Runtime: 89 minutes
Directed by: Douglas Trumbull (RIP)
Starring: Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint
From: Universal
RIP Douglas Trumbull
Originally I was going to watch and review something else-a topic relevant this week-then I heard the sad news that Mr. Trumbull has passed away. While he sadly did not work on that many motion pictures, look at the ones he did: 2001, Blade Runner, The Andromeda Strain, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Tree of Life. I've been lucky enough to see most of those theatrically in revival screenings, where the special effects were a delight. I've seen Brainstorm before; it was an interesting movie marred by the real life death of Natalie Wood. He left Hollywood and mostly stayed away due to that and the innovative Showscan system not taking off. He came up with 60 frames per second high frame rate at least 40 years ago! That done on 70mm film would have been awesome. He always came up with innovations while doing motion simulation rides at random places, most notably Back to the Future The Ride at Universal Studios theme parks.
While I plan on tomorrow's review to be another long one concerning two downbeat science fiction movies that paint a grim picture of the future which is not completely out of the realm of real life possibility, it only made sense for me to see the other motion picture he directed-an opportunity he had due to the success of Andromeda. The film's plot did intrigue: it's sometime in the future and a quartet of men are shown on a space ship. Earth has “no disease and little poverty” yet there's no nature of any sort so not a great trade-off for me personally. Bruce Dern plays Lowell, a botanist (who you later see also has enough computer skill to write his own programs... and also what looks like fixing his own boge wires) who takes care of the only flora & fauna in the entire universe in biospheres. Suddenly, those “in power” want said flora & fauna destroyed—Lowell does not take this news well...
At first the movie does seem stereotypical; Old Bruce does go all bug-eyed yelling at the other three, who are shown to be quite different from him and the movie paints them as ignorant goofballs. Note that his actions do NOT mean that I otherwise support eco-terrorism! Yet as the plot progresses, you realize that Lowell is a three dimensional character who has to deal with the ramifications of his actions and he goes through a whole range of emotions. Thankfully Bruce Dern was-and is-talented enough to pull off such a role. While low budget and thus the effects aren't spectacular such as in 2001 or Blade Runner, the miniatures they use are charming and it has a rather interesting score from Peter Schickele, who some people would know for producing parody classical music under the pseudonym P.D.Q. Bach. Yes, there is such a thing; the score for Silent Running does not involve any parody elements, to make clear. There are also “drones”, which are actually stout bipedal robots.
It's a thought-provoking jam which-while not subtle-was a compelling 90 minute watch where its low budget was not a hindrance as it was more about the characters; for various reasons you wouldn't expect a major studio release like this half a century later. For me, the most surprising aspect was not Dern sometimes doing work while wearing what looks like an off-white bathrobe, nor even the two hippy-dippy songs from Joan Baez. Rather, it was seeing that two of the writers of this screenplay were prolific TV writer/producer Steven Bochco and Michael Cimino. While not as surprising as Cimino and John Milius coming up with Magnum Force, it was still an opening credits shock for me.
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