Saturday, January 06, 2007
Mr. Jones
- Who's watched: M & G
- Mentions: None
- Commentary: I was reminded of this movie when I heard that James Brown died early Christmas morning last year. The "Feel Good" song will forever be linked with this movie, for me, because it was perfect "song" casting. And, this movie will forever be a touchstone movie for me.
It is the acute portrayal of a man with whom I was in love and involved for many years, until his death by suicide (jumping out of a window) in a mental hospital, to which he had voluntarily committed himself because of, well, a bout of suicidal depression. At his death, he was the same age as Mr. Jones is portrayed to be in the movie. He was, in fact, like Mr. Jones in every respect, including delusions of being able to fly, except that his raw talent was not in music but in graphic art, and, his name was Ralph, not Mr. Jones, although his last name was, ironically, Flyte. When I saw the movie, by accident, actually, the year after it was released (it ended up on TV, as I recall) I was astonished at the portrayal. I have, since, used it as the dictionary to which I refer when my former, dead lover comes up in conversation.
The day James Brown died I remembered the movie and decided I wanted it in our collection. For reference. Cheap DVD on Amazon. I noticed, over and over, as I found myself reading the comments (which I almost never do), everyone's story with this movie is the same as mine. It describes, perfectly, someone they love. As well, everyone had problems with the trajectory of the relationship between psychiatrist and patient and what it implies about "love conquers all". If you've loved one of these extraordinary people who has succeeded in taking his or or her own life, you know that love is not enough. The problem wasn't lack of love, or the type of love you offered.
I can now afford to be lax about this problem with the movie. When I watched the movie again, with Mom, this time, I was once again electrified, from the very beginning, by Richard Gere's performance. If Ralph had lived to see this movie (he died in November, 1993) he would have danced gleefully and chanted, "That's me, that's me!"
I'm not going to come out with a of vote of grandeur for this movie that it doesn't possess. For some reason, though, because this movie exists, it is a comfort to those of us who have our Ralph Flytes (R.I.P., sweet man) or our Mr. Joneses.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Richard Gere Mr. Jones Lena Olin Dr. Elizabeth Bowen Anne Bancroft Dr. Catherine Holland Tom Irwin Dr. Patrick Shaye Delroy Lindo Howard Lauren Tom Amanda Chang Bruce Altman David Lisa Malkiewicz Susan
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1993
Directed by Mike Figgis.
Labels: drama8, me-favorite2, richard-gere, romance2
