1984 Blogathon: Splash

Film: Splash
Format: DVD from personal collection on laptop.

It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to suggest that 1984 was a formative year for me. It was the year I started my senior year of high school. I am very much a child of the ‘80s, as the decade encompasses my high school and college years in the main. So when this 1984 Blogathon was proposed, I jumped in. I decided to go for a film that I knew I could locate easily (as in one I own) and that I hadn’t seen before. And so I picked Splash.

I’ll say right off that one of the things that Splash has going for it is that Daryl Hannah is in it playing something other than a human being. Hannah is at her best in this situation in my opinion. I’m rarely impressed with her when she plays a regular woman, but make her a mermaid or a replicant, and she can pull it off pretty well.

Apollo 13

Format: DVD from Rockford Public Library on laptop.

It’s not something that comes up here that often, but I’m a complete space nerd. About a third of the reading I do for pleasure is space science—cosmology, the creation of the solar system, the history of the space program and the like. It’s one of the greatest accomplishments of humankind, and I can’t get enough of it. That creates a problem for me with a film like Apollo 13; I know what’s going to happen here. I’ve read the accounts and I know the history. I know who guys like Deke Slayton and Gene Kranz are without being introduced to them in the film. That being the case, there aren’t a ton of surprises for me here. Of course, that’s also true because I’ve seen this before, but it was true the first time I watched.

What that means in real terms for me as a viewer is that it had better be a damn good film for me to have a good opinion of it. Fortunately, it is. Just as critically, Apollo 13 is accurate except for minor details made for narrative purposes. The main events, and even the things that seem like cinematic foreshadowing are things that actually happened in the real mission. I always appreciate historical accuracy.

Frost/Nixon

Format: DVD from Johnsburg Public Library through interlibrary loan on laptop.

I like Frank Langella. I liked him early in his career when he was playing in B-level Dracula films, and I like him now that his career has had something of character actor resurgence. There’s a quality to Langella that reminds me somewhat of my father. My dad is a decent guy, but he can be intimidating at times. There are moments with him that feel like a job interview. I get that sort of sense from Langella, that he is somewhat physically imposing, that there would be a sense of always being aware of being in his presence.

While I like a lot of Langella’s work and a lot of his films (Dave, The Ninth Gate, Good Night and Good Luck), I think Frost/Nixon is his best work. He looks nothing like Richard Nixon, and he does get some of the quality of his voice, but what he really gets is the man’s presence. There is a sense that we’re seeing something like the spirit of the man if not the man himself. Frost/Nixon takes on the story of the unique interviews of Richard Nixon after his presidency by British talk show host David Frost (Michael Sheen).

A Beautiful Mind

Film: A Beautiful Mind
Format: DVD from NetFlix on laptop.

It’s been some time since I’ve seen A Beautiful Mind. Depending on how you look at it, I’ve either been saving in for close to the end of watching/rewatching all of the Best Picture winners or I’ve been avoiding it. Avoiding it might be closer to the truth. I don’t dislike this film, but I don’t love it, either. I know the license it takes with the actual history of John Nash. More to the point, I know where the different beats come in the story. This is one of those films that works once. It doesn’t carry over nearly as well to a second viewing. This is a film that requires spoiling to really discuss, so consider the rest of this review under a spoiler tab.

We’re shown the life of John Nash (Russell Crowe), who won a Nobel Prize for his work on game theory. The film shows his triumphs and his personal tragedies, namely his struggle with schizophrenia. The real John Nash suffered from auditory hallucinations. This version of Nash has visual ones as well. I imagine this is because giving us visual hallucinations gives us something to look at.