TROUBLE IN MIND
A film review by Lons Ponschock
Copyright 1995 Lons Ponschock
A film by Alan Rudolph Music by Mark Isham Stars Kris Kristofferson, Keith Carradine, Lori Singer, and Genevieve Bujold
"When his ship comes in,
there's going to be a
dock strike."
-- from TROUBLE IN MIND --
Couldn't resist that. My favorite line in the picture.
This is an old film (1985). Alan Rudolph is a special director. I've written about his films such as CHOOSE ME and the MODERNS and also EQUINOX which is his most recent starring Mathew Modine.
There's a quietness about an Alan Rudolph piece. And his pictures are often set out of time and place. Here, for instance, the scene is a place which is a major metropolitan area simply called Rain City. The cars on the street are autos like the 1971 'Batmobile' sharkback Buick and also one of the earliest Barracudas or 'back-a-rudas' as the old commercial had it: Cool stuff in other words.
A new friend lent me a personal copy of this piece: a purchased copy. So I expected something special.
I got it too.
Rain City, with all it's detail is just slightly skewed. The costumes are a bit different, the language is a bit different. Oh yes, and Divine is in this and she is a bit different as well.
Kris Kristofferson (THE SAILOR WHO FELL FROM GRACE WITH THE SEA, THE SILVER BEARS, MILLENNIUM) was never my favorite actor. Let's face it, I hate the somebitch. Having said that, I can still recommend TROUBLE IN MIND. The story is a fairly simple tale of low life in the big city. But with light, sound and a wonderful score by Mark Isham (QUIZ SHOW and THE BEAST, something that was barely released but the music was broadcast as part of a new age prog. on public radio) Rain City becomes a magical place... a place that cities always seem to be to those who don't live in them I think. But magical anyway.
It's about low life, small time hoods and ex-cops--the stuff of which most B-movies are made. A few elements appear here which on a single viewing didn't make sense: a Shinto ceremony, an enemy killed in the style of a Vietnam jungle fight, a shoot-out which has the effect of looking like a custard pie fight in a Mack Sennet comedy at the end.
And through all this strangeness, these images out of the mind of the director, comes that landscape of art deco and modern, almost campy stylishness there is ... cool stuff.
So TROUBLE IN MIND is a special film.
-- lon
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