Review of Five Easy Pieces (1970) by Will S — 23 Aug 2007

I should admit that Jack Nicholson could do anything on screen and I would think it was great. He's been in so many of my favorite films that it almost isn't fair: Easy Rider, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Chinatown, The Shining, The Last Detail, Reds, The Passenger, etc.

He stole every one of his scenes in The Departed (probably without even trying). This is one of his lesser-seen movies (by me, at least) and I can see why--it's pretty dour stuff, without a lot of the extroverted humor and personality of his other projects.

Overlooking this would be a serious mistake, however, as it's absolutely one of his best roles (one of THE best roles, rather). He's a classic New Hollywood anti-hero, and the subtlety of his performance and of the filmmaking here is pretty breathtaking.

He has some really mean-spirited, sadistic tendencies, but Nicholson makes us overlook (or at least understand) these things as weaknesses and manages to craft an entirely sympathetic character. The director, Bob Rafelson, was by all accounts an infamous 70's burnout, and this was surely his career peak; he clearly owes a debt to Truffaut and the Nouvelle Vague-style, shooting a lot of the film handheld and employing seemingly arbitrary jump cuts.

The story is tragic in a glorious sort of way, and Nicholson gives one of the many brilliant performances of his career.