mykencasey

Don't agree that this is a film about "de-freezing," nor that it represents a big break in such things as portrayal of sexual relationships. The latter experienced breakthroughs on and off over the years, but films like "Bony a Klid" (1987) were far more explicit than this. The film is really a kind of study of the aimlessness of central European life and the relationships that go with it. A similar film could be made today (has been, in films like "Bored in Brno"). Sadly, Czech (and Slovak) film has not refound itself since the New Wave: moody scene-setting tends to be substituted for vital portrayal of life. A few films - "Pupendo," "Divided We Fall" for example - stand out as exceptions. But they stand out because there are so few which can do what they do. This is a serious film, but not a stand-out.

According to Pacino (in his 1980s Playboy interview) this film got squeezed out in some kind of studio powerplay. That happens, but usually time undoes the damage and real classics - and this is one - take their rightful place in film's pantheon. Why this hasn't happened in this case is beyond understanding: for once, Pacino evades the Italo-gangster typecasting and shows true brilliance; Hackman takes the Buck Barrow character from Bonnie and Clyde and turns it into something akin to Shakespeare's Falstaff. The writing is brilliant, the comedy brilliant, and the tragedy sprinkled in with unheard of sensitivity. Congress should create an award for unfairly ignored films and put this one at the top of the list.

This film is incredible. It mixes white, black and latino America in a complex and moving portrait of one man's attempt to uncover the real nature of his past - and of the past of the world he lives in. The writing is superb, the performances riveting, the editing top-notch. Sayles has made some fine films (among them "Brother from Another Planet" - the film that contains the words, "men in black," which will return years later as a winking title for MB I and II), but here he enters into the halls of unheralded masters. Would that film makers like him could take over the studios and offer the public films that are both entertaining, technically astute, and capable of real insight.