On vacation I decided to go through vintage collections, the kind you get because of their significance in film history, and then never seem to have time to watch.
Was that the problem here? That I was watching the film decades too late? That there was a power here that I can't really grasp watching it now?
It seemed like a collection of vignettes (some very good, others more on the pathetic side) more than a movie, with characters and plot lines discarded left and right. There was some fine acting, but also some straight up bad accents and posing-as-acting that I can't believe weren't laughable even then. And while the script was interesting, and the messages where clear, that was the main issue I had: it spelled out everything, as if unsure the viewer would get it, right up to the mute patriarch that can't provide anything in terms of guidance. There are clear class issues, but everyone is an unhappy screw-up at heart, or oblivious of all the screw-ups out there, was my take home message. That being said the final escape was a bit salvaging point.
Review of Five Easy Pieces
