Reminds me of our True Romance discussion. Goose in MM is Clarence. Slightly difference circumstance.
You trying to hoist me on my own
Miracle Mile petard here? Given my distinction between nerds and geeks, I'd say that Clarence is the geek while Harry is the nerd. Clarence has
zero game, he's a hapless/hopeless geek using "I'd fuck Elvis" as his pick-up line, but Harry reeled Julie in at the museum without even talking to her. By the time she found him and said hello to him - and the fact that
she was looking for
him really says it all - he'd already snagged her
What an absurd movie. Every moment was hilariously unbelievable. I think it was shooting for real tension and drama but all I got out of it was some campy fun [...] I can't say I wasn't entertained. I was. I just think it's not for the reasons the movie intended.
The problem was it failed to establish even rudimentary logic
If you read
my essay and
@europe1's write-up then you'll realize that this isn't a problem,
it's the point. The film doesn't operate according to "rudimentary logic"; it operates according to
noir logic:
"Žižek provides a subtle account of the [
noir] subject’s relation to the external world as one of despair and alienation, and it is with reference to this aspect of his argument that one may come to understand what he means by
noir logic. As assiduously explicated by Andrew Dickos, the main through-line in
film noir [...] is 'its psycho-philosophical stance as a modern experience, with the corresponding formal depiction of bleak mood; the hardened and nihilistic attitudes of its characters, with their often obsessive drives; and an aura of hopelessness and doom that envelops their lives.' Žižek understands the
noir world similarly as one which reduces the subject to a 'passive observer … witnessing with incredulity the strange, almost submarine, succession of events in which he remains trapped.' This marks (as Dickos elegantly sums up in as precise an articulation of
noir logic as one is likely to encounter) the 'impossible division between freedom and entrapment as it reminds us that one cannot truly be defined without the other and that each is the incomplete part of the existential equation befitting the
noir world.' This is precisely the
noir logic that introduces the 'anamorphic distortion' Žižek finds so curious in classical and post-classical films
noir, and his notion of
noir logic as against more traditional and rigid understandings of genre can serve not only to stimulate further evolution of the
film noir discourse, it can also serve to provide a critical context for a reappraisal of Steve De Jarnatt’s apocalyptic
noir thriller,
Miracle Mile."
When you enter the world of
Miracle Mile, you leave the "rudimentary" world behind
or a passable semblance of reason to make the characters relate-able to real live humans.
Harry finding the girl of his dreams doesn't resonate with you? Wilson trying to save his sister and then begging Harry to kill him after she dies so that he can catch up with her isn't one of the most painfully human moments you've ever witnessed in the cinema?
You know, I was just joking with the whole
Angel Heart/
@MusterX thing about you not having a heart, but now I'm not sure that it isn't true...
You can't go wrong with Tangerine Dream, but it goes much better with good material, like Risky Business or Three O'Clock High.
Or
Vision Quest. Tell me you at least consider
Vision Quest good material. I don't think my heart could take someone dissing both
Miracle Mile and
Vision Quest.
