Days of Heaven

i just watched days of heaven. i feel happy and peaceful. that was a beautiful and enormous movie. the train smoking at dusk, the otherworldly clouds, the apocalyptic and tedious munching of little insects, "the water that looks ghostly in the sun on a cold clear day"or something like that, Richard Gere's guileless face with those two teeth peeking like the handsomest rabbit.

One plain old achievement of this movie is refusing to send up an interpretation of itself. The thing contains multitudes; it's pretty well irreducible. The world is full of so many things and they are all sincere in their angst and passion and wrath. In the criterion magazine someone wrote something about Sam Shepard being a ghost, a wisp of emotions about the windows, and it's super true and it's a beautiful thing.

One weird thing is how the relationship begins. Maybe it's just masterfully boot-footed and understated, but it's weird how their dreams of a better life shoehorn her and them into that house. I guess I expected Gere's character to be a more classical man with all the attendant oafish pride. But he just ends up a humbly ignoble fellow.

It IS gorgeous, gosh golly gee that was fucking beautiful.

love,
frank