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44. Five Easy Pieces (1970)
This film contains all the wonderful elements that I love so much about the general attitude of the late sixties and the early seventies. It's unconventional, it's free-spirited and it shows the typical everyday frustrations and gives it a certain magnitude and gravitas. It projects them onto a bigger picture.
The film doesn't care about sending any positive messages, because that's not the style of that particular era. What this film does care about is transferring human feelings and telling a story about a man's dissatisfaction with this world and particularly with society. Five Easy Pieces is a film I can truly sink into when I'm in the right mood, because there's so much truth and atmosphere in this film.
Jack wants his toast. It's an immortal scene full of meaning and poignant implications...
Because my feelings towards this film are so extremely strong, it's kind of odd for me to talk about its more "technical" sides, but let me just say that it's beautifully made. Everything just works. The acting, the writing, the directing in general, the music, etc... It's all top-notch! Some say it's also Jack Nicholson's best performance of all time and I wouldn't disagree. I think Jack himself could very much identify with this character and that's why it's probably such an amazingly believable performance. He's truly phenomenal in this film.
If you've ever felt lonely even though there were plenty of people that loved you, if you've ever lost the connection between yourself and society, if you've ever done stuff you shouldn't have done because your "weltschmerz" was leading you to a morally despicable path of egocentrism... Well, then this fim could be or become very special for you. Five Easy Pieces brilliantly touches on cores of truth about those specific conditions and if you can relate to the story it's telling, the film can be an incredibly intense and insightful experience that can open certain doors into your own psyche...
While Jack plays a classic bit of Chopin, the camera gently flows through a chamber full of memories...
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This film contains all the wonderful elements that I love so much about the general attitude of the late sixties and the early seventies. It's unconventional, it's free-spirited and it shows the typical everyday frustrations and gives it a certain magnitude and gravitas. It projects them onto a bigger picture.
The film doesn't care about sending any positive messages, because that's not the style of that particular era. What this film does care about is transferring human feelings and telling a story about a man's dissatisfaction with this world and particularly with society. Five Easy Pieces is a film I can truly sink into when I'm in the right mood, because there's so much truth and atmosphere in this film.
Jack wants his toast. It's an immortal scene full of meaning and poignant implications...
Because my feelings towards this film are so extremely strong, it's kind of odd for me to talk about its more "technical" sides, but let me just say that it's beautifully made. Everything just works. The acting, the writing, the directing in general, the music, etc... It's all top-notch! Some say it's also Jack Nicholson's best performance of all time and I wouldn't disagree. I think Jack himself could very much identify with this character and that's why it's probably such an amazingly believable performance. He's truly phenomenal in this film.
If you've ever felt lonely even though there were plenty of people that loved you, if you've ever lost the connection between yourself and society, if you've ever done stuff you shouldn't have done because your "weltschmerz" was leading you to a morally despicable path of egocentrism... Well, then this fim could be or become very special for you. Five Easy Pieces brilliantly touches on cores of truth about those specific conditions and if you can relate to the story it's telling, the film can be an incredibly intense and insightful experience that can open certain doors into your own psyche...
While Jack plays a classic bit of Chopin, the camera gently flows through a chamber full of memories...
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