Remember My Name - 1978
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 03:49PM Quirky, atmospheric, irresistible semi-Noir - dreamlike, driven by emotion, not logic, with a post-Altman narrative style that's intelligent, poetic and essentially anti-every stoopid narrative trope we're stuck with today.
Beautifully shot, filmic AF, with a, raw, brothel-backroom piano blues soundtrack by Alberta Hunter, who was eighty-fucking-two when she sang it.
Great secondary casting: Didn't know Moses Gunn had a sweet, vulnerable side, but here he's kind and so easily wounded. Alfre Woodward plays a right bitch with resentful fire. Jeff Goldblum's a nebbishy store mananger and even CHERRY 2000's beloved Tim Thomerson has a momentary appearance, as does Dennis Franz!
A couple of potent metas prevent complete immersion. The first is Alan Rudolph casting three aristocrats as working class strivers. Anthony Perkins is an aristocrat by nature, and works a construction site with one tool in his toolbelt, a hammer, which Perkins swings as if he has no idea which end hits the nail.
Geraldine Chaplin and Berry Berenson – Mrs. Tony Perkins – are aristocrats due to the privilege and extraordinary circumstances of their births and upbringings. With her Swiss finishing school posture and plummy accent, it's hard to accept Berenson shopping at Rudolph's version of the Dollar Store. Chaplin, though, transforms remarkably into an ex-con – her best performance by far.
The other disruptive meta is the tragedy of watching Berenson, and remembering that she died aboard American Airlines Flight 11 when it hit the North Tower on Sept. 11.