Diary entries forHardcore
Hardcore
The Protestantism damn near tossed me down one of them 35% grades into a sign post.
Hardcore
Why 70s crime films hit different? This film tells the story of a father searching for his daughter, who suddenly disappears during a church trip. His search eventually leads him to discover that she vanished in order to become an actress in a pornographic. The father, Jake, is a deeply religious man. However, he is forced to enter the world of pornographic to find his daughter. In the middle of the chaos of the nightlife and that industry, Jake has no choice but to face it all because it is the only way he can find her. I truly felt the emotions Jake experiences when he first sees his daughter appear as porn star on the big screen. George C. Scott’s performance is incredibly powerful in that moment.
Hardcore
If we’d gotten the original Schrader ending this would be an easy 5⭐️
Hardcore
George C. Scott’s costuming in this is incredible.
Hardcore
“I do love you. I just never knew how to show you. It’s very difficult for me. Nobody ever taught me.” First off, yes. I did watch this because I saw the poster on twitter. It’s a very effective poster. Second off, I’ve watched, what, maybe five Paul Schrader flicks this month? (Not pre-meditated!) HARDCORE is easily my favorite of the bunch. A desperate religious father searching for his runaway daughter in a modern day Sodom and Gammorah makes for an interesting premise. Scott does such a fantastic job of playing a man who can barely contain his rage as he goes on this unexpected and depraved odyssey. I have a handful of notes about the movie but the most glaring issue for me is that it is thoroughly incurious about the nature of perversion and lust and what an environment like this might do to a midwestern unmarried man. To not even tempt Scott’s character (maybe with Niki, maybe with one of the guys he interviewed, something!)or give him a moment of weakness seems incredibly short sighted and robs the film of some nuance. Sure, there’s a lot of “conversations” about these topics within the film, but for me wasn’t enough. I suppose I did like the harshness of the ending though.
Hardcore
“And I thought I was fucked up.” Much akin to Homer’s Odysseyor Dante’s divine comedyInferno, also an ode to John Ford’s The Searchers, Hardcoreis the story of a calvinistic, midwestern father that delves in to the hellish existence of 70’s hardcore pornography to find his estranged daughter. George C. Scott brings the film to life with his career best performance as protagonist Jake VanDorn. Jake comes from a life of values and morals — in complete opposition to the sexual revolution taking over. As he traverses through a society that has stripped itself from any semblance of conservatism, VanDorn begins to unwind and break away from his usually demur personality. From the great mind of the man who wrote the critically acclaimed Taxi Driver, it saddens me to know Paul Schrader is usually overshadowed by his collaborations with Scorsese as I happen to think he is one of the best directors working today. This film also reaffirms my decision to never go and visit LA.
Hardcore
NIKI: 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘦𝘹 𝘐𝘴? JAKE: 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺. NIKI: 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦. 𝘐’𝘮-𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩. A perfect California picture that heads south and north, starting out West in Los Angeles. A man in search for his daughter becomes a hunt, a direction of sex work and sympathies around the oldest trade in the book. A strong first half leads to redemption and earnest release in the second half. George Scott balances father figure and machismo throughout, but his ruggedness wavers in and out which suspects that Harrison Ford or even Scorsese’s De Niro could’ve made for a more appealing role. The film finishes off with a mix of emotions and directions that are meant to make us realize that other worlds exist and sometimes you don’t fit in them. Some books aren’t meant for you. Some movies aren’t meant for you. But you have to acknowledge that they are a world and they’re part of the one you’re living in. All you can do is accept and move on. Tolerance begins at the footsteps of heartbreak. From there you work your way towards your own morals and own understandings of other morals. Essentially, this is Schrader's mode of filmmaking as a plot-forward moralist. For a film that I’m sure caused a ruckus in dismantling prudish views, perhaps led ways to films like Cruising (https://letterboxd.com/bulgogiboi/film/cruising/) that respect the sex-work life through mere observation. Though the ending is rushed, much is forgiven with a soundtrack as slick and sultry done in an Alan Palomo kind of way (the disco track Les Girls (https://youtu.be/76gmo2EHY8I?si=zY9Z64fz9oNmFdWo&t=1179) is phenomenal) with fanciful neon sets that callback to old worlds, ones I’m fond of, thinking of you up north in Russian Hill and Chinatown and down south at Hillcrest. In Tarantino’s Cinema Speculation (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7234491737), he writes, “..𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘴, 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵,” but here it works perfectly. Characters support for a reason, and they’re honored, in the end, to create a wholistic picture. Unforgotten and add to the world, our world.
Hardcore
fargoif it hated itself
