An ex-cop is paroled from prison after serving time for murder and arrives in the moody environs of Rain City, where he crosses paths with old friends, a dysfunctional young couple headed for danger, and a criminal underworld he'd like to forget.
Before writing and directing his own films, Alan Rudolph worked as an assistant to and protégé of the legendary Robert Altman on his classics Nashville, The Long Goodbye, and California Split. While Altman's influence can be seen in the handling of actors and certain camera movements, Rudolph's work is significantly more stylized not only in the visuals, but in the otherworldliness of the stories and scripts. While none of his films have reached a mainstream level of popularity, several have become cult items, and most of them bear a distinct tone and look that set them apart not just from your average film, but your average independent film as well.
Trouble in Mind was written as an homage to 40's and 50's film noir, but the actual setting suggests a more vivid imagination. While filmed on location in Seattle, Rudolph uses the name of Rain City to distinguish his alternate reality where retro and post-modern collide, from the hairstyles to the architecture to the automobiles, and hard-boiled criminals rub shoulders with members of the art community while protesters fill the streets watched by some kind of police state military presence.
Underneath the heady atmosphere provided by the art direction is a very sincere story with Rudolph's trademarked offbeat, humorous dialogue delivered by the most natural of actors. Music icon Kris Kristofferson stars along with frequent Altman and Rudolph collaborator Keith Carradine, Lori Singer, Genevieve Bujold, Joe Morton, and in a rare non-drag role, John Waters' main muse Divine as the lethal mob boss Hilly Blue. The wistful, jazz-inflected score was provided by then-newcomer Mark Isham, with vocal contributions from Marianne Faithfull.
The film won a critic's award at the Berlin Film Festival, and an Independent Spirit award for the cinematography by Toyomichi Kurita. Rudolph would go on to direct Jennifer Jason Leigh in a film about writer Dorothy Parker, an adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, and Afterglow, a comeback film for the 55 year-old Julie Christie (which earned her an Oscar nomination and various other awards).
Film runs approximately 100 minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment