Director Review: HAL ASHBY

Until I undertook reviewing him I had never seen a movie by Hal Ashby. And yes, this means I had never seen deserving cult classic HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971).

I'm sorry.

I am now convinced that this is an unpardonable sin. In fact, after seeing three of his movies I now consider Hal Ashby to be a genius and a staple in American cinema.

In HAROLD AND MAUDE Ashby presents a funny, backward little story of death, life, love and expectations. Every character in this movie is developed in such a way that you fall in love with them. Even Harold's controling, oblivious mother you love for her deadpan reactions to Harold's various death reenactments. With every new scene you fall more in love with Harold and Maude. The writing is endlessly quotable. So many timeless lines. Ashby also shows us here that he knows exactly where to put the camera. You can't feel appropriately close to characters that the camera is not apropriately close to. In the end, this film has a sort of reflective quality, by which I mean this: It carries with it real, human emotions that remind you of your own life. It's one of those films that I carry around with me and certain emotions I experience will bring moments from the film back into my mind. I feel comfortable calling it one of my personal favorites. (P.S. Has a better soundtrack ever been compiled? Perhaps not.)

I also saw Ashby's BEING THERE (1979). Excellent idea, of a man who has lived his whole life in one mansion, working as a gardener and learning all he knows of the world through television. Though there are cool moments scattered through-out the 130 minutes, really only about 30 minutes of it were really terrific. Peter Sellers puts forth a pretty awesome acting job. But there are peices of the plot that seem too improbable and silly and it moves too slow to be interesting the entire time. I can't say I understand the surprise ending, but I also can't say I dislike it. Leaves the film off on a mystical, intriguing note.

Finally I saw COMING HOME (1978) Ashby's unconventional wartime love drama. This movie is very good, if not excellent. Once again, Ashby proves he can make you fall in love with whomever HE wants you to fall in love with. He sets you up by getting you to laugh a lot and feel warm and comfortable just to use that trust to break your heart. The sad parts of this are sadder than in his other movies, but Ashby pulls off dramadic seriousness as adeptly as he does goofy tomfoolery. And once again he has selected excellent music for us.