Memories of Green
I still believe Blade Runner is a perfect film. I fully acknowledge that it's weird to say that about a film that's been edited so many different ways, but every version of the movie has its merits; Blade Runner has never had the sort of hatchet-job that Brazil did with its studio-mandated "love conquers all" edit. With Blade Runner, you'd have to do serious damage to the basic film to harm it.
So I appreciate how subtly this version (called "The Final Version") has been updated; as I told someone, there's no Han-Solo-walking-over-Jabba's-tail "Huh?" moment. I'm just glad the film's around (and that Cinema 21 was able to wrangle a print) and there to be appreciated.
It's a sad film, in a good way. One of the many reasons the film works -- beyond even the perfect density of the future world's design, the alien-like Vangelis music and the fact that many of the actors never looked as beautiful as they did here (I see why Caitlin lusts for Rutger Hauer because of this role, and I personally am stunned by Sean Young and Daryl Hannah) -- is that the movie's violence is never "fun," exhilarating violence. It's tough to watch; all the times I've seen Blade Runner and to this day I still cringe at moments. The film's few moments of joy are experienced by beings, the Replicants, who are almost child-like in their experience of joy -- even Daryl Hannah's Pris, who's a prostitute.
And of course the whole look of Blade Runner is immersive and stunning and influential up the wazoo. How influential? I've unconsciously aped one particular shot (a flying police vehicle in a spinning descent towards a skyscraper's roof, from the scene pictured on this page's top image) in the way I've imagined scenes from novels I've read. So I'm among the influenced.
That was my treat to myself today. Now it's time to make chili...
So I appreciate how subtly this version (called "The Final Version") has been updated; as I told someone, there's no Han-Solo-walking-over-Jabba's-tail "Huh?" moment. I'm just glad the film's around (and that Cinema 21 was able to wrangle a print) and there to be appreciated.
It's a sad film, in a good way. One of the many reasons the film works -- beyond even the perfect density of the future world's design, the alien-like Vangelis music and the fact that many of the actors never looked as beautiful as they did here (I see why Caitlin lusts for Rutger Hauer because of this role, and I personally am stunned by Sean Young and Daryl Hannah) -- is that the movie's violence is never "fun," exhilarating violence. It's tough to watch; all the times I've seen Blade Runner and to this day I still cringe at moments. The film's few moments of joy are experienced by beings, the Replicants, who are almost child-like in their experience of joy -- even Daryl Hannah's Pris, who's a prostitute.
And of course the whole look of Blade Runner is immersive and stunning and influential up the wazoo. How influential? I've unconsciously aped one particular shot (a flying police vehicle in a spinning descent towards a skyscraper's roof, from the scene pictured on this page's top image) in the way I've imagined scenes from novels I've read. So I'm among the influenced.
That was my treat to myself today. Now it's time to make chili...