198 Roadgames

Discuss releases by Indicator and the films on them.

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: 198 Roadgames

#26 Post by tenia » Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:37 am

It remains quite a useful database and, while it's only human to focus on picking the odd one out, for all its debatable reviews, it still contains tons of quite well written and accurate reviews. Even in the present case, Svet pinpoints quite accurately certain limitations that the Powerhouse's new restoration still have, something he's so far (until I publish my review) litterally the only one to do.

My remark is was more about the way he's phrasing this remark, which makes it very hard to understand exactly what he's refering to. He seems to refer to some kind of structural pattern-like observations over "digital remastering" that, according to him, "involves a lot of cosmetic work" but I have no idea what this means since this isn't the case here (though of course, the restoration has most likely been performed in the digital realm once the IN was cleaned up and scanned).

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therewillbeblus
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Re: 198 Roadgames

#27 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Feb 09, 2021 3:11 am

I went into this with low expectations and thought it was pretty good, but the extent to which one appreciates this will rest on a willingness to engage with its long wind-up in gradual build of tension whilst surrendering any hope for a typical satisfying conclusion. The narrative takes Hitchcockian suspense to a space of self-fulfilling paranoia, where Keach's walking contradiction of an eccentric everyman seems to be in the right, but his perceptions are so hastily pronounced and based on coincidence that his stability becomes suspect by the laws of cinema. This film felt like a delusion in disguise as a straightforward joyride thriller, and some of the best moments are completely anticlimactic setpieces that are masterfully inspired at achieving the tone of a slasher as they deliberately subvert horror
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The meatlocker scene is a perfect example of this where I swear I can see the killer in the background on several occasions, but then we get the reveal of misinterpreted evidence! Also the mere fact that Keach was 'right' in the first place is mindboggling and awesome.

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tenia
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Re: 198 Roadgames

#28 Post by tenia » Tue Feb 09, 2021 5:12 am

It's funny because I never took Keach as anything but someone in the right that the movie keeps trying to make us doubt without ever succeeding. It makes these attempts frustrating because they feel mechanical and a bit forced, as if it's stuff the movie HAS to go through because the hero is expected to be doubted in order to twist the movie a bit and make it longer and less predictable. But in the end, it IS predictable in many ways, and these attempts to twist the movie a bit and make us doubt Keach seem wasted and superfluous.

It doesn't make the movie less interesting, but it does make the movie less original than it seems to be. It also seems many times a bit silly in its tone and often seems out-of-topic, and re-reading the test projections cards and results shown in the Indicator's booklet made me realised it's something that was spotted during its production, especially regarding Keach's behavior and his on-screen scenes, speaking a lot, having shots of him driving his truck as if we were watching a documentary on truckers. In some ways, I guess it's a movie that simply could have been trimmed a lot.

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: 198 Roadgames

#29 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:02 am

I don’t think the film succeeds at making us doubt him so much as the circumstances that kickoff his motivation feel surreally serendipitous and then he continues to exhibit personality tics that don’t always provide an easy path to joining with him. A lot of this is probably due to Keach’s performance, or maybe simply his innate energy, since we’ve been dropped into these kinds of coincidences in plenty of movies before and had no issue smoothly aligning with our lead. Something about the way he reacts is distancing, and that makes the film more interesting, but I agree that it doesn’t do a whole lot outside the box and winds up being fine rather than great. Instead of being trimmed I wish it was a bit longer- a strong final act would have elevated the film substantially but it seems to choose to fizzle out as if they ran out of film stock.

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tenia
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Re: 198 Roadgames

#30 Post by tenia » Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:08 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:02 am
Something about the way he reacts is distancing
I understand better what you meant now, and agree with this. It makes his behavior very strange, but strange as in "not very well written or incorporated in the script", not strange as in "it's a strange character".
therewillbeblus wrote:
Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:02 am
Instead of being trimmed I wish it was a bit longer- a strong final act would have elevated the film substantially but it seems to choose to fizzle out as if they ran out of film stock.
I wrote it could be shorter, but true, it might be more a matter of balance rather than duration. It felt like a good chunk of the 2 first thirds could be trimmed in favor of extending a bit the last one, which unfolds quite quickly indeed.

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Finch
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
Location: Edinburgh, UK

Re: 198 Roadgames

#31 Post by Finch » Fri Mar 19, 2021 4:33 pm

The book included with Roadgames is excellent. Michael, please pass on to Jeff Billington that I thought it was a fantastic read. The negative contemporary review included in the Critical Responses section is the sort of review that I find worthless because it struggles to deal with the film as it is as opposed to what the reviewer wanted it to be.

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