1988 talk radio movie
Rating: 15/20
Plot: A talk radio host, on the eve of his show's national expansion, starts to get a little stressed out.
It seems like this is the third time I've seen this movie, and I think I like it less now than I did back when I first saw it. Eric Bogosian's performance has a real electricity, and he's just captivating as a guy you either love to love or hate to love or love to hate or hate to love. I forget what he claimed now. Combined with Bogosian's performance is the way this radio studio, nearly the only setting for this movie, is shot. At times--all the right times--the setting is claustrophobic, darkness almost swirling around the character. You can almost feel the demons lurking in the corners or huddling behind radio equipment. At other times, this is almost shot like an action movie. There's a scene when the camera whirls around Bogosian during a key monologue, and another where he is trying to get a restroom break in during commercials that had me on the edge of my seat. I really like how characters are shown in backgrounds. They're visual reminders of some of the pressures our talk show host is feeling while the auditory reminders--the callers he's giving a voice to, for better or worse--provide a relentless soundtrack.
It's unlikely to happen, but I'd love to discuss with somebody what this movie is actually about. What's Oliver Stone's message here? I don't think Bogosian's character has much of a center to him. What's at the center of Stone's movie about him?
It's been a long time since I have seen this, but would still rate it as an all-time favorite. 90% of the movie revolves around Bogosian in the radio station, and I agree that his performance is electric. It is loosely based on the true life killing of talk show host Alan Berg. I am not sure that there is a deeper meaning than that there are a lot of hateful, disturbed people with ideas and attitudes that should be challenged, but doing so can be dangerous. The biting dialogue and intensity make this a unique film experience. A 19.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the sin that gets him killed here? Is it standing up to the vileness or is it giving a voice to these people in the first place? I do know it's based on a real event, but it seems like Stone is more interested in punishing this character for something.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Stone is implying punishable sin. The character recognizes the ugliness and hatred and idiocy that is common among our citizens (imagine if they did a remake in the era of Trump), and he heroically challenges those views. He has to be a little abnormal to tilt at those windmills in the first place, and I believe the effort has made him even more damaged. He has hubris and contempt for others, but part of that stems from the war he engages in with the audience. The character is a martyr with echoes of the movie "Network".
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