Maybe not quite a masterpiece, but it's a great, affecting film. Baker looked like a mix between James Woods and Jean-Paul Belmondo, Winters plays the ultimate Jewish mother. The story takes place in the jazz / beatnik era, before the folkmusic boom. I like that it's a slow film, with really long scenes, and Mazursky is very generous to the characters, even the cheating girlfriend. I remember seeing this film on tv as a kid, and thinking that this is what adult life will be like.
I also remember seeing this movie on danish television when I was much too young; there is a very bloody suicide scene in a bathtub as far as I recall.
ReplyDeleteI have often thought about seeing it again, and now I have the title, thanks!
The woman, dead from suicide, in the bath tub is off screen, actually. There is a scene earlier where the woman is bleeding a bit from the wrists, from an attempted suicide, but that is all. But it's interesting how images like that can affect you as a child, and then the imagination does the rest.
ReplyDeleteYes, the film is worth re-watching.