Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993)

Nick is a feckless television salesman who gets fired and impulsively decides that he and his girlfriend, Beth, will move to Butte, MT, which he's read is "the city of the future." "I read ... See full summary »

Director:

Michael Steinberg

Writers:

Roger Hedden (play), Roger Hedden (screenplay)

Stars:

Phoebe Cates, Bridget Fonda, Tim Roth

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Phoebe Cates	...	Carol
Bridget Fonda	...	Beth
Tim Roth	...	Nick
Eric Stoltz	...	Sid
Alicia Witt	...	Elizabeth
Sandra Ellis Lafferty	...	Yard Sale Lady (as Sandra Lafferty)
Sidney Dawson	...	TV Customer
Jon Proudstar	...	Station Attendant
Scott Johnson	...	Chip
Kezbah Weidner	...	Dine Woman
Peter Fonda	...	Motorcycle Rider
Amaryllis Borrego	...	Waitress
Rich Wheeler	...	Elizabeth's Grandfather
Scott Frederick	...	TV Store Kid
Warren Burton	...	Radio Preacher (voice)

Storyline

Nick is a feckless television salesman who gets fired and impulsively decides that he and his girlfriend, Beth, will move to Butte, MT, which he's read is "the city of the future." "I read that a while ago, so the future should be there by now," he enthuses. He waits until the last moment to tell Carol, his ex and Beth's best friend, about the move. While Nick is working his last day, Sid comes to the couple's house to paint it for the next tenants. He quickly develops an interest in Beth. He, Beth, and Carol get stoned and hang out. When Sid hears about the move, he tells Beth that he's never left Enfield, and has no interest in traveling. Meanwhile, Nick decides to take off on his own. When Beth gets word of this from Carol, she finds solace in Sid's arms. Sid proclaims his love the next morning, and implores Beth to stay. Meanwhile, Nick visits his childhood home, looking for his parents, has an epiphany, and decides to return to Carol.

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Plot Keywords:

watching tv | stoned | salesman | love | friend | 

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Taglines:

Nick is leaving. Beth is staying. Carol is waiting. Sid is painting.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the end credits there is a special thanks to Harvey Keitel. He was not involved in the movie as such, but he made a very important phone call to Tim Roth. Roth had been offered a big and well paid part in a big budget film immediately before this low budget independent film was to begin shooting. Harvey Keitel made a phone call to Roth, giving him the following advice "Don't take the money. Take the film you really want to make". So Roth stayed with this project.

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Quotes

Carol: You get all the stuff that you want to sell, and I'll make some yard sale signs.
Beth: No one's gonna buy my shit. It's all junk.
Carol: That's what people buy at yard sales.

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Connections

References Powaqqatsi (1988)

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Soundtracks

Juanita
Performed by The Flying Burrito Brothers
Written by Chris Hillman / Gram Parsons
Courtesy of A&M Records, Inc.

User Reviews

Pointless-Counterpointless

I stumbled across this little piece of fluff on IFC television last night. It had a cast worth checking, so in spite of IFC's unhopeful two star rating, I settled in to watch. What an odd little film.

The actor's performances were good -- very natural in terms of their interactions and relationships. The pace was a tad slow -- while I don't think movies need fist fights and explosions to create pace, a dialog-intensive film needs to beware of ......................... long..................................pauses. Still, that is a minor criticism in my view. If that was the only flaw in the film, I could and would have given it a higher rating because for the most part the actors handled those dialogic gaps pretty well.

The worse problem with this film was its failure in my view to address the fundamental "So what?" question. I was never given any reason to care a whit about any of these characters, with the limited exception of Beth (Bridget Fonda) whom I was hoping would get the hell out of Enfield. After she left, I rooted for her not be found by the pseudo-intellectual painter, Sid. Beth had made a couple of very bad choices, with the amoral Nick (Tim Roth) and the vacuous pop-psychologist, Sid, so I was rooting for her to stick to her guns, enjoy the moments of pleasure she had with Sid, and get away before her brain turned entirely to mush. Either Nick or Sid would have destroyed her: Nick with his amoral outlook and lack of direction; Sid with his pretensions of profundity that he used to shield his fundamental lack of imagination and ambition.

Still, I didn't care a helluva lot about Beth either. She made the right decision (finally), but her escape was not a complete triumph because for all we know she fell into yet another destructive relationship with some other needy weirdo two towns over.

All of these characters, in the end, were drifting along in pointless situations. With a film so lacking in plot, brevity was important and, thankfully, present. If this movie had pushed toward the two-hour mark, it would have been an utter waste of time unless the time had been used to give the viewer a reason to care about this crew of self-indulgent dim-wits.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 April 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bodies, Rest & Motion

Filming Locations:

Sonoran Desert, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$75,957, 11 April 1993

Gross USA:

$764,724

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$764,724

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fine Line Features, August Entertainment, Mindel-Shaw Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1