Carried Away

One of the worst movies I have ever seen. If it had a few musical numbers, it would beat out Ishtar for worst movie of all time. Ed Wood is smiling somewhere.

This film is NOT a convincing character study, the premise that a 49 year old with arrested development issues is going to have a revitalizing affair with the local sex kitten (who initiates it!!) seems more implausible than the plots of most action films. At least the action films supply devices which we can use to suspend our disbelief. A 17-year old with a penchant for handicapped men still living with their mothers is beyond my ken.

At least I got a laugh out of this movie, Amy Locane's immolation of the horse (a ruse to get Hopper to act as a hero and save it, but his gimpy leg precludes such a possibility) is forever etched in my mind.

In the countryside of Texas, Joseph Svenden (Dennis Hopper) is a forty-seven-year-old schoolteacher with one lamed leg since he had an accident when he was a teenager, who lives in a farm with his mother that is terminal of cancer. Joey has been dating the widow schoolteacher Rosealee Henson (Amy Irving) for six years but does not marry her. His life is a boring routine, and he has never seen the ocean. When the hot seventeen-year-old Catherine Wheeler (Amy Locane) joins his class, her father Major Wheeler (Gary Busey) visits Joey and rents his barn to keep Catherine's horse there. Soon Catherine seduces Joey, and they have frequent sex in the barn. Joey knows that he is wrong but cannot resist the sex with Catherine. When Joey is fired from the school that is moving to another place and his mother dies, Rosealee learns his affair with the teenager and his life turns upside down.

"Carried Away" is a great and erotic romance directed by Bruno Barreto, about a middle-aged man that has a romance with a seventeen-year-old teenager. The midlife crisis of the lead character, Joseph Svenden, is very well explained by the script. First, it is hard to resist the beautiful body of the Lolita Amy Locane, no matter who you are. His affair makes him think about his boring and routine life in the countryside. The nude is not vulgar, but beautiful, and the sex scene between Amy Irving, who was Bruno Barreto's wife in 1996, and Dennis Hopper, is delicate. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Atos de Amor" ("Love Acts")

Very well acted by Amy Irving, allowing herself to look drab, and older, and especially Dennis Hopper, who gives what might be his most restrained performance ever, and creates an unforgettable character in the process.

This tale of a mid-western, self confessed 'mediocre farmer and schoolteacher' having an erotic affair with a 17 year old student, and the effect it has on his life, especially his long standing, but now somewhat inert relationship with his fellow teacher, is really about taking risks in life, even bad ones, and how we need those to stay alive.

I like and admire that the film neither fully condemns or approves of anyone or any action. Everything is complex.

Sadly, Amy Locaine as the girl, while stunningly beautiful, isn't at the acting level of her older co-stars, nor his her character written with the same kind of insight and precision, which hurts the overall effect. And some of the writing is a little overly poetic and theatrical.

Still, it's an unique film, dealing with sex, aging, morality, fear and self-image in a far more complex, mature way than most American films, and for once treats mid-western farm folks as just as complex, intelligent and tortured as their big-city counterparts.

I'm a big fan of Dennis Hopper - and this is one of his best works. I'm not sure if he came to the script or if this was just the perfect vehicle for his ability to play complexity - but such doesn't really matter.

Busey was excellent when he's usually too much. Hal Holbrook was solid.

The story was one that middle-aged men are frequently (more often than we may expect) confronted with. This was the most unsensational, honest, and thoughtful presentation of the conflict I've ever watched. Great flick for the thoughtful.

There was a very sexual content - but never was it gratuitous. Every scene had a purpose. It was a rare film in that if you wanted to be entertained, it did that. If you wanted to provoke thought, it did that, too. How involved do you want to be?

If you enjoy movies that leave you taking more than one position, and arguing with yourself about what is "right" this is the kind of flick you'd enjoy.

Yesterday, I heard about the death of Dennis Hopper. I remembered buying a VHS copy of this film quite some time ago, but never watched it. Hearing it was one of his better roles, I thought it would be a suitable tribute to the man.

"Carried Away" is the sort of film loved above all others by a certain type of audience. There's guilt, tragedy, alienation, and most of all - sex. "Carried Away" is the sort of film that always feels like winter, even if made in the middle of summer. It probably takes place in the 1970s, though that's never specified. This is not normally the sort of film I like. But there's a number reasons why it is so good. Mainly, the actors. Dennis Hopper is every bit as impressive as he's ever been, playing a character of painful reality and depth. Hal Holbrook, Julie Harris, and Gary Busey are all quite welcome as well. Amy Locane is interesting, playing on a complex level of childishness and convincing sexuality.

I got a lot of "Carried Away", because it has a lot put into it. The humanity is a basic thing, the details of ordinary actions, the observation of a slow day. In the end, the film is a little too hard and cold for its own good. It wants to make you feel cold in the summer, but that's just an illusion. Like black & white in colour. This could have been a bright, vivid film to even greater effect. But that's just a minor complaint.