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James Foley
Reckless (1984) is a realistic melodrama about a naive teenager in
a boring steel-mill town who gets experienced while hanging out with a motorcycle rebel.
But, mostly, it is a visual feast that seems meant to undermine the plot itself.
At Close Range (1986), inspired by a real story and scripted by
Nicholas Kazan, is a crime melodrama that is even more stylized and baroque
than the previous film.
Brad (Sean Penn) is a trouble kid. He risks his life to get a few dollars that
a middle-aged man owes him. This impresses not only his brother but also a
cute girl, Terri. She seems further impressed when he gives her a pill of
ecstasy. His father is separated from his mother, although he brings money.
His mother lives with another man, who has a job, and does not like Brad's
carefree lifestyle, drugs and smoking. Expelled from the household, Brad
takes shelter at his father's place. At night his father and his brothers
go out to "work", which really means to carry out robberies. Then during the
day the father takes the kid for a trip to do some "laundry", but he really
means "laundering" the stolen banknotes by buying and selling cars.
Brad tracks down Terri, who lives in a farm, and kisses her.
Brad and his brother Tommy (whom some suspect of being a bastard son)
want to impress their father and go out at night
stealing tractors from the farms. But eventually one farmer catches them
and starts shooting at them. Wounded in the face, Brad calls his dad for help,
but doesn't get any. He can't go home bleeding, so he calls Terri and she
does help him. THey make love and spend a romantic day together,
swimming, making love and smoking pot.
One night he witnesses his father's gang kill an old man, and he changes
his mind about him. He chooses the farm girl over the gangster. His dream is
to make enough money to marry Terri and move somewhere else. Brad tries
to organize a robbery by himself, but fails. Arrested, he ends in jail.
Terri makes the mistake of asking his father for a ride to visit Brad in jail.
Convinced that she is being a "bad" influence on the kid (alienating the kid
from him), Brad's father gets her drunk, tells her to leave his son alone
and then, to make sure she gets the message, rapes her. Terri tells Brad,
who has been refusing to cooperate with the authorities. Brad cooperates with
the authorities and tells all he knows about his father's criminal activities.
His father does not hesitate to kill, one by one, his son's friends
and bury them in the hills. including Tommy, his own son, anybody who could
be a witness.
Brad is released for having cooperated. That night Brad and Terri prepare
to leave. They make it to the car. Then someone starts shooting. Terri
is massacred. Brad survives. Brad drags himself to his father's
place and confronts him, holding a gun in his hands. Bleeding almost to death,
Brad tells his father that he won't kill him because he doesn't want to become
like him. The police arrest the father and Brad will be the star witness at the trial.
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If English is your first language and you could translate the Italian text, please contact me.
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Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) e` un dramma di David Mamet:
Un gruppo di agenti immobiliari, ciascuno con i suoi problemi personali,
viene strigliato dall'ispettore venuto dal quartier generale, il quale promette
di licenziarli tutti meno i due migliori, e lascia il boss locale in carica
di dare loro le "lead" (nomi di potenziali clienti) e scatenarli uno contro
l'altro.
Ciascuno si mette al telefono e, usando i trucchi piu` sporchi, tenta di
convincere le proprie "lead" a comprare immobili. Lemmon e` disperato e
tenta di convincere il boss a dargli qualche lead extra, di quelle buone,
non le solite che circolano da anni e corrispondono a gente che non ha
nessuna intenzione di comprare. Il boss quasi accetta, ma soltanto a patto
che Lemmon gli paghi una tangente e Lemmon non ha i soldi.
Un altro, Dave, ha preparato un piano per rubare le lead quella sera stessa
e costringe un collega ingenuo ad aiutarlo.
E cosi` le lead spariscono misteriosamente durante il furto.
Tanto Ricki (Pacino) quanto Lemmon intanto hanno finalmente chiuso una
trattativa e sono in testa alla graduatoria.
Gli agenti litigano, si congratulano e si confidano mentre nella stanza
accanto la polizia e il boss conducono gli interrogatori.
Sia il deal di Pacino sia quello di Lemmon si rivelano delle illusioni:
il cliente di Pacino ha fatto pagare la moglie che adesso vuole i soldi
indietro e i clienti di Lemmon sono dei noti matti.
Il boss intuisce che a compiere il furto dev'essere stato Lemmon e minaccia
di denunciarlo se non confessa. Lemmon confessa: e` stato lui, e ha venduto
le lead alla concorrenza.
Film di attori, che godono degli squisiti dialoghi di Mamet. Ma quei dialoghi
contengono troppi soliloqui, che rallentano il ritmo dell'azione e non
aggiungono molto allo scavo psicologico.
Fear (1996) is a psycothriller about a maniac who is
obsessed with a teen girl.
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