Inside Moves

Let me start out first with a bit of a disclaimer: I am disabled, so I was either going to love this movie or hate it, depending on how real things seemed to me. So my comments have to be seen in that light. Here goes:

This is a very good film, with a good cast, some excellent performances and I love the script. But the thing that impresses me the most about this film is its portrayal of the disabled. They come across as average, normal people-sometimes they're jerks, like most people and sometimes they're nice folks, like most people. There is nothing inherently heroic about being disabled. Conversely, the disabled should not be hermetically sealed off from society for their protection (or yours). All too often, peole make assumptions about people and far too many are made about the disabled. End of sermon.

The other thing I like about this film, although it is admittedly a bit too pat, is the ending of a couple of plot threads. Suffice it to say that Several of the characters get what they deserve, good and bad. I love the poetic justice (or karma, if you prefer) at the end, in the basketball arena. Most recommended.

John Savage provides us with another look at his exceptional talent with perhaps his finest performance since The Deerhunter, with a supporting cast including Oscar-nominated Diana Scarwid and another of my favorites, David Morse. A truly feel-good movie, directed by Richard Donner, that explores the depths of human emotion while depicting the sometimes comedic, sometimes heartwrenching stories of characters who are all crippled, either physically, mentally, or morally. It is a great mystery to me why this movie has not been made available on DVD, and if I knew how to achieve its release, I would be relentless in my pursuit of that goal!

Detailing the plot of this film would lead the unsuspecting to assume they were in for an hour and a half of depression - but quite the opposite. The acting was spot on, the script razor sharp, and the storyline genuinely different and inspiring. I've not seen a copy on video or dvd for years, and for some reason it's never been on terrestrial tv in the UK, and I have to admit I'm baffled as to why. In the genre, it's quite simply one of the best films ever made.

This is a movie about the kind of people most of us spend our lives trying to avoid: drunks, whores and cripples of every description. The setting is seamy, mostly taking place in an old neighborhood bar; no ferns here, no clever reparte between beautiful people. The is a story of loneliness and not a little darkness, leavened with gentle, often self-effacing humor.

The miracle here is the degree to which you wind up truly caring about what happens to these folks. The action in the movie is simple. The people are not, and it is a remarkable feat of storytelling to bring this ensemble to such rich, moving life.

This is truly a sleeper, Steinbeckian in its evocation of the common humanity in us all.

I have a very subjective method of measuring some of my all time favorite movies. If I'm surfing the remote and "hit" the movie that I just can leave, then that's it. I did this last night and when I hit "Inside Moves". This is a extremely comfortable and beautifully paced film . The scenes in Max's are so warm and intimate you feel if your in the corner of the bar observing the intimate relationships and comaraderie of the supposedly "special " people that live there. Yes, they are special..they're only aspirations are enjoying each other's company and accepting each other and their metamorphical handicaps. The scene where Louise admits she is frightened by a potential romantic realtionship with Rory is honest and heartbreaking. After checking the credits on Inside Moves I was surprised and then nodding in agreement, why it's a classic. Written by Barry Levinson...enough said..