That ’70s Movie

Time has shown that the 1970s was the greatest period for American movies sinceâ?¦ the 1950s. But the "70s's known as the American Movie Renaissance's are not coming back. That fact is proven by this week"s unheralded premiere of The Yellow Handkerchief alongside Film Forum"s revival of Five Easy Pieces, the 1970 New York Film Critics Circle Best Picture winner. Both are road movies's the genre by which "70s films most clearly revealed modern American behavior, language and habitat. But cultural examination no longer excites contemporary film culture, which is devoted to CGI escapism and indie navel-gazing. That means Five Easy Pieces is now just a curio, despite having defined the important and still-relevant archetype of the privileged, yet dissatisfied, American loner (Jack Nicholson as itchy rich kid Bobby Dupea). The Yellow Handkerchief updates FEP with its downscale, woebegone ex-con protagonist Brett Hanson's an original and moving characterization by William Hurt. Although The Yellow Handkerchief is set in Louisiana post-Hurricane Katrina, it doesn"t exploit that disaster; its characters simply represent recognizable American resilience. Just as Bobby Dupea hits the role to avoid complications squeezing his skull, Brett Hanson hitches a ride with two teenagers, Martine (Kristen Stewart) and Gordy (Eddie Redmayne), trying to figure out their feelings and identities. The kids suffer the same malaise as the ex-con, yet instead of shared blame-placing, The Yellow Handkerchief beautifully shows learning and rough communication: Brett gives the teens a window into adulthood and Martine and Gordy revive his deadened sense of possibility. To repeat "70s cinema"s Vietnam/Civil Rights-era questioning of American values would be fatuous. Five Easy Pieces still speaks for that period"s unfulfilled revolution, but the moral inquiry of The Yellow Handkerchief absolves that distinct millennial mystery known as polarization. It proceeds from the anomie of Five Easy Pieces to show the particular distance that keep blue state/red state Americans at bay. Despite age, gender, race or social circumstance, they"re all in the same class: isolated. It"s a spiritual condition's Brett, Martine and Gordy are all waiting to cross over on a ferry's that director Udayan Prasad treats with the same emotional detail and psychological authenticity of his remarkable 1999 film My Son the Fanatic. Few people saw that film (or else we would have learned something about the persistent appeal of terrorist discontent). Prasad brings comparable insight to working-class plight; he enriches the humanity of destitute Americans without the condescension that infects news media reporting. Like those signal "70s road movies that got deep inside characters" loneliness (Paper Moon, American Graffiti, California Split, Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins, Nashville, The Warriors), there"s a plangent quality to The Yellow Handkerchief that makes it extraordinary. Prasad and screenwriter Erin Dignam accept cultural dismay as matter-of-factly as George Washington and Shotgun Stories did, yet this poetry satisfies more conventionally. Brett relates longings and regrets that stir his fellow teen travelers. His deep and high-pitched emotions, lyrically articulated, recall the confessions in Tennessee Williams" plays. Five Easy Pieces has a different dramatic quality. Essentially an American version of Ingmar Bergman"s Wild Strawberries, it applied those art-house lessons to the restlessness of college-age youth. Director Bob Rafelson gave a clear-eyed perspective on American habits and rarely erred except in the famous diner scene where Bobby humiliates a waitress who"s just doing her job. Misunderstood as a display of dissent, it now should be appreciated for pinpointing Bobby"s arrogant sense of entitlement. (He"s from a family of musical prodigies, hence the title"s piano reference.) In The Yellow Handkerchief, Brett"s flaws cannot be mistaken for anything other than scared, wounding judgments. Correcting Bobby"s tantrum, Brett protects Martine and Gordy from rest-stop predators out to take advantage of their youth. This road movie asserts the necessity of compassion. It"s the best lesson to have learned from the "70s trial-and-error sojourns. In Five Easy Pieces, Lazslo Kovacs brought visual delicacy to the American environment and cinematographer Chris Menges gives similar eloquence to the passing landscapes and changing weather in The Yellow Handkerchief. Vistas are so stunningly, beautifully real they make up for the film"s unfortunate, risible title's as do the performances, all subtle and genuine. Flashbacks of Brett remembering his wife May (Maria Bello) have suspenseful tension. Hurt and Bello show an emotional rapport that recalls Five Easy Pieces as well as Bergman movies and Stewart and Redmayne are equally persuasive. No movie nominated for an Oscar this year boasts acting as fine as The Yellow Handkerchief. Double-billing The Yellow Handkerchief with Five Easy Pieces confirms the legacy of the 1970s. The Yellow Handkerchief Directed by Udayan Prasad Runtime: 102 min. Five Easy Pieces Directed by Bob Rafelson At Film Forum Feb. 26-Mar. 4