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The butterfly dream of the precarious
Justus 2021-12-07 08:01:41
The masterpiece of the new Hollywood movie. The emergence of homosexuality, male prostitutes, and hippies, the disordered order and mental disorder caused by the Vietnam War, and the proliferation of sexual freedom, all elements have made this R-rated movie suffer from martyrs' condemnation, but it can't resist it from winning the Oscar. The glory of best film, best director, and best adapted screenplay. Most of the long shots and subjective shots in the movie have the intention to deeply focus on the low-level people in New York. Among them, Joe’s dreams of a large number of quick pickups, the large tilt shots and wide-angle processing of the bar party all give the film an attitude of "approaching nihilism with documentary". . A California cowboy who symbolizes the declining American spirit, when a large number of flashbacks reproduce the phrase "You are the only one", it is actually a contrast to his long succumbed in New York. (It's easy to think of when Nirvana sang "I'm not the only one"). Because of the unpredictable gloom in New York, Rizzo yearned for the dream of Victoria in Sunny Beach in Miami. At the end, he restrained Rizzo's illness and death, which perfectly fits the emotional trend and image tone of the entire movie. No matter how silently the two people cared about each other, in that era and level, the mutual sympathy actually had a proper background outline and emotional presupposition. ps: Is a teaser shot of Joe a tribute to "The Graduate" which was also starred by Dustin Hoffman two years ago?
Extended Reading
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Joe Buck: I like the way I look. Makes me feel good, it does. And women like me, goddammit. Hell, the only one thing I ever been good for is lovin'. Women go crazy for me, that's a really true fact! Ratso, hell! Crazy Annie they had to send her away!
Ratso Rizzo: Then, how come you ain't scored once the whole time you been in New York?
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[At the gravesite of his father]
Ratso Rizzo: He was even dumber than you. He couldn't even write his own name. "X," that's what it ought to say on that goddamn headstone, one big lousy "X". Just like our dump. Condemned by order of City Hall.