I'm not talking about "Love On A Train" (with music from Tangerine Dream) or "Dancing In Underwear" (with music by Bob Seger). Both are iconic, groundbreaking scenes that everyone remembers and enjoys. My favorites are a bit more subtle.
The first scene follows the moment when Joel's life has bottomed out. He has damaged his father's Porsche. He's been expelled from school and banned from important extracurricular activities. Distraught and confused, he borrows a friend's bike, takes the train to the city center, and races up several flights stairs to Lana's apartment.
Lana recognizes that Joel is distraught. She takes him into his arms and holds him as his tears flow. But the comfort that she gives is a charade. She's distant and unfeeling; the detachment is clearly visible in her face. She only pretends to care.
The scene is heartwrenching - we identify with Joel's pain and cringe at Lana's predictable coldness - but it is a beautifully staged example of how two people can experience the same moment differently. Joel's innocence has been shattered. He's in shock. He pours his heart and soul out to Lana, and she doesn't feel anything.
"It seems to me that if there were any logic to our language, trust would be a four-letter word." - Joel Goodson
The second scene is at the end when Joel and Lana meet for lunch in a restaurant. Joel asks her point blank if their time together meant anything or if it was all just a setup. She doesn't answer; she just stares off into the distance.
Anyone who has been in a lopsided relationship - or the end of a relationship when one person stops caring for the other - will recognized the fatalistic frustration of these moments. Love is self-generating and independently motivated. It is practically impossible to convince a person to care when either they didn't care in the first place, or they stopped caring along the way. Those emotions have to come from them, and they have to come honestly.
Happily, Joel walks away with prospects for a bright future. He can look back over his brief time with Lana as a transitional phase punctuated with valuable lessons that elevated him from insecurity to confidence, from innocence to manhood. Still, the haunting dynamic between the college bound boy and the world weary young woman is as fascinating as any romantic relationship in film. It's awkward and exciting at the same time. It is a hopeful as it is hopeless. It's controversial and remarkably ill-advised, but even in their final encounter, we wonder if there might be some way for them to go on.
"My name is Joel Goodson. I grossed over eight thousand dollars in one night. Time of your life, huh kid?"
Copyright © 2017 Daniel R. South
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