Michael Cimino's final film "The
Sunchaser" bombed but I suppose after "Heaven's Gate" Cimino was lucky
to get any kind of gig. Consequently, the film virtually disappeared
without trace and is, of course, now ripe for rediscovery. It's no
masterpiece, (unlike "Heaven's Gate" which I firmly believe is a
masterpiece), but it's no turkey either and is sufficiently 'strange' to
be of more than passing interest.
It's a kind of road
movie/buddy movie in which a 16 year old prisoner, (26 year old Jon
Seda, excellent), who happens to be dying of cancer, escapes taking his
doctor, (a miscast Woody Harrelson), hostage. It veers wildly between
black comedy and some high flautin' philosophising, bypassing the
conventions of the thriller on the way. It's an ambitious picture that
makes you wonder what audience Cimino had in mind, (did we really need
the dotty Anne Bancroft episode), and you could say it's certainly the
work of a maverick director, being closer in tone to the American films
of the seventies than what was being turned out in the nineties and for
all its faults you can tell it's the work of a major filmmaker, one
whose real potential was never fully realised. Seek this one out.
Michael Cimino's final film "The
Sunchaser" bombed but I suppose after "Heaven's Gate" Cimino was lucky
to get any kind of gig. Consequently, the film virtually disappeared
without trace and is, of course, now ripe for rediscovery. It's no
masterpiece, (unlike "Heaven's Gate" which I firmly believe is a
masterpiece), but it's no turkey either and is sufficiently 'strange' to
be of more than passing interest.
It's a kind of road
movie/buddy movie in which a 16 year old prisoner, (26 year old Jon
Seda, excellent), who happens to be dying of cancer, escapes taking his
doctor, (a miscast Woody Harrelson), hostage. It veers wildly between
black comedy and some high flautin' philosophising, bypassing the
conventions of the thriller on the way. It's an ambitious picture that
makes you wonder what audience Cimino had in mind, (did we really need
the dotty Anne Bancroft episode), and you could say it's certainly the
work of a maverick director, being closer in tone to the American films
of the seventies than what was being turned out in the nineties and for
all its faults you can tell it's the work of a major filmmaker, one
whose real potential was never fully realised. Seek this one out.
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