The Best Old Movies on a Big Screen This Week: NYC Repertory Cinema Picks, August 12-18
A Flash of Green (1984)
Directed by Victor Nunez
It used to be that American fiction films were much more open in their discussions of politics, back when there was more space than there is today to see and debate contemporary mid-to-low-budget films whose plots dealt with working-class daily life. The regional American film has also, relatedly, been vanishing with time, the kind of work committed to exploring how people actually live in places outside of ubiquitous big cities. A film like A Flash of Green was more possible to make in the past. Nunez’s second feature focuses on a seemingly honest reporter (played by Ed Harris) in a west coastal Florida small town who accepts a bribe from a power-hungry land developer (Richard Jordan) to leak information about a rival environmental group at story’s outset. As he subsequently falls for a conservationist (Blair Brown), he also reflects on his choice, and roams the town wondering if his compromise can be undone. At stake in the film (based on John D. MacDonald’s novel) is the place money holds within a sustainable lifestyle, and whether a person can take it without losing anything else. Aaron Cutler (August 12, 9pm at BAM’s “Indie 80s”)
