Oh how much I love simple films! I agree with Mr. Murch when he says it can be simple to be complex, and complicated to be simple.
This film is so beautifully shot but in a very very austere way. It's just beautiful to look at. Now that I think about it, it can be considered the really independent experimental version of Little Miss Sunshine (with a much deeper story and no intention to be funny). I know it's a little cheeky to make such a comparison, but they are both road-movies and intended as an "indie" movie. The cast is strong in both.
In my entry on Sur Mes Lèvres I was saying how the use of sound was a bit wasted. This is a completely different thing. In The Rain People less is more.
The music. Such a lovely simple melody used in the right moments, to create an emotional state, it never bothered me. That's why it works so well. It proves that overusing music is sometimes counterproductive.
The story tells George Lucas, who was hired by Coppola to make the documentary of how the film was made, suggested Walter Murch was the best person to do the sound. So once it was edited he was left alone with his equipment waiting for Coppola. He went out and taped all of the additional sounds of the film- which is impressive. He then mixed it in three days and nights with a new German equipment they had bought. This is the film where the image was upside down so he refused to do mix that way, so Coppola turned the monitor upside down and that's how he mixed (just in time for the San Sebastian festival). He also uses the credit Sound Montage because he didn't belong to the union.
Anyway, the sound. I like how the memories have no sound in the film. Except two. At the beginning and at the end, because they are the most significant ones: Natalie's wedding and Killer's accident. Now there's a good sound design. And it's not over the top, on the contrary, it's almost bare.
My favourite scene.. well. The road images are beautiful. But as a sound nerd, my favourite scene is one where she's phoning her husband while Killer is at the parade. She is in the phone booth, with very little yet significant traffic noises. Then he's outside the phone booth, she's gone, but the conversation continues, with louder traffic noises coming from his scene. Then back to her and the conversation... Sound did all the continuity there, you can travel back and forth but the sounds keeps you informed of what you need to know. So subtle, so simple, so complex... great example of dense clarity-clear density ♥
It's technically perfect, but it's also makes you feel something. It's probably because it's a very human story about ordinary people. Moving you emotionally is something a good film should do too.
How young were all the actors! All of them. Robert Duvall, James Caan... I read a comment about how Shirley Knight being beautiful then but not having aged well, which I thought was cruel. All of the actors are old now!
Finally, here's the said documentary George Lucas made while they were filming (not great quality but only version I could find).
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