Sunday, September 20, 2009

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Director: Bob Rafelson. Cast: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black. 98 min. Rated R. Drama.

Recommended by a friend as "the best movie I've ever seen", Nicholson's pre-Oscar days film doesn't fail to impress. The story of an intelligent loser may be one that many of us could sympathize with, and the best quote comes at the end, Nicholson telling his ill, mute father: "I'm trying to imagine your half of this conversation... My feeling is, that if you could talk, we probably wouldn't be talking." Can't stop thinking of Nicholson playing the piano on a pick-up truck, and then being driven away into oblivion, just because for a moment, he was doing what he loved.

Mo says:

6 comments:

  1. Agree with you word by word.
    The terrific picture of restlessness,bewildering , loneliness,inner depression,unsatisfied by routinely daily life , which never ends up .
    The final third reached to the peak beautifully and after end credits appeared ,I had an intense desire to watch the movie from the first in order to getting close & analyze the character better & precisely.Was there anyone at that time could portray this attractive character better than Jack? No one !

    ReplyDelete
  2. My only question is: Would this movie justify the label "the best movie I've ever seen"?

    For some, maybe it does.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well,everybody has own definition for best movie he/she has ever watched.Considering many factors determine this choice,maybe your friend has seen himself/herself exactly in jack's character, like a mirror... or the story of their life is similar to each other . you mentioned very well : an intelligent looser... then he found a large sympathy to him and impressed deeply , never felt same feeling to another movie as the best.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was encouraged to watch this movie two years ago for two reasons: first, when Syd Field was talking about Jack Nicholson's character in his book, "The Screenwriter's Workbook", and praising the movie as one of the best movies of that times and secondly because of Jack, himself.
    After watching the movie, I remember that I felt depression, hopelessness and sadness and I had no reasons more than before to recommend the movie to someone else. After reading the comments here, when I wanted to watch it again to write better than this, I couldn't.
    Yes, everybody has his/her own definition for "the best movie I've ever seen" and, I say, everybody has his/her own limitation for it, too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. If you put yourself in Jack Nicholson's shoes, the movie can become very depressing.

    But again, that can happen in many movies. Keep a safe distance.

    ReplyDelete