Five Easy Pieces
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List Price: $9.98
Features
• Color
• NTSC
In Theaters : 12 September, 1970
Video Release : 22 June, 1994 |
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Five Easy Pieces Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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Inauthenticity everywhere
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Or, as Bobby would probably say, "Bulls*t everywhere!" Or something more explicit. Even with The Joker, the psychopathic writer in Kubrick's "Shining", and his chilling performance in "The Departed", I would say this is Nicholson's scariest character.
Bobby Dupea, a former piano prodigy who finds the pretentiousness of art, culture, and his entire family so revolting that he takes Timothy Leary's edict closer to heart than any hippy--he becomes a worker on an oil rig, a complete alcoholic, a brutal misogynist and generally reprehensible human being all around, completely divorced from his origins and disdainful of his considerable talents. Karen Black, his gorgeous hilbilly girlfriend, really forms the paradox of Dupea's character: his ferocious embrace of man's lower instincts in favor of a greater authenticity and his actual repugnance when facing them for any extended period of time. The most telling scenes in this dark but compelling tale of ultimate failure consist of Rayette and Bobby together: Bobby listening to her sweet, well intentioned but limited sentiments about life and the small world she was born into, his constant annoyance but sympathy; his violent defense of her in the presence of his "high brow" family, and his ultimate inability to stay with her--even when he knows she's pregnant.
Bobby's more or less constant agitation is a result of his unwillingness to face his hopelessly divided nature. Stopping traffic in a drunken rage, he hops on a moving truck and begins furiously playing a piano to the incomprehension of his drunken backwoods co-worker, flipping out on a waitress for misunderstanding his order, and trying to reconcile with a father who is catatonic from a stroke: these are all the actions of a man without the strength to face his inner demons or acknowledge them. He protests too much without really wanting anything to change.
Bob Rafelson was obviously conscious of the contradictions inherent in the 1960's counterculture and this a commentary of sorts: the rejection of the father--the dominant culture--for good reasons, and the impotence of the son--the 60's mentality embodied by Bobby--all culminating in disaster (the present day). This is a masterpiece and wins out over similar modern fare like "American Beauty" or "Good Will Hunting" anyday.
That poor waitress. |
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