Taking Off Review
It feels unmistakable -- the cinematic eye of immigrant directors who journey to the U.S. and instantly establish a unique perspective on America with what is exclusively an outsider's gaze. Louis_Malle did it with Atlantic_City (1980), Wim_Wenders did it with Paris,_Texas (1984), and Milos_Forman does it with this little-seen generation-gap comedy from 1971 (which, not coincidentally, was co-scripted by Atlantic_City scenarist John_Guare). From the opening sequence, when Forman spends almost 20 minutes on young American women trying out for a singing audition (recalling the prologue to his Loves of a Blonde), the film exudes the director's fascination with American types of all shapes and sizes -- the types gleaned or glossed over by indigenous filmmakers. That sequence also projects Forman's deep-seated love of humanity; even as he skewers with devilish glee the behavioral modes of American youth and the parental bourgeois (consider, for example, the hilarious pornographic ditty "Ode to a Screw," performed by one of the tryouts), he possesses that rare ability to love his characters deeply and empathetically at the same time. (What other director would travel to such great lengths to give every young actress at the audition a few seconds on camera?)
Within the Czech filmmaker's catalogue, this work feels immediately identifiable; it shares a great deal with Forman's other outings, but particularly the Formanesque tone -- a tone that waxes bittersweet. On the most immediate level, the filmmakers pack in one uproarious sequence after another, thanks largely to the impeccable comic timing of star Buck_Henry (who, as Larry Tyne, has arguably never been better); sequences such as Larry drunkenly attempting to eat a hard-boiled egg at a bar, Larry's run-in with violent counterculture types at a New York City sandwich counter, and the ultimate showstopper -- the parents' marijuana-induced strip-poker game, with its musical climax -- are unforgettable. But look deeper, and one senses an intransigent sadness at the film's core, masked by the humor -- and no scene drives this home better than Larry's private encounter with his wife, Lynn (Lynn_Carlin), who cries and sobs uncontrollably as the couple prepares to meet their teenage daughter's first boyfriend. The film carries a sense of time passing, as one generation ages and another grows up, that feels wonderfully poignant, thoughtful, and (when one reflects on it) even heartbreaking. Overall, the motion picture triumphs for its ability to create and sustain one of the most deeply felt, authentic, and honest onscreen portraits of the rift between Greatest Generation parents and late-'60s/early-'70s youth -- a difficult and remarkable accomplishment for a single narrative feature. Nathan Southern, Rovi
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