While this film is a bit of a time capsule and wears its date of vintage openly, it is a surprisingly relevant movie in its own right. As in the Romero's "Season of the Witch" and "Martin," we are confronted with a society that is somewhat confused and stunned by the social change taking place. As in those films, the ending does not so much resolve matters or tie up loose ends as leave an impression. (The ending actually links back symbolically to the opening. I won't say more than that.)
The film utilizes a device that I usually find off-putting: the narrator reflecting upon the events that we are about to view. However, in this film, the device ultimately works well to highlight the nature of the relationship between "Chris" and "Lynn": brief and confusing to both of its principal members while it was actually unfolding.
Raymond Laine's "Chris" (a sort of George Clooney type) is the wandering teenager-adult who doesn't quite know what he is about and is desperately trying to avoid discovering any one answer to that question. For her part, Judith Ridley's "Lynn" wears the imprint of the Mary Tyler Moore Show age: the pretty, single woman trying to navigate a career and an uncertain identity amidst the lecherous advances of powerful men and the "fun" but ultimately selfish/aimless Chris. While she encourages Chris to buckle down and make decisions, he is, for reasons that are never entirely clear, unable to do so.
While some of the "Me Generation" themes may seem dated, those themes do service the overall plot (example: Lynn makes an important decision in the last fifteen minutes of the movie that, in turn, explains where she ends up in the last scenes of the movie-- which, in turn, takes us back to the opening scenes and is a play on the title of the movie). And there are a few scenes with the advertising people that could have been easily transplanted into "Seinfeld" episodes. This movie has a 70s vernacular, but it is smart and clever enough to appeal to the present.
Raymond Laine and Judith Ridley give excellent performances, and I can only wish that they had performed more steadily in the years after. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Definitely recommend.
The film utilizes a device that I usually find off-putting: the narrator reflecting upon the events that we are about to view. However, in this film, the device ultimately works well to highlight the nature of the relationship between "Chris" and "Lynn": brief and confusing to both of its principal members while it was actually unfolding.
Raymond Laine's "Chris" (a sort of George Clooney type) is the wandering teenager-adult who doesn't quite know what he is about and is desperately trying to avoid discovering any one answer to that question. For her part, Judith Ridley's "Lynn" wears the imprint of the Mary Tyler Moore Show age: the pretty, single woman trying to navigate a career and an uncertain identity amidst the lecherous advances of powerful men and the "fun" but ultimately selfish/aimless Chris. While she encourages Chris to buckle down and make decisions, he is, for reasons that are never entirely clear, unable to do so.
While some of the "Me Generation" themes may seem dated, those themes do service the overall plot (example: Lynn makes an important decision in the last fifteen minutes of the movie that, in turn, explains where she ends up in the last scenes of the movie-- which, in turn, takes us back to the opening scenes and is a play on the title of the movie). And there are a few scenes with the advertising people that could have been easily transplanted into "Seinfeld" episodes. This movie has a 70s vernacular, but it is smart and clever enough to appeal to the present.
Raymond Laine and Judith Ridley give excellent performances, and I can only wish that they had performed more steadily in the years after. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Definitely recommend.