The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)

[Edgy MD]

Mel Gibson plays the new foreign correspondent assigned to Jakarta during the waning years of the rule of President Sukarno. Linda Hunt wins a pile of awards playing the diminutive photographer who gets him all his best stories and also gets him the girl --- Sigourney Weaver.

Lots of shadow puppets.

[Frayed Knot]

Are you re-visiting a bunch of movies you just haven't seen in a while or is this some kind of attempt to catch up on the '80s flicks you missed the first time around?


I really liked this one.

[Edgy MD]

My wife rents what my wife rents.

[Frayed Knot]

And by doing so helps you fill in the holes of your '80s film knowledge outside of the John Hughes/Molly Ringwald catalog.

[Edgy MD]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, I don't really even like John Hughes.

[Frayed Knot]

Early Mel - before he became a **MOVIE STAR!!** and prior still to turning into an idiot - made some pretty good flicks.
This one and Gallipoli from a year earlier are long-time faves.

[Edgy MD]

Both by Peter Weir.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Frayed Knot wrote: Early Mel - before he became a **MOVIE STAR!!** and prior still to turning into an idiot - made some pretty good flicks. This one and Gallipoli from a year earlier are long-time faves.

Even Lethal Weapon-- ESPECIALLY Lethal Weapon. He was dangerous, buzzy... convincingly suicidal. (Looking back, maybe it shouldn't be so surprising he does crazy well.)

But yeah, he's pretty damn solid in this. Helps that he's bouncing off of Linda Hunt, who is a really, REALLY awesome actor/acting partner.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Saw it way back when and didn't really like it, but even at the time I was aware that I was watching it at a moment when I really wasn't in the mood for it. So I owe it another chance.

[Vic Sage]

i love love love the films of Peter Weir... and this is one of the reasons why. Flawed but fascinating, it's haunting, enigmatic, sexy, visually compelling, and with a hint of the magical just below the everyday. I haven't seen the film in a long time, so i don't know if it holds up, but i can't think of a reason it shouldn't.

i think its time for a Weir filmography.

[Edgy MD]

It's good, but my main issue was that there was sort of little reason for Sigourney's appearance, beyond punching the enigmatic and sexy square on Weir's card.

I mean, there's a purpose to her being there, as she's part of the puppet play that Billy is trying to orchestrate, but she proves no deeper than the shadow puppet princess she's analogous to.

And I guess that's sort of a justifiable purpose for her, but at least Gibson's guy was a character with some depth, even if he ultimately proved not to have much depth of character.

But I think Weir likes to leave some open question marks about characters and pieces missing from the puzzle.

[Vic Sage]

Weir filmography:
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