Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A one of a kind movie...., April 14, 2003
In my earlier review of another one of Alan Rudolph's movies, "The Moderns", I cited this film as being the ONLY movie to cover what life was like in the weird period in western pop history between 1975 and 1982. This was a period when David Bowie's bizarre influence permeated just about everything having to do with American and Western European night life and sexual rebellion. NOBODY sought to document this strange footnote in the 20th century timeline other than Rudolph, and he does an excellent job! This is one of a trilogy of movies Rudolph directed when he was "hot", just after he had developed his own style, apart from Robert Altman, his mentor. "Choose Me" and "The Moderns" were the other two. (To appreciate the difference that eventually set the two apart, rent Rudolph's "Welcome To L.A", which could have EASILY been an Altman movie, and compare it to any one of these three.) Unfortunately, since these three movies, Rudolph hasn't done much that could be considered landmark, with the exception of "Mrs. Parker and The Vicious Circle". A damned shame, really. The story centers around Kris Kristofferson, starring in one of his few really good movies, as a disgraced cop who gets paroled back into Seattle society after serving time for murdering a crime lord for harassing an old flame of his, Wanda, played by Genevieve Bujold, whom he reunites with after he gets out. Wanda owns a popular diner haunted by weirdos and hangers-on over which Kristofferson takes an apartment she offers to him out of gratitude. Into this mix comes Coop, played by Keith Carradine, a young married with the requisite financial problems all working class young marrieds face: New baby, new expenses, a wife to support....After finding out that jobs are hard to come by, (this IS after all, set in the late 70s and early 80s,) Coop soon turns to crime after meeting with a strange, black habitue of Bujold's diner, played by Joe Morton. Coop soon transforms from an average Joe to something resembling a cross between the Joker from Batman and Bowie's Thin White Duke, turning off his young wife, played by Lori Singer. This drives her into the arms of Hawk, Kristofferson's character. Hawk happens onto her right after Coop comes home late one night from one his first forays into petty crime with his newfound friend, Morton, and Hawk just happens to be passing by their shabby motor home after the fight between the two younger people ends. Eventually, Coop and his friend try to deal with Hilly Blue, a fey crime lord played by the well-known, late transvestite actor Divine, and nobody's life from there on in is quite the same again. This movie captures the neon world of the late seventies new-wave/punk era near-perfectly and is unique in the fact that it is the ONLY movie to do so! The acting, specifically Carradine, Bujold and Morton, is top-notch, the music, by Mark Isham, is moody, jazzy and noir-perfect and humor abounds throughout. One of the oddest portions of the movie is a latter part involving Coop and Morton and yet another crime lord of the city named Nate. Nate is, quite frankly, a sissy with an eye for VERY young ladies. However, he's powerful enough to make life very rough for the two punks. Buy this movie, and I assure you, it will stay in your OWN mind for quite a while.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rain City Blues, December 29, 2002
Alan Rudolph has created a fascinating off-beat look at America, through the eyes of a cynical ex-cop, Kris Kristofferson, who goes by the name of Hawk. The setting seems to lie in a no-man's land between the past and the future, as Seattle is transformed into a bleak, dreary city under martial law. Hawk reluctantly finds himself as a guardian angel for a young woman, Lori Singer, and her baby, who have been abandoned by her erstwhile husband, David Carradine, who rather absurdly gets drug into the dark underworld of Rain City. Hawk's old flame, Genevieve Bujold, provides most of the emotional punch in this movie, running a diner inhabited by local rif-raf, which serves as Hawk's hideout. The story is cartoonish, but that is part of its charm. The dead-pan performances carry the movie through its rather predictable twists and turns, highlighted by a comicly nuanced performance by the great Divine as the kingpin of the Rain City underworld. The Mark Isham score is given haunting refrains by Marianne Faithfull. Rudolph seemed to have fun with this movie. It moves along well with a perfectly inane closing scene in which Hawk brings the proper forces back in order.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nifty neo-noir, June 23, 2005
No DVD domestically for this title; I bought the obscure Dutch region 2 DVD and it's worth it. Far superior to the director's (Alan Rudolph) later attempt at noir, Love at Large (1990), this film's set in Rain City (meaning Seattle, but the map in the police lieutenant's office actually says "Rain City"). The lieutenant, played by George Kirby, is the former boss of a disgraced cop, Kris Kristofferson, who goes by the name of Hawk, short for John Hawkins.
Hawk's just been let out of the slammer and makes his way to his old flame's place, Wanda's Cafe. Genevieve Bujold is the owner and while Love at Large made fun of chemistry between characters, thereby spoiling any magnetism it could have had, Trouble in Mind plays it straight and so the viewer feels it when Hawk and Wanda are together.
But Wanda ultimately drops Hawk; he's the past she doesn't want to continue with. Meanwhile, Keith Carradine and Lori Singer as a young couple struggling in a country shack, move to the city after Coop (Carradine) swipes some money from an open safe at a place that won't hire him. Coop falls in with the wrong crowd, initially typified by Joe Morton in a great performance as Solo, the kind of fast-talking nervous street crime guy always looking for somebody to lean on, who finds it in Coop. The two form an unlikely team focused on stealing jewelry.
Circumstances bring Hawk and Georgia, Coop's wife, together after Coop undergoes a radical change in hairstyle, clothing, and taste in women. The bad guys, played by Divine and Dirk Blocker sporting a ridiculous wig and a phony growly voice (Hilly Blue and Rambo, respectively), make things tough for Coop and Hawk both.
When the movie opens, you'd swear it was in the 1940s and in fact, Rain City was the favorite nickname for Seattle back then (not so much these days). Then as the film progresses you realize there's a mix of fashions, behaviors, automobiles, and other cultural accoutrements that places the setting in some alternate universe that's just right for a semi-surreal, edgy neo-noir like this one.
The interesting cast does a fine job. Lori Singer as Georgia is the right blend of beauty, innocence, and vulnerability which nicely contrasts with Wanda's tough (but, yes, good-hearted) exterior. John Considine as the completely corrupt lawyer Nate is fine also, and the other supporting cast chips in as well.
A great 80s American film meant to spotlight the mix of innocence and sleaze that's America at its core, Trouble in Mind delivers the goods. Worth the price of admission, no question.
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