In Rumble Fish, much directorial and acting talent is brought together to produce a strange but effective work.
The soundtrack, by Stewart Copeland, is a tremendous backdrop to the arresting visuals. The soundtrack CD, even in isolation, is great music.
The film is beautifully shot entirely in black and white, with the exception of the Rumble (Siamese Fighting) Fish, of the title, a metaphor for Rusty James (Matt Dillon) and his brawl-prone friends. The monochrome photography is supposed to mirror the colour blindness of The Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke).
The fish - and ergo the boys - will fight their own reflections, if there's nothing else to fight. For Rusty James and friends, fighting is an outlet for the frustrations of their doomed existence, born on the wrong side of the tracks, with few prospects. Rusty James yearns for a time when there were gangs, led by his brother The Motorcycle Boy. He wants more than anything to be like his brother, but can never get there. He lacks his brother's intelligence and is too stupid to understand that this is why he will never be like The Motorcycle Boy who, for his part, now regards the "rumbles" as childish.
The performances of Dillon, Rourke, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Spano, Diane Lane etc - are excellent. For me, though, Dennis Hopper, as the boys' alcoholic father, is startlingly good, unearthing real emotion from the pathos of his character's life. The intensity of his little bar-room speech about Rusty James' absent mother sends shivers up and down the spine.
Coppola must be credited for a unique and profound interpretation of SE Hinton's short novel. He employs stylistic flourishes - time-lapse photography, expanding and contracting shadows, monochrome-except-for-the-fish. He loads the film with symbolism and mood. For this, the film has been accused of pretentiousness and there is some justification for this, because it is not evident who it is aimed at. The book was teenage fiction, but the film is 18-rated. Much of the subtlety might be lost on the likely audience of a film which is ostensibly about youth gangs. However, if you can get past that, Rumble Fish remains a superb film and something you can watch repeatedly and always find rewarding.
The soundtrack, by Stewart Copeland, is a tremendous backdrop to the arresting visuals. The soundtrack CD, even in isolation, is great music.
The film is beautifully shot entirely in black and white, with the exception of the Rumble (Siamese Fighting) Fish, of the title, a metaphor for Rusty James (Matt Dillon) and his brawl-prone friends. The monochrome photography is supposed to mirror the colour blindness of The Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke).
The fish - and ergo the boys - will fight their own reflections, if there's nothing else to fight. For Rusty James and friends, fighting is an outlet for the frustrations of their doomed existence, born on the wrong side of the tracks, with few prospects. Rusty James yearns for a time when there were gangs, led by his brother The Motorcycle Boy. He wants more than anything to be like his brother, but can never get there. He lacks his brother's intelligence and is too stupid to understand that this is why he will never be like The Motorcycle Boy who, for his part, now regards the "rumbles" as childish.
The performances of Dillon, Rourke, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Spano, Diane Lane etc - are excellent. For me, though, Dennis Hopper, as the boys' alcoholic father, is startlingly good, unearthing real emotion from the pathos of his character's life. The intensity of his little bar-room speech about Rusty James' absent mother sends shivers up and down the spine.
Coppola must be credited for a unique and profound interpretation of SE Hinton's short novel. He employs stylistic flourishes - time-lapse photography, expanding and contracting shadows, monochrome-except-for-the-fish. He loads the film with symbolism and mood. For this, the film has been accused of pretentiousness and there is some justification for this, because it is not evident who it is aimed at. The book was teenage fiction, but the film is 18-rated. Much of the subtlety might be lost on the likely audience of a film which is ostensibly about youth gangs. However, if you can get past that, Rumble Fish remains a superb film and something you can watch repeatedly and always find rewarding.
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