Saturday, August 13, 2011
SWINGERS
Today's film was
I got this on the advice of friends but was sorely disappointed.
It is an overheated melodrama about disengaged teenagers who are confronted by the new Nazi era.
It is based on a real phenomena, see left. These guys aren't kids. The movie kids are.
They are fans of swing music and jitterbugging. I think that this is a bit ahead of its time, the jitterbugging. But OK. It is a compressed view and as the various Nazi tropes unfold they are caught in the middle and must commit or drop out.
Spoiler!
Most disappointing is when the lead, Robert Sean Leonard, develops strong moral scruples about the Nazis and, even after he meets at least two active underground members, it totally eludes him to join them. Instead, he goes to rebel by jitterbugging one more time. And even when he is "saved" by his friend, he gives himself up. So stupid.
His friend Christian Bale goes Nazi and their relationships is explored but to no good end. One swing kid (they have named themselves that) kills himself. A guitarist, the Hitler youth stomp on his playing hand. You can see it coming.
Over heated.
But our hero still would rather dance.
If they had shown any depth at all in the Leonard character it would have been worthwhile. But to be hauled off for dancing in a club to a work camp and the army, leaving his family alone and without resources seems an enormous waste.
I am still pissed off at this ending. I will give it a two out of Netflix5 because I did see it all.
An aside. It is interesting to see both of these young actors in their early careers. It seems as though the film went to DVD very quickly. It did not get kind reviews. In any case, Bale still has baby fat. He is 17. It is only a few years after Empire of the Sun (1985) when he was 11.
Why do I write the longest posts for the lousiest movies? I have asked myself this before. Unloading I guess.
Labels: best films
