To Live and Die in LA is an under appreciated masterpiece, that isn't as highly regarded as it should be. A mild rant.

I just got done watching To Live and Die in LA, and I'm not here to do a full review and say go watch it. That is for you to decide.

What I am here to say is that this movie subverted all of my expectations, and feels distinctly un-80's to me.

The film is directed by the guy who did The French Connection, and The Exorcist, and thus To Live and Day wears its directors history on its sleeve.

I'll try to describe it as best as I can, because it is these qualities that make it really great. The film has a lot of 80s music, 80s cars, and 80s saturation, but Friedkin throws a wrench into every 80s action thriller film I have ever seen. The film has quick and tight cuts from scene to scene, with little set-up. The narrative pacing is break neck, yet the plot itself meanders like its characters do.

The characters themselves are captured in a way that makes them impersonable. The story doesn't let you get to know any character with any back story or much characterization. Like we get some traits laid out for us, and some characters even go through permanent changes, but Friedkin presents everything as disposable and ever changing.

To Live and Die in LA is quite literally what the film is about. The city is an omnipresent entity chewing up and spitting out its inhabitants, and these federal agents we follow are just another set of victims in the sick machine.

The violence is treated like it's a characters. It's intense, quick, and then forgotten as soon as the next story beat unfolds. The violence is just treated like just another random encounter in the day of someone in the city. However, what is odd is that the violence isn't presented like normal 80s action shlock. The deaths aren't drawn out or hoping on body count to satisfy the masses. One second a character is there, and BLAM, they are fucking gone, and the next person is left in line to pick up the pieces.

The editing, pacing, and directing make it feel like the exact opposite of every iconic action movie from the era. We don't get any chances to personally reflect with our main characters' decisions. This film is not directed in such a way that lets us follow our characters like Riggs and Murtaugh, or John McClane. We don't feel for these agents, as much as we just watch them go through the motions.

However, it is this weird presentation of character and action that makes everything so much more compelling. You have no idea how a certain character is going to react to a situation, and you have to suffer along with the consequences of the characters' actions.

The ending of this film is almost pointless on purpose to illustrate the sheer waste of human life, resources, and emotional energy these characters put up with to ultimately wind up fucked harder than where they started.

I'm not one to fall for surprises, but this movie had me going "what the fuck" as I watched it unfold.

I've seen a lot of 80s films before, and let me tell you, this one doesn't feel like the rest. It is something special and oddly unique.

I think it deserves more recognition from the era, but I think the unique presentation of the film is what drives it out of any iconic or top rated film lists of that decade.

Submitted June 29, 2019 at 03:57PM by hippymule https://ift.tt/2KNYe50