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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Troy
Howarth |
A
biker gang stops off in a small Southern town and proceeds to
bring out the worst in the locals...
Best remembered as the film debut of star
Willem Dafoe, The Loveless is also
significant as the first major film (co)directed by Kathryn
Bigelow, who later achieved cult fandom with the stylish vampire
flick Near Dark as well as the fun
Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze surfer flick, Point
Break. While not without interest on its own terms, it's
just as well that The Loveless
has such claims to back it up.
Reportedly patterned after Sergio Leone's
epic masterpiece Once Upon
a Time in the West (1968), the film updates '50s biker flick
clichés in a slightly more 'intellectual' manner. The
problem with the film, however, is twofold: first of all, the
script (by Bigelow and co-director Monty Montgomery) is almost
entirely without depth or interest; secondly, the pacing is
much too slow and deliberate. While one can see the directors
attempting to duplicate the inexorable pace of Leone's classic
spaghetti western, they don't have the colorful characters or
sheer grasp of visual poetry that made the older film work.
For all the hoopla on the slipcover art about this being "the
thinking man's biker movie," The Loveless
really doesn't offer anything of substance beyond some shallow
commentary on the nature of the bikers and the small town folk
who secretly envy them.
That
being said, the film is certainly not without interest. Bigelow
and Montgomery make the most of virtually every shot —
the compositions and use of color are frequently striking, sometimes
to the point of distraction (one can really sense the filmmakers
falling in love with some shots and just hating to cut
away from them; in fairness, the same could be said of Leone,
too). The rockabilly soundtrack also adds a lot of flavor, and
the ending is a nice mixture of outburst and understatement.
Then there's Willem Dafoe's debut performance as the enigmatic
head of the biker gang. While the role doesn't exactly tax his
abilities, Dafoe is every bit as cool as the movie requires.
His terrific intro, the camera panning up his leather-clad physique,
could easily appear hokey and affected, but somehow the actor
makes it work. Even when he appears to be posing unnaturally,
one gets the sense that it's coming naturally for him —
he's just that cool. The supporting cast —
barring the beautiful Marin Kanter as a teen girl who falls
for Dafoe —
isn't particularly memorable, including rocker Robert Gordon,
who also composed some of the film's score.
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| Blue
Underground's release of The Loveless
is satisfying for the most part. While the 1.85 framing looks
much too tight in some shots, one can assume — given the participation
of the filmmakers — that this is the preferred format. Enhanced
for widescreen TVs, the image looks terrific throughout, with
bold colors, razor-sharp clarity and only minor speckling. The
soundtrack is offered in its original mono, as well as 2.0 stereo
and a new 5.1 mix. All three tracks are in great shape, serving
up the dialogue and music score to their best advantage. Extras
include an exhaustive still gallery, a theatrical trailer and
a commentary track with Bigelow, Montgomery and Dafoe. Montgomery
dominates the somewhat dull track; while all three participants
speak fondly of the film and impart some good stories, it tends
to drag... like the film itself.
1/04/05 |
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