Trouble in Mind Movie Review

Trouble in Mind has one of the lushest, most evocative scores ever, with a fine rendering of the title song by Marianne Faithfull. The cinematography and the soundtrack give the film what Alan Rudolph fails to supply as writer/director: a mood straight out of 1940s film noir. Rudolph, always an intellectual tease, uses the aura of other times and places to play Games with Time and Place. You either worship the guy (I don't) or you just sit there wondering what in tarnation is going on. Trouble in Mind is set in “The Near Future,” which helps to explain Coop the Thief's (Keith Carradine) weird curly hairstyle and loud yucky clothes. Kris Kristofferson is Hawk, a one-time cop just released from prison for killing a Bad Dude—a Mobster. Wanda (Genevieve Bujold), who used to be his lover, runs the Rain City Diner. Hawk, about 50, gets hung up on Coop's wife Georgia (Lori Singer), about 24. Coop, already bizarre, gets MORE bizarre. Divine as (male) gangster Hilly Blue is almost worth the rental fee. Almost, because Rudolph seems determined to do everything but tell the story. A very frustrating movie, filmed in Seattle. P.S. If I ever see Vortex (with another one of my all-time favorite scores) and it turns out to be anything like Trouble in Mind, I will be SO disillusioned! It could be even worse, I suppose. I could be looking at Carradine in THIS movie and LISTENING to the music Richard Baskin wrote for Welcome to L.A.

1986 (R) 111m/C Kris Kristofferson, Keith Carradine, Genevieve Bujold, Lori Singer, Divine, Joe Morton, George Kirby, John Considine, Dirk Blocker, Gailard Sartain, Tracy Kristofferson; D: Alan Rudolph; W: Alan Rudolph; C: Toyomichi Kurita; M: Mark Isham. Independent Spirit Awards ‘86: Best Cinematography. VHS, LV, 8mm, Closed Caption