' At Close Range' Sean Penn and Christopher Walken, Requiem for Cold Blood

"At Close Range" synopsis

Brad Jr. lives with his mother and younger brother in a rural town in Pennsylvania. Junior's father, Brad Sr., who abandoned his family, appears before Junior, who dreams of success. Junior joins his father's gang, who ran the family Yakuza business, but he rebels against his father, who kills people like an insect, and ends up stealing on his own and getting arrested. Meanwhile, Junior's father, Sr., believes that Junior's change is due to his girlfriend's influence, and assaults Junior's girlfriend. When Junior learns that his lover was assaulted by his father, he decides to betray his father and leave town with his lover, but...

Index

• cold-blooded neo-noir
• johnston family
• fear and tension
• At close range/at the muzzle of a family member

cold-blooded neo-noir

There are movies that make me feel so sad and dark that I feel like my heart is crushed just by remembering the scenery in the movie. ``At Close Range'' (1986) is a neo-noir masterpiece based on a tragic incident that actually occurred in Pennsylvania. Sean Penn plays Brad White, Jr., a reckless and sensitive young delinquent, and Christopher Walken plays Brad White, Sr., a father who wears the word ruthless all over his body, without blood or tears. The introductory synth sound of Madonna 's hit song "Live to Tell," which also served as the theme song, is repeated over and over again over the bleak scenery of rural Pennsylvania. The repeated synth sounds that resemble minimal music sound like spiritual prayers addressed to this land. However, even the prayerful music that gives a melancholic color to the brutal story cannot save this painful tragedy.

"live to tell" MV

The scenery is too brutal, and the story is too brutal. In order to escape from the rural landscape, Brad Jr. is drawn to the wealth and charisma of his father, who he thought would have abandoned him, and eventually begins to want to be recognized. Brad Sr., the local crime boss, has no interest in being a father, but he does like the idea of ​​having a son. Brad Jr. has a younger brother, Tommy. Chris Penn, Sean Penn's younger brother, brilliantly plays the role of Tommy, who can be said to be more dangerous than his older brother because of his childish nature. Tommy is openly curious about Brad Sr.'s wealth and charisma.

The overwhelming charisma of the father who broke into his house to give money to his ex-wife. Brad Jr. uses humor to hide his true feelings so that no one will realize that he is in love with his father. Sean Penn's performance here is fantastic. How do you hide the emotions deep inside your heart? This can be said to be an acting theme imposed on the main cast of this work. Because showing your emotions in front of Brad Sr. could be a dangerous gamble with your life. Everyone knows that beneath the smiling mask that Brad Sr. wears, there is a cold-blooded, ruthless spirit. Brad Sr. is nothing but the devil. Juan Luis Ancia, who served as the film's cameraman, casts a deep, almost Gothic shadow into the cold-blooded skin of a charismatic criminal and the brutal Pennsylvania landscape.

johnston family