Luke
stu-kicks
Tash Jayasinghe
CibbuanoJackknife
July 12th 2006 09:52
Okay, before I start... I just want to say that this blog is predominantly about films I like but that I will occasionally talk about the few bad seeds that I've been duped into watching. The following is a film that I would NOT recommend.
'Jacknife'. The title almost makes it sound interesting. It's not. The fact that it's based on a play astounds me... if the play is anything like the film then my mind boggles as to why anyone would choose to have this adapted into a movie.
Okay, so it's the 80s. A vietnam vet (Harris, with a huge moustache) lives with his sister (Baker, looking frumpish) and one of his old vietnam 'buddies' (De Niro, with a mullet) suddenly turns up out of the blue to take him fishing. Much angst and exposition follows, with mind-numbingly mediocre results.
Where do I start? The story itself is your typically-cliched play. It's all talk and no show, and the film makes little attempt to rectify this. It's melodramatic, stagey and boring. The Vietnam flashbacks are lame and without context, and are thankfully used sparingly (though not before it becomes painfully obvious that they've been shot in someone's backyard). The performances are good (especially Kathy Baker's) but the direction is so uninspiringly bad that you would hardly be able to tell.
Don't watch this. The ending is forced and contrived, and whatever 'themes' it's trying to push are lamely underdeveloped. I would be highly suspicious of anyone who recommends this film.
Jackknife (1989)
Okay, so it's the 80s. A vietnam vet (Harris, with a huge moustache) lives with his sister (Baker, looking frumpish) and one of his old vietnam 'buddies' (De Niro, with a mullet) suddenly turns up out of the blue to take him fishing. Much angst and exposition follows, with mind-numbingly mediocre results.
Where do I start? The story itself is your typically-cliched play. It's all talk and no show, and the film makes little attempt to rectify this. It's melodramatic, stagey and boring. The Vietnam flashbacks are lame and without context, and are thankfully used sparingly (though not before it becomes painfully obvious that they've been shot in someone's backyard). The performances are good (especially Kathy Baker's) but the direction is so uninspiringly bad that you would hardly be able to tell.
Don't watch this. The ending is forced and contrived, and whatever 'themes' it's trying to push are lamely underdeveloped. I would be highly suspicious of anyone who recommends this film.
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