Where the Bufallo Roam: Oh I get it, the Lawyer is the bufallo!

This movie was strange. Entertaining in that messy sort of seventies way. I felt confused, cluttered, which was perfect for a story about Hunter S. Thompson, but it made me feel a little distanced from the movie. I was constantly aware that I was watching, which isn't supposed to happen. Why did I feel this way? I don't know... Bill Murray was a part of it. He's so very Bill Murray, that I kept thinking of his Saturday Night Live stuff. He definitelly works for Thompson, though, and for Gonzo energies: he's never completely serious about anything, so he's never phased by anything. But I couldn't avoid comparing his performance to Johnny Depp's, for better or worse. I think maybe I just need to watch it again, now that that's out of my system, cuz Murray did a fine job.

Peter Boyle, on the other hand is INCAPABLE of faking the cool 70's acid head. When he says "man" or "dude", it's like my dad saying it. And when he freaks out on Thompson, it completes the sense that the lawyer (Boyle) isn't very good at being Gonzo: he's too focused. Too particular in his insanity. He seemed a caricature of a person. Like I said, it was very 70's. Broad strokes.

And that's probably where the distance comes in. It was so broad, and off-handedly bizarre, that I couldn't forget "this is a 70's drug movie!". Made it seem like an extended sketch. Never really hit home. The cinematography worsened that, by refusing to focus on any one thing. I feel like today we've gotten very good at directing one's eye to specific parts of the frame. Composition is strong and simple. Back then it was often very cluttered and ambiguous, and this movie even more so. I often didn't know what I was looking at, my brain trying to sort out the cavalcade of information. It's interesting that my mind is trained in such a way, living in the time I do, such that I would favor a certain directness in film composition. It doesn't ALL have to be stark, not at all. But when you watch a Wes Anderson film, there's a beauty to everything he films, such that every frame is liek a painting. Or, as I've said before, an album cover.

Still, this movie was very kooky, and a lot of fun. Extra points for Rene Auberjonois.