a drag race, but close enough), and machine guns and setting people on fire and helicopter rescues. Crazy crazy!
Script scale: 6. Much more of a show movie than a tell movie, but I liked it.
Other creative-y stuff scale: 8. I know nothing about cameras and filming and angles and whatnot, but I really liked the way this was shot. It was very up close and personal and kind of unpolished and that was perfect for the story.
Nerdy bits scale: 7. I read on imdb that Walken's character and De Niro's character could have been switched. I thought about it and that totally changes the message of the movie. Cool idea. Also, wikipedia tells me the movie was inspired by a story by Erich Maria Remarque. So we can take Germans after the first world war and they can lead to Americans in Vietnam. Fancy that.
Streep Scale: 8. Nominated for a Oscar. She's gorgeous in this. The perspective of her character is fascinating.
Now I have to go watch the rest of "Manhattan" even though I'd rather watch old [title of show] show episodes on YouTube.
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