item not as discribed
Added 7/6/2009
Tape displayed lines through out first half of movie. Item not as discribed (did not play like new).
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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A Young Woman's version of "The Last Picture Show"
Added 6/28/2009
My initial impression of "Gas Food Lodging", midway through the film, was that it didn't have much to say to me. I saw a younger teenage daughter in a broken home, a nice well-meaning mother who is exasperated with the older teenage daughter, the older daughter who seems destined for trouble, and some supporting cast that lead me to wonder what was in the town's water. Things happen and more scenes of disfunction appear. I began to see that some things were connecting while others were falling apart. Still no redeeming message until the very end. At that point all that had happened came together in a most beautiful yet poignant way. The message was delivered and the film, from my perspective, was endowed with purpose.
The next day I thought more and more about "Gas Food Lodging". I understood it as a "coming of age" story of a teenage girl. She saw the redeption of everything in her life coming in the form of expected love. However, every expression or exanple of love that she witnessed was broken or never real in the first place. Things kept descending along with her faith that all would be well if everyone could just let it happen. Her search to find the answers failed until the answers found her.
Once the impact of the movie finally sunk in, I was reminded of "The Last Picture Show" of 20-some years earlier. In that book and movie we saw a teenage boy realizing his coming of age in a small Texas town in the middle of nowhere. Sonny also had trouble finding structure as everything around him seemed to fall apart. His outcome was not as reassuring as our young heroine's but it, too, ended with hope emerging from tragedy. Being a teenager is no easy task especially when there is a lack of good role models. It's easy to get lost, misguided, or trapped in solitary confinement. "Gas Food Lodging" leads us in all those directions and then shows us a future of hope. Nicely done.
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Good, like all of Anders' movies.
Added 10/10/2008
Gas Food Lodging (Allison Anders, 1992)
I'm easy, I admit it. I'll watch any movie in which Ione Skye appears topless. Lovely woman, she is. Of course, the movie being directed by Allison Anders helps. Lovely movies, she makes.
This one concerns a mother (Brooke Adams) raising her two children, the wild older one (Skye) and the bookish younger one (Fairuza Balk) in a little town in the desert. There's young love, there's heartbreak, there's weird, malformed prejudice and hints of magic. Then their father (James Brolin) comes back into the picture, and everyone's world gets turned upside down.
Anders has a reputation for making deeply personal, quirky films (Things Behind the Sun, Grace of My Heart, etc.), and Gas Food Lodging is no different. It rambles, basically plotless for much of its length, around these three characters, their friends and adversaries. If you like your films with a good, solid plot, this one's not for you. But Anders has a certain magic touch that seems to work well with the slice-of-life films she so often helms; she is capable of crafting characters the viewer can identify with and care about, and that makes all the difference. I liked this movie a great deal, perhaps more than any of Anders' other movies I've seen, and I definitely recommend it. *** ½
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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what a great movie
Added 5/24/2007
This is a fantastic film. For anyone who is a fan of Ione Skye or Fairuza Balk, it's definitely a must-own flick! Both ladies are in their prime here. I originally saw the movie only because of J Mascis' involvement musically (and a small cameo) but I've fallen in love with the movie as well as the young adult novel it was based on, 'Don't Look and it Won't Hurt' by Richard Peck.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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THERE'S MORE HAPPENING IN THE DESERT THAN WE CAN SEE...
Added 11/8/2006
Three woman share the long and slow days of Laramie, New Mexico. Nora, the mother of Trudi and Shade works hard everyday and tries to find a sense for her life and her daughters'. Trudi looks for a reason to survive in the desert of her hometown and her life and tries to find it in boys. Shade is looking for a movie-like love, and tries to find it in the screen and in her plans to reconstruct her family. The three of them will fight, will cry and will learn hard but important lessons in the heat of the desert. Excelent movie, very well directed, with a good photography and great actresses. Really a beautiful story with a little bit of hope for everyone.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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item not as discribed
Added 7/6/2009
Tape displayed lines through out first half of movie. Item not as discribed (did not play like new).
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
A Young Woman's version of "The Last Picture Show"
Added 6/28/2009
My initial impression of "Gas Food Lodging", midway through the film, was that it didn't have much to say to me. I saw a younger teenage daughter in a broken home, a nice well-meaning mother who is exasperated with the older teenage daughter, the older daughter who seems destined for trouble, and some supporting cast that lead me to wonder what was in the town's water. Things happen and more scenes of disfunction appear. I began to see that some things were connecting while others were falling apart. Still no redeeming message until the very end. At that point all that had happened came together in a most beautiful yet poignant way. The message was delivered and the film, from my perspective, was endowed with purpose.
The next day I thought more and more about "Gas Food Lodging". I understood it as a "coming of age" story of a teenage girl. She saw the redeption of everything in her life coming in the form of expected love. However, every expression or exanple of love that she witnessed was broken or never real in the first place. Things kept descending along with her faith that all would be well if everyone could just let it happen. Her search to find the answers failed until the answers found her.
Once the impact of the movie finally sunk in, I was reminded of "The Last Picture Show" of 20-some years earlier. In that book and movie we saw a teenage boy realizing his coming of age in a small Texas town in the middle of nowhere. Sonny also had trouble finding structure as everything around him seemed to fall apart. His outcome was not as reassuring as our young heroine's but it, too, ended with hope emerging from tragedy. Being a teenager is no easy task especially when there is a lack of good role models. It's easy to get lost, misguided, or trapped in solitary confinement. "Gas Food Lodging" leads us in all those directions and then shows us a future of hope. Nicely done.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Good, like all of Anders' movies.
Added 10/10/2008
Gas Food Lodging (Allison Anders, 1992)
I'm easy, I admit it. I'll watch any movie in which Ione Skye appears topless. Lovely woman, she is. Of course, the movie being directed by Allison Anders helps. Lovely movies, she makes.
This one concerns a mother (Brooke Adams) raising her two children, the wild older one (Skye) and the bookish younger one (Fairuza Balk) in a little town in the desert. There's young love, there's heartbreak, there's weird, malformed prejudice and hints of magic. Then their father (James Brolin) comes back into the picture, and everyone's world gets turned upside down.
Anders has a reputation for making deeply personal, quirky films (Things Behind the Sun, Grace of My Heart, etc.), and Gas Food Lodging is no different. It rambles, basically plotless for much of its length, around these three characters, their friends and adversaries. If you like your films with a good, solid plot, this one's not for you. But Anders has a certain magic touch that seems to work well with the slice-of-life films she so often helms; she is capable of crafting characters the viewer can identify with and care about, and that makes all the difference. I liked this movie a great deal, perhaps more than any of Anders' other movies I've seen, and I definitely recommend it. *** ½
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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