Rhapsodies

I was watching a review of the works of Satoshi Kon today, where it was mentioned that one of Kong’s major influences had been the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s Slaughterhouse Five. Since that’s yet another example of a film I’d known about for years, but had never gotten around to actually seeing.  So I figured, what the heck, this week I’m doing films based on the works of Kurt Vonnegut!

Slaughterhouse-Five is one of those films that has a picture in nearly every textbook about science fiction since it came out. Yet I’d never heard anything better than mixed reviews for it. However, it was a film by George Roy Hill so at least I knew whatever I thought it would be a good piece of film craft.

Anyway, Slaughterhouse-Five tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, played by Michael Sacks, a veteran and former POW who survived the firebombing of Dresden. Due to being abducted by the Tralfamadorians, alien from the fourth dimension, he is unstuck in time. Going back and forth between his time in the war, and his life afterward, and his experience in the alien zoo. Witnessing every possible tragedy along the way including the aforementioned bombing of Dresden, a war buddy getting shot in an SS firing squad, surviving a plane crash and his wife dying in a self-inflicted traffic accident… So it goes.

I think you really need to be familiar with the book to appreciate this film, otherwise, the nonlinear storytelling doesn’t make much sense. Otherwise, I thought it was a solid adaptation, though perhaps they cut it down a little bit too much.

For one thing, no one ever said the key phrase,  “So it goes”, even once.

The next film on my list, Alan Rudolph ’s adaptation of Breakfast of Champions, tells the story of Dwayne Hoover, played by Bruce Willis, a successful but mentally unstable car salesman. If his slowly deteriorating mental condition wasn’t bad enough. He’s even more stressed out by “Hawaain week” (his dealership’s biggest sales week of the year) His wife is popping pills, his best friend and his sales manager (Nick Nolte) obsession with being outed as a crossdresser is affecting his work.  Into this seething pit comes hack science fiction writer, Kilgore Trout who has been invited to attend a local art festival with just the right match.

I had not heard many good things about Breakfast of Champions when it first came out and regrettably, most of those critics weren’t far off. While I don’t think I found it painful, like Mr. Vonnegut did, it didn’t much for me either. To be honest I’m at a loss how a director could do such a stream of thought novel like Breakfast of Champions, right.

Still, Albert Finney’s performance as Kilgore Trout made it at least partially worth the slog.

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