Blade Runner
Tears in The Rain Speach ☑️
First published 2018
It's true to say that 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' by Phillip K Dick is an iconic book. Blade Runner, the film of the book soon took on the same 'Iconic' prefix - x 1000 because we all know how many words a picture (I'm including film) paints...
(Ah, Roland Barthes (1915 - 1980) again : Death of the Author)
I have known film students write their dissertation on this film. Blade Runner works on so many levels, when that happens it's a more than magical thing for a film student. Or is it just that Blade Runner is a more than magical film? Rare, but you can name them :
Casablanca - It's a Wonderful Life - Manhattan - Angel Heart - Withnail & I - Groundhog Day - Stop or My mum Will Shoot (just kidding)
I remember watching Blade Runner at a late night showing in Derby at the Metro cinema in 1988. Afterward I drove home to my flat in Nottingham with the roof off in my Fiat X19 playing 'Memories of Green' on repeat.
Vangelis is such an integral part of the film, music always is. Mise en Scene etc... In this case however, I would argue that the music in Blade Runner is one of the films main characters! Further, one of the few characters to express true emotion!
From the outset the film attempts to access emotion through characters always lacking in depth/conviction. Even the test on the Nexus 6 replicant which resulted in a fatality held back. The fear felt is not frightning. The violence dealt Is without anger. Apart from the soundtrack, just like the replicants, so far all the emotion in this film is artificial. Hidden, until this - Tears in the rain speech... best pp
(Ah, Roland Barthes (1915 - 1980) again : Death of the Author)
I have known film students write their dissertation on this film. Blade Runner works on so many levels, when that happens it's a more than magical thing for a film student. Or is it just that Blade Runner is a more than magical film? Rare, but you can name them :
Casablanca - It's a Wonderful Life - Manhattan - Angel Heart - Withnail & I - Groundhog Day - Stop or My mum Will Shoot (just kidding)
I remember watching Blade Runner at a late night showing in Derby at the Metro cinema in 1988. Afterward I drove home to my flat in Nottingham with the roof off in my Fiat X19 playing 'Memories of Green' on repeat.
Vangelis is such an integral part of the film, music always is. Mise en Scene etc... In this case however, I would argue that the music in Blade Runner is one of the films main characters! Further, one of the few characters to express true emotion!
From the outset the film attempts to access emotion through characters always lacking in depth/conviction. Even the test on the Nexus 6 replicant which resulted in a fatality held back. The fear felt is not frightning. The violence dealt Is without anger. Apart from the soundtrack, just like the replicants, so far all the emotion in this film is artificial. Hidden, until this - Tears in the rain speech... best pp
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