Esquecendo o Passado

I rented this film on a recommendation of a friend. I really love this movie and as I've noticed others say, I would watch it again. One thing that I like about this movie is that there isn't anything pretentious. All the characters come across with excellent harmony as real people in a movie and also as characters in a film. The tone is totally natural. The real beautiful part about the people in this film is that they enjoy their surroundings and even though Cannery Row has seen much better times, everyone is content with their lives and it comes across brilliantly. Kudos to all involved. I love it and hope you will watch it and enjoy it as much as I. I give this one a definite ten out of ten stars!

a Steinbeck adaptation. and little more. because the atmosphere, the acting, the voice of John Huston, the details, the precise adaptation and the images and music are good pillars for a pure delight. a classic who preserves its special charm and delicate manner to give force to each character. one of most impressive roles of Nick Nolte and beautiful science to translate flavor of text lines not only in images but in a sort of touching metaphors. a magic film and this fact gives to it extraordinary nuances not only as frame of a picture from South or illustration for a great American writer work spirit but for a mirror-film who gives more than status than reader who becomes viewer to its public. a special contribution has Audra Lindley in this memorable embroidery of emotions and Steinbeck credo.

The first time I saw this movie, I almost walked out of the room (watching on a laser disc), but I decided to stay...and I'm glad I did. The film spends the first half developing the characters, among which are a PHD doing research on "Octopii" (Nick Nolte), a group of "ladies of the night", and a group of "bums". All of this is taking place around an old sardine cannery plant that is no longer in operation.

The movie begins to pick up steam toward the second half and is filled with laughs and giggles. The bums steal the show when they go frog hunting...hoping to sell the frogs to "Doc" so that they can have a party (for Doc). "Hazel" is hilarious and "Mac" (the head bum) has a unique approach to philosophy.

The bottom line is that the movie will make you laugh and has a happy ending. When (if) the movie comes out on DVD, I will buy it for my collection of classics.

PS: The film is narrated throughout, but the narration actually adds to the movie.

MGM was in a slump in 1982, and nobody knew how to market this episodic, whimsical adaptation of two plot-light John Steinbeck novels. So a lot of people were deprived of a life-affirming, atmospheric wartime romance that preserves the democratic, people-loving tone of the Steinbeck originals. Shot partly on an elaborate sound stage and partly on or near Monterey seaside locations, it's a leisurely collection of likable losers and near-losers inhabiting the titular sardine- canning center that's seen better days. Nick Nolte as Doc, a marine biologist with a not-too-secret past, is perfection, as is Debra Winger as Suzy, a combative but yearning drifter--the movie captures the character's mercurial, changeable nature far better than Rodgers and Hammerstein did in their own adaptation, "Pipe Dream." We'd like to see more of the gang, and don't really get to know Mac (M. Emmett Walsh) and his cohorts very well. But Frank McRae's a wonderful Hazel, and John Huston's narration, much of it verbatim Steinbeck, ties things together neatly. A bit slow, and a bit fanciful, it's nonetheless a wonderful date movie, best experienced with a good California wine.

When this film was released, it was under-marketed and for studio-based political reasons, all but buried. Additionally, some critics tried to frame it as a failed attempt at "art-house" cinema. However, this simply is one of the best films ever made of a Steinbeck work, and one of the best films of the 1980s. Poignant, masterfully photographed, funny and sweet, brilliantly acted and directed, it is a must see for anyone who loathes mainstream American film making and yearns for literate cinema. Nolte is at his best, acting with a magnificent range. Winger is perfect as Suzy. The adaptation of Steinbeck's "Sweet Thursday" is spot on. The ensemble acting of the tramps led by one of the greatest character actors of all time, M. Emmett Walsh and Frank McRae and the soundtrack including Doctor John's piano stylings, make this a film of metaphor and wonderful enchantment. If you haven't seen this film, turn off your phone, light a fire, and settle in for the ride of your life, emotionally and artistically.