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FILM REC: Who Am I This Time?
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 12:02 am.
I just found out that this film has finally come out on DVD. And I knew I had to tell all of you about it.
This is one of my top five films. A one-hour piece based on a short story by the great Kurt Vonnegut, it is a small, quiet tale about two painfully shy people, and the transformative powers of theater. Christopher Walken plays a small-town hardware store clerk so introverted that he cannot actually look other people in the eye; as one reviewer says, "Few actors invoking the title of their film as a line of dialogue have had quite the shattering effect that Christopher Walken does." But his difficulty is matched by that of Susan Sarandon's character, a telephone company worker who has never had a fixed home, as she follows her job assignments around the country. It's only when they take to the stage in the town's community theater production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" that either of them finds a true voice, and the magic that ensues. (Walken's character is a regular member of the troupe, and in that ultimate irony of the actor, who spends his life speaking heart's truth but almost never in his own words, he is impassioned and brilliant only when he is someone else.)
Who Am I This Time? was made in 1982, before either Walken or Sarandon were well-known, and the energetic youth and freshness of their delivery, and the palpable chemistry between them contribute to the sheer delight of this lovely little film. For many years, it's been available only in one limited video edition, but joy! It is now on DVD. Unfortunately it's a catalog release, meaning that the disc contains no extras, only the film itself. But that is more than worth the price.
The last ten years have seen many out-of-the-way treasures given new life, cleaned up and decked out, and it's such a treat to see things like this brought up from the vaults. If you enjoy wry, gentle stories about real people and the magic that sometimes happens in real life, I'm sure you will love this film.
I just found out that this film has finally come out on DVD. And I knew I had to tell all of you about it.
This is one of my top five films. A one-hour piece based on a short story by the great Kurt Vonnegut, it is a small, quiet tale about two painfully shy people, and the transformative powers of theater. Christopher Walken plays a small-town hardware store clerk so introverted that he cannot actually look other people in the eye; as one reviewer says, "Few actors invoking the title of their film as a line of dialogue have had quite the shattering effect that Christopher Walken does." But his difficulty is matched by that of Susan Sarandon's character, a telephone company worker who has never had a fixed home, as she follows her job assignments around the country. It's only when they take to the stage in the town's community theater production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" that either of them finds a true voice, and the magic that ensues. (Walken's character is a regular member of the troupe, and in that ultimate irony of the actor, who spends his life speaking heart's truth but almost never in his own words, he is impassioned and brilliant only when he is someone else.)
Who Am I This Time? was made in 1982, before either Walken or Sarandon were well-known, and the energetic youth and freshness of their delivery, and the palpable chemistry between them contribute to the sheer delight of this lovely little film. For many years, it's been available only in one limited video edition, but joy! It is now on DVD. Unfortunately it's a catalog release, meaning that the disc contains no extras, only the film itself. But that is more than worth the price.
The last ten years have seen many out-of-the-way treasures given new life, cleaned up and decked out, and it's such a treat to see things like this brought up from the vaults. If you enjoy wry, gentle stories about real people and the magic that sometimes happens in real life, I'm sure you will love this film.
