Review of the Dark Side of Life Movie
Review/Film; A Tale of the Dark Side: 'Bright Lights, Big Urban center'
- Bright Lights, Big City
- Directed by James Bridges
- Drama
- R
- 1h 47m
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April ane, 1988
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Section C , Folio
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The hero of Jay McInerney's book ''Bright Lights, Big Metropolis'' didn't accept a proper noun, simply he certainly had a vocalisation. On the other hand, the moving-picture show version calls its leading character Jamie Conway and allows him no real equivalent of the novel'due south astute, dry out, nicely self-mocking second-person narration. ''You lot are a republic of voices tonight,'' Mr. McInerney'southward hero tells himself at ane juncture. ''Unfortunately, that republic is Italian republic.'' Who could invent a visual or even conversational equivalent for that?
Mr. McInerney's book has rightly been compared with J.D. Salinger'south ''Catcher in the Rye'' for its complete immediacy, its funny, vibrant and original mode, its beau's view of responsibility and authority, and its underlying pain. When a book leaves its mark upon a generation in the way that these accept, the movie-making impulse is seldom far backside. But in this example, it's a misguided one, at least to some caste. Also much of what makes ''Bright Lights, Big City'' and then irresistible on the page - its knowing tone, its brisk rhythm, its droll wit and even its nonchalant, unassuming style - only cannot be translated to the screen.
That'south the bad news, but at that place'due south good news too. The film version of ''Bright Lights, Big Metropolis'' directed by James Bridges, which opens today at Loews Astor Plaza and other theaters, seems to know precisely what it tin and cannot do, and to work well inside those limitations. It may not capture Mr. McInerney's novel completely or fifty-fifty succeed in continuing on its ain, but information technology does become a long way toward bringing the book to life. If Mr. McInerney'due south readers call up it incomplete, they should also find it enjoyably familiar.
The motion picture has a number of things working in its favor. For the nearly part, it'south then well cast that fans of the novel will easily estimate from the opening credits which actor has which office. Even the casting of pocket-size parts, like William Hickey of ''Prizzi's Honor'' as the strange beau trying to peddle a ferret on the streets of New York, is exactly correct. Gordon Willis'due south cinematography, Santo Loquasto's production design and Donald Fagen's coolly nocturnal music all contribute powerfully to the mood and settings of the story, which are evoked inventively. Since the story lurches unpredictably from the after-hours clubs where Jamie wrecks his health to the staid magazine offices where he is in the process of ruining his career, information technology took considerable versatility to capture this shifting temper and then well.
The moving picture also manages to depict Jamie's self-destructiveness in an admirably nonjudgmental way, letting both the grapheme and the audience come to their own conclusions; if the film were more moralistic, information technology would have nowhere to go, and if it were celebratory, it would seem hopelessly dated. Jamie'southward cocaine problem is but a fact of his sleepless, high-voltage modern life, along with his drinking problem and his work problem and his problems about his wife and mother. The last ii, presented fairly subtly in the novel, are more heavily emphasized hither, exposing the naive psychological underpinnings of Mr. McInerney's plot. Mr. McInerney, it should be noted, wrote the screenplay himself, and is no doubt the latest writer to learn the hard way how unlike films and fiction really are.
Michael J. Play tricks, looking not the to the lowest degree bit dissipated simply wearing a convincingly dazed, furtive expression, is the story'south night-crawling hero. Mr. Fox is much better delivering funny lines than he is in this largely reactive role, but he is the sympathetic figure that the material needs. ''Bright Lights, Large City'' hardly has much of a story (which will exist a problem for those unfamiliar with the novel); it only follows Jamie through the series of exploits that finally create a crisis in his life and bring him to his senses. Some of that time is spent in nightclubs under the tutelage of his smug, indestructible, drug-hunting friend Tad Allagash (Kiefer Sutherland), and some of it is spent fact-checking in the offices of a New York magazine well known for its fastidious editorial practices.
The mag scenes are the motion picture's best, partly considering the setting is unusual by movie standards, and partly because the comic aspects of all that nitpicking come up through. An chestnut nearly how the magazine'south rock-faced editor (John Houseman - the perfect pick) makes Jamie investigate the President'southward grammar has been preserved, as has Jamie's hard-luck assignment of having to place trans-Atlantic calls to bank check the facts in a wildly irresponsible story (''Where did yous get this about the French Authorities owning a controlling interest in Paramount Pictures?''). Jason Robards makes a scene-stealing advent as a hard-drinking veteran editor who remembers Faulkner fondly, to the extent that he remembers anything at all.
Dianne Wiest brings surprising emotion to the role of Jamie's mother, and Frances Sternhagen is suitably aghast equally the editor who cannot believe Jamie has reversed certain accents and balloter districts in checking that article almost France, merely some of the other women's roles work less well. Swoosie Kurtz, as a co-worker, has the thankless job of sitting past in a worried, maternal manner while Mr. Play a trick on recites an countless chunk of exposition. And Phoebe Cates is too giddy for the soulless fashion model who is Jamie's ex-wife. Tracy Pollan appears briefly simply charmingly as a potential Miss Right.
The moving-picture show ends every bit it begins, with a bear on that faithfully recalls Mr. McInerney'south novel. Mr. Bridges may not have breathed fire into this material, only he has preserved most of its better qualities. He has treated it with intelligence, respect and no undue reverence, assembling a coherent pic that resists whatever hint of exploitation. Despite the story of immoderacy and the potential for luridness, the central decency of ''Brilliant Lights, Big Urban center'' emerges as the picture'southward point quality. MOTHS TO THE FLAME - BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, directed by James Bridges; screenplay by Jay McInerney, based on his novel; director of photography, Gordon Willis; edited by John Bloom; music by Donald Fagen; production designer, Santo Loquasto; produced past Mark Rosenberg and Sydney Pollack; released by United Artists. At Loews Astor Plaza, 44th Street, due west of Broadway; Loews Orpheum, 86th Street most Third Avenue; Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street; Loews 84th Street Six, at Broadway. Running time: 110 minutes. This motion-picture show is rated R. Jamie...Michael J. Fox Tad...Kiefer Sutherland Amanda...Phoebe Cates Megan...Swoosie Kurtz Clara...Frances Sternhagen Vicky...Tracy Pollan Mr. Vogel...John Houseman Michael...Charlie Schlatter Alex Hardy...Jason Robards Rittenhouse...David Warrilow Mother...Dianne Wiest Ferret Human being...William Hickey
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/01/movies/review-film-a-tale-of-the-dark-side-bright-lights-big-city.html
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