Very Cool!!!

Touches You

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Paul Schrader tells it like it is, by means of a simple, but highly effective story (with wonderful dialogues) and capturing perfect atmospheres of both Midwestern America and the seedy underbelly of society that is a (at that time) new and rising porn industry from Los Angeles to San Diego to San Francisco, and even back to Grand Rapids. But the trump card in his deck is really George C. Scott, playing a truly excellent role as a religious, estranged and angry father trying to find his missing daughter.The usual complaint here is that 'Hardcore' has too many elements of an exploitation film to be taken seriously, but I find that certifiable hogwash; you can't tell a story like this and simply leave out those sleazy details, not if you want to paint an honest picture.Then I just read about the other ending, which probably would have been somewhat more poetic, but the way Scott and Ilah Davis play out the finale scene saves the film from a misfitting sentimental overtone.And finally, one could try to compare this to 'Taxi Driver' and Schrader to Scorsese. I prefer the sober direction of Schrader (and let's not forget the formidable, haunting soundtrack!), the more straightforward story that he tells ánd even the performance of Scott to De Niro. Call me a sinner, why don't you.10 out of 10.

Hardcore may have been shocking and daring for its time, but it feels pretty dated now - not just the value system, but also the offbeat pacing. The pacing is indeed a problem, the ending even more so. Fortunately, the film leans firmly on two very strong pillars - effective, unnerving atmosphere, of which Schrader is still a master artist, and fantastic acting - from George C. Scott, of course, but also from Peter Boyle and, in a very surprising turn, Season Hubley.Hardcore doesn't measure up to Schrader's most renowned work, Taxi Driver - its most obvious point of comparison - but it stands up well on its own.

This movie shows how insulated people are within their own world views. It also shows how people devalue the world views of others. The storyline of the movie is that a Calvinist man's daughter goes missing in California. The man becomes aware that she has become involved in pornography, and he tries to track her down. The movie shows his awkwardness as he explores the world of pornography and prostitution. The movie really gets interesting when he hires a young woman sex worker to help him in the search. He explains his Calvinist belief in predestination to her, and she responds by saying that it doesn't make any sense. The man responds that "it all makes sense from the inside." In the following scenes, we see how the young woman has a world view that makes sense to her, but is totally alien to the man. The film presents the problems with both the world views of the man and the young woman. It is a gripping journey through moral ambiguity.

'Hardcore' (aka 'The Hardcore Life') proves that not every movie about sex has to be tawdry. It's been a weird divergence recently that sex in stuff like 'Sex and the City' is empowering, while sex everywhere else is demeaning. It doesn't have to be like that. Whatever angle you'll approach it from, 'Hardcore' will prove a thoughtful and deadly serious take on pornography.George C. Scott plays Vandorn, a successful Midwestern businessman and strict Dutch Reformationist. On a church outing, his daughter does missing. He hires a private detective, Mast (Peter Boyle, excellent as always), to find her. Soon, Mast calls him to a local porno theatre and Vandorn has to watch his daughter in a porno movie. After another couple of months, Vandorn can't take it anymore. He goes out to find his daughter himself... forcing himself to confront everything that disgusts him.George C. Scott paints a really interesting character. He starts off repulsed by investigating the porno world, and gets thrown out of a brothel for his trouble. But he ends up going undercover and reining in his religion because, as he says to Niki, the only thing that truly matters in his life is his daughter.Ah, his daughter, Kirsten. I want to get that one bad thing out of the way, because everything else in 'Hardcore' is spot-on. Sadly, the gal playing Kirsten can't act at all. From pronouncing "g***amned" with no venom, to horribly overacting other stuff. But it really is the only tiny bum note in a superb movie.Paul Schrader is on the top of his game as director. It's a very tight movie with no overlong or wasted scenes. There are also some nice visual touches. The shots of Vandorn distorted in mirrors to show his confusion; and one where Vandorn parks on a downward slope before he goes into a bondage place, to indicate him sinking into hell.Gary Graham from 'Alien Nation' turns up as a sleaze who gets into a fight with George C. Scott. They throw each other through the paper-thin walls of the bondage place. For all the sleaziness of the environment, it's an artificially tough world... and one where Scott feels he can triumph.Well shot and thought provoking, 'Hardcore' really is a superb film.