I just finished watching The Last Picture Show. Actually, I finished watching it more than an hour ago. I have spent the past 65 minutes in reverie attempting to discern precisely what this movie made me feel.
Let's start with the individual who fueled my desire to bump this movie up some 300 places on my Netflix queue, to that coveted #1 slot...Stephen King. I read Lisey's Story about a month and a half ago. The book was ok (not one of his best, in my opinion)...but The Last Picture Show (and it's soundtrack by Mr. Hank Williams, Sr.) was featured a number of times. So I started to wonder...Just what is it about this movie that gives it such a prominent roll in King's novel? Is the plot significant? Are the characters significant? Or did King just really love the movie?
After having seen it, I’m still in the dark. I can see some basic comparisons (Billy to Amanda and Scott when they “go down to the pool to drink”…and maybe the overall “feel” of the movie)…but I guess I just have to resign myself to the fact that King may just love the movie itself and wanted to feature it.
At any rate, on to the movie...
The cinematography and editing were beautiful...stark, bleek and raw... and did a wonderful job of adding to the mood and ambiance of the small Texas town of Anarene in 1951. It took me a while to notice, but the movie lacked an orchestral score, which made certain moments more uncomfortable for me...maybe that was the point. Others say it's because the silence more accurately represents "reality." Who knows?
I noticed a few themes in this movie that really stuck out.
1) The post-war transition of small towns. Shops are closing down. Times are changing. The sense of community has changed almost imperceptibly, but it's there in the background like the cold winds that sweep through the streets blowing the tumbleweed.
2) Transition from adolescence to adulthood. I think most of the main characters are seniors in high school...this was definitely darker and more serious...but I couldn't help but draw a small (and I stress small) comparison to American Pie. Kids who desperately want to “grow up” and not be led by the conservative and constrained rules of their small-town society.
This last one I got from another review I read...and I have to agree with it.
3) What rules your actions? Emotion or physical stimulation? "Heart vs. Libido" to quote the reviewer. Every character is looking for happiness and love...and they can never seem to find it, no matter where they look or who they look for it with...which sends most of them into a deeply destructive cycle. I don't want to say too much more about this, because I think I would get too into the story and let a spoiler slip out...
Over all....
I think I'm going to have to give this one 3 out of 5 stars. It was a beautifully made movie and I think it would've had a profound effect on me if I'd been 35 or so when it came out; as I would've lived during that transitional time of the early '50s.
While I personally cannot empathize with the time period, I can appreciate the transformation of a community into a newer more…liberal, I guess...reality. Change is seldom welcome in small towns…especially during that time period. All-in-all, a good movie.
OOH!!!! And on one final note...I was EXTATIC to see Higgins (of Magnum P.I. fame) playing the English teacher...introducing our young heroes to the "beauty" of the poetry of Keats! Eh, to each his own...I'm not a fan! Heh heh heh!!!
So I'll leave you to see it and I'd be very happy to hear other thoughts on this!!
2 comments:
Hmmm...this review makes me want to see it, but not so badly that I'll be moving it up my queue anytime soon.
I must say bravo to your description of themes. It felt very film critique class-ish.
I like the film a little bit more than you. There's a lot of innocence lost in the story - they could have had Bob Seger singing, "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." in the background. One aspect of the film is summed up by Ellen Burstyn's character in the film's best line, "Everything gets old if you do it often enough." From this context, it was a stroke of genius to film it in black and white.
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