During this year's holidays, I visited a few people, played a lot of "Quake", "Command and Conquer 2020", and ran out of time to watch movies. I slept longer, because I took nightclubs for the brilliant ID Software game, and during the day I had to go out with the dog, meet with others, generally I did not have too many opportunities to lie down and watch dozens of movies, as I planned. Well, there was a problem to find time for a few of them. The anime is different, episodes of around 20 minutes can be more easily crammed into other chores. Today I will focus on one of the two films that I saw during the break. They are "Die Hard" and "Rain Man", both of them I saw for the first time. While it is hard not to hear about the former, especially when he is interested in pop culture, games and movies, I have never had direct contact with "Rain Man". I have heard of it several times, but I do not remember having ever seen a fragment or even heard or seen a conversation about it. I know, in this case it is my ignorance, because the film was very popular and has a group of fans to this day, even though more than 30 years have passed since its premiere. From December 2020, I also belong to this group.
Before I write why, it's a few words about the plot. At the beginning we get to know the main character, i.e. the young Tom Cruise. This one looks and behaves like a typical chad - he treats everyone with a smile, he is a relaxed, confident womanizer and, like many attractive people, he does not deal with problems well, but he is able to maneuver between them very well and keep afloat. The film shows that the problems we observe are not something new for him and he struggles with them quite often. One day, he learns that his father has died, so Tom Cruise goes to a notary public as he hopes to get some of the inheritance towards paying off his debts. On the spot, it turns out that his father did not give him anything, but saved $ 3 million (out of today about 9 million) for a hospital for autistic people and other people suffering from various disorders. One of the patients is a special case because it is his older brother. Cruise sees an opportunity to grab half the inheritance, so she kidnaps him. Kidnapping turns into a journey that will change and enrich them with new experiences. It is a Road movie, which means the action takes place while traveling from A to B. To be honest, I don't know the genre very well and it's hard for me to define it more broadly, so I won't be smart. However, I have heard this term several times in the context of various productions and subconsciously classified this film to this genre after the screening. As it turned out after browsing Wikipedia, I had a good feeling.
But I can say a little more about autism and how the film portrays it. I am not an expert in this matter, but my life has turned out so that I have some experience, which I will probably talk about for a longer time. Today it may look a bit strange (or at least I have such an impression, especially after a few episodes of "Atypical", a series from Netflix that showed better what characterizes autism), but taking into account the age of "Rain Man", it got old really good. No wonder, after all, a very good actor portrays him. Dustin Hoffman portrayed this disorder very well. You can immediately see that Raymond lives in his own world, or rather his perception of the world, is different from the perspective of most people. Socialization, education, general development of such a person is different than in the case of an ordinary person. Autistic people have great difficulty expressing emotions as well as reading them, and take everything too literally. They are usually withdrawn people, with suppressed reactions to stimuli from the outside world (something like Geralt or Major from "Ghost in the Shell", i.e. their emotions are suppressed and the decision-making process simplified), but as soon as their comfort zone is disturbed or if too decisive movements are made, they fall into hysteria. For example, they react nervously, have a narcotic arousal gaze, or make vigorous gestures, which can be mistaken for a clinical lunatic or a threatening person. I don't know how it is today, but in the past, autism has been mistaken for a mental illness. Nothing could be more wrong, they are just particularly sensitive, and when their daily schedule is disturbed, they can be embarrassed or react nervously. For example, they have their own order or hierarchy and perform specific activities every day at a specific time. And, like autistic people, there are times when they are absolutely genius at one or more things, giving you the wrong impression that they are geniuses. It is enough, however, to go just a little beyond the small scope in which they perfectly fit each other, for the spell to break and the genius to be perceived as an ordinary (quoting Tom Cruise) idiot.
The fiery Tom Cruise fit into his role perfectly and if I didn't know his character from many interviews, Hollywood gossip, facts from his life, I could sum up his role in one sentence - he is a fucking genius of acting, like Kevin Spacey. I will not call him that, because he was simply playing himself - a go-getting, energetic, selfish and a bit arrogant asshole. Such a proverbial bad boy, which is a dream of many young women. Although I don't just criticize him, from the very beginning of the film you can see goodness in him and that he tries to understand Raymond. It is true that he does not do it well, but I would be unfair to him if I did not mention it. It works great in contrast to Dustin Hoffman, who is a calm, kind and polite gentleman in this film. Admittedly, there are times when Raymond shows similar traits to his brother, but he is calm most of the time. They both played convincingly, especially Dustin Hoffman, who perfectly played the role of the autistic. It is unpredictable, which can make some people anxious. I once wrote in the context of Travis Fimmel (Ragnar Lothbrok from "Vikings") and Marcin Dorociński ("Gambit Królowej") that they can show an instant change of mood, i.e. that in a second they can change their attitude from a calm person to a person who will not undo get ahead of anything in achieving your goal. It is similar with the character played by Hoffman, but due to the differences between them, it looks a bit different. However, the fact that his reaction is often unpredictable + that you can expect absolutely anything makes Raymond creepy at times. Both heroes reach each other over time - Raymond learns many new things, gets to know the real world without a protective shade that protects him from every danger, and Cruise becomes humble, more empathetic and patient. The longer they stay together, the better they interact with each other despite initial difficulties.
When it comes to music, Hans Zimmer did a good job. For many years I have been criticizing him more than praising him, because the composer clearly cuts the coupons and usually makes ordinary, unforgettable soundtracks. Thus, it presents the level of an average composer, which I would perhaps appreciate more if he were actually one, and not a composer with many years of achievements. 30 years ago, however, he was at a different stage in his career and was just building his reputation. The soundtrack as a whole may not be outstanding, but it presents a solid, higher level than most of the songs he has recorded in the last decade (or at least for the movies I've seen). The exception is the main music theme, which is one of the best themes I've heard in recent years. Quite calm, a bit chillout, fitting the subject matter of "Rain Man". A very atmospheric song that has a calming effect on me.
To sum up, apart from my minimal accusations against autism (which is irrelevant, because the film has passed the test of time well anyway), "Rain Man" is an outstanding film, which, like "Terminator", "Rambo", "The Thing" and several other classics, it hasn't aged a bit. Today, after 30 years, it is watched as well as on the day of its premiere. If you ignored the characters' clothes, cars, and a few other things that tell you that it's a painting from a different era, I wouldn't say it's not much older than me. Great direction, script and a moral to think about. As with the movies mentioned in this paragraph, I will definitely come back to it from time to time. I rate it on 9/10.
