Say Anything, released in 1989, marks Russell Crow’s directorial debut. It is an art-house film – marking the first time such a film found success in the mainstream – based loosely on the
Stephen King novel Christine. It stars John Mahoney as ‘Jim Court’, Judd Nelson as ‘Young Jim Court’, and Ione Skye as ‘Unnamed Woman’.
Say Anything begins with Jim Court sitting in a bathtub. Contemplating the last forty-years, the camera moves in slowly to show us Court’s slow descent into dementia. This
descent is documented through Court’s facial expressions and flashbacks to his youth.
Court’s first flashback takes us to a simpler time when he ran a daycare agency out of his living room for young neighbourhood boys, free-of-charge.
Court’s face finds itself with an intense expression when he thinks back to meeting Unnamed Woman and teaching her how to drive the car that she was given for graduating – at least that is what’s mentioned in passing. Court’s face grimaces with each damaging clutch press and gearshift.
Court manages to keep it together, and minutes later he teaches Unnamed Woman how to do a different style of driving. Unfortunately the lesson is cut short because Court loses a contact lens (symbolizing his youth and dreams) in the back seat and the two seek the illuminating capability of a blanket in order to help them find it. Mahoney recreates this memory powerfully, showing us all what it must look like for an individual to possess only one contact lens by sloppily kissing at the air about him.
The scene ends with Court dashing out of the bathtub once he has a vague recollection of having fingered some dollar bills earlier in the day. Court goes on a desperate search in order to find this stash of money and regain his sanity.
The narrative and Court’s mental state begin to show breaks once Court’s memories begin to include both his current and younger self. In a moment of clarity, Court realizes his alienation as brought about by a capitalist economic system. He has become alienated from himself. And in a heartbreaking twist, he realizes that Unnamed Woman is really his animus – the psychological projection of his feminine side that he had tried to repress since his father called him a ‘Nancy’ in the late 1930s.
The film ends with a broken Court seeking refuge in the prison of his mind, having thrown in the towel and deciding that he is ready to be reunited with all aspects of his Self and accept the cold indifference of the universe.
After a brief fit of yelling and a wrestling match with a shopping cart, that is.
Beautiful.
Revolutionized how individuals approached bathing and washing clothing by showing them the ‘two birds with one stone’ method.
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