Review of Five Easy Pieces (1970) by Kyle B — 04 Jun 2014

Review In A Nutshell:

Five Easy Pieces is the story of a man, Robert, who was born to the culture and values of the upper class and has decided to isolate himself away from it by getting a job at an oil rig and living with his current girlfriend, Rayette. A visit to his sister has informed him of his father has recently suffered two stroke events, and it would be great for the entire family if he came up and visited.

I found the film's plot to be quite simplistic and at times predictable, as straight from the start of the film I was already aware of the beats that the film was going to play. Fortunately, the director didn't rely solely on its plot to deliver an interesting experience. The director has injected the film with themes of class, consumerism, pretension, and labour. All of these themes are delivered to us through Robert's journey. I saw Robert as a man who is lost and frustrated with his life, not because of the choices he has made but rather the lack offering that the culture can provide and while at the same time not knowing exactly what he wants. At the start of the film, we see him living the "typical" blue collar life and he is frustrated and miserable, while his close friend, who shares the same lifestyle as Robert, is shown as content. The second part of the film was Robert's arrival to the life he once lived, showing us through his perspective on the crutches of living in this type of world. Robert feels that these people are high minded beings who only care about how they present themselves and their art towards others that they have lost that essence of being entertained; saying that art should be only be appreciated, not to laugh or poke at or with. I personally am in the middle of those two perspectives as I myself am a tad bit pretentious but at the same time I have learned to let myself go once in a while and appreciate the more simplistic displays of art. Robert is a confused individual as he cannot seem to be content with either side of the spectrum and he shows embarrassment for certain aspect of each of the cultures; like the refusal of having his girlfriend be in his family's house, and the loathing he feels when his girlfriend sees the highbrow self-appreciative lifestyle that his family lives. It was fascinating to watch the protagonist deal with these two different cultures and the more we see his actions and reactions towards certain things, the more we understand and empathise the character; particularly the film's conclusion. During the first part of the film, I wasn't at a point of feeling empathy or sympathy for the environment and individuals that live around Robert as I personally have only been exposed to the middle class and the culture of my native country is overly fascinated of the lives of the upper classes; therefore I am able to understand the benefits and issues within these classes, which also the reason why I show adoration to films like American Beauty who explores these classes in an interesting way. This is not to say I don't care about people in the lower class or blue collar workers in general as I still believe that each and every one of them within it are just as important as the billionaire who shows that he or she has "everything". I only saw this portion of the film as something that is informative, giving me an idea of what their lives are truly like; once I have more exposure to this side of Western culture, it is then my perspective of these scenes would become different, switching from objective to subjective.

Once the complication sinks in, we are treated to a road trip to Washington and along the way; two strangers were picked up as they were stranded in the middle of the road. I first saw these two individuals to be as lost individuals just like Robert, who doesn't seem to know what exactly they want, as the film doesn't make it clear on what their intentions are exactly, all we end up knowing is that they are frustrated with where they are and they want to be somewhere else. Once these characters are introduced, one of them wouldn't stop talking about their frustrations with the lives they used to live, rambling on about the filth of society and that we have become so reliant and in adoration of our materialistic possessions that we don't even realize that it leaves us unsatisfied and just ending up where we started where we crave for something else, this encounter eventually shapes our opinions of them similar to how our protagonist sees them, annoying and senseless, as that's how the writers wants us to see them. It's only by the end of the film that I finally realised that they were the only ones that really understood themselves.

I found the film's cinematography to be quite pleasant. It doesn't restrict itself to the actors and was able to incorporate the environment that our characters inhabit. This made the film more effective in delivering it's themes of culture and lifestyle as what the camera shows us, even of things that are in the background of the shot, gives us an understanding of a way of life and how it ultimately affects our protagonist. I cannot say that the film's photography is overly cinematic as one can tell straight from the start that this isn't a large production, but it does surprise you a couple of times how technical some of the shots are. The filmmakers has avoided to have the camera be restricted in a certain way, he allows movement to be shown and explore things away from the human drama, but still maintains its responsibility in telling an effective story. The film's music was comprised of soundtracks with one half being country music performed by Tammy Wynette which is a representation of the life that Robert currently lives, and the second half being composed of classical music performed by Pearl Kaufman which is obviously a representation of Robert's previous life that he has stumbled back onto. I found the tracks to be too polarising at times and repetitive in style, yes I understand that one side adores this and the other adores that but I find to be unbelievable for people in the upper class to only listen and perform classical music, it's understandable if they have a type but in order to make characters feel real they must have variation even in the most subtle of things. This is not to say that the tracks were a total disaster, as they were pleasant to listen to at times and some worked wonderfully with particular scenes.

The acting in this film was almost single-handedly carried by Jack Nicholson as Robert Dupea. Even if the film let us get some exposure of other actors in their roles, they couldn't seem to match up to what Nicholson brought to the table. He totally took over this character, making his frustrations and reactions feel genuine even if I don't always empathise with them. The scenes he has with other actors worked really well and at times elevate my perspective on their acting performance. Could I say this was his best performance, I would have to say it's close as it's nice to see the actor play a role that doesn't require him to be over the top like what is found in most of his roles late into his career, but the role he plays here just lacks that spice that makes me go wow. The other actors were great in their roles, particularly Karen Black and Lois Smith, but I wasn't able to fully appreciate their work with Nicholson's brilliant performance that kept on getting in the way.

Five Easy Pieces is a great film for people who are currently lost in their life, not knowing where they truly belong. This film may help you find the path that you have been looking for, that would eventually lead you to self-actualization.