Monday, January 11, 2010

Mother Night, 1996 (Grade B-)

Director: Keith Gordon
Starring: Nick Nolte; Alan Arkin; John Goodman: Kurt Vonnegut (as the sad man on the street)
Genre: World War Two; Drama
IMDB Link:  Mother Night

sez says: it is just like the voice over says in the movie 'If you pretend to be something long enough that is what you will become.'  This is a story from a novel by Kurt Vonnegut--and like most 'book-to-film' efforts--the film suffers in comparison to the book.  But Nolte does a grand job--it is almost a one-man show. The irony is here but not so much the dark humor for which Vonnegut is famous. I loved the use of the typewriter ribbon at the end -- a person who lives by using words must die with the words he used.

mjc says:   Nolte captured the emptying of this man, once full of life but as drained of life by his assignment to spy as other "soldiers" who were shell shocked and devastated by their experiences.