The movies have given us some seriously meaningful jackets over the years. Here's my pick - what are yours?
Daniel Fitzpatrick runs a monthly Midnight Movie event in Dublin called Hollywood Babylon.
In novels there are all sorts of ways to reveal to the reader what a protagonist is like, though these revelations can take time. Cinema has a mere hour or so in which to describe a character or situation, showing us in a flash what it would be impossible to narrate. This is where a nifty bit of set dressing or art direction comes in handy.
So that's movies and this is 'great movie jackets'.
The movies have given us so many coolly iconic, memorable jackets over the years – but we are looking for something else, something more meaningful.
Dead Man's Shoes – Paddy Considine's parka
The first thing this jacket does is acknowledge a debt, by knowingly echoing a similar jacket worn by that other great unhinged psycho from a military background who talks to himself and contemplates justified homicide (Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver for those not with me yet). Dead Man's Shoes was a deeply personal project for both Considine and director Shane Meadows, as promotional interviews from the time reveal, informed in part by their own experiences. Meadows, always a resourceful film-maker, was looking to reinvent himself after a brief misstep into the mainstream, and was returning to his roots in more ways than one. The jacket is just one example of how much the film achieves with relatively little, and is but one aspect of a breathtaking central performance by Considine. As with each of the jackets I mention here, costume choice became an inseparable part of the performance. When Considine's character stands on a grey street corner in his green army-surplus jacket, we know exactly what it feels like. We feel our own hands dug deep into those huge pockets, our fists clenching and unclenching, patiently waiting for all those terrible things to start happening.
Drive – that scorpion jacket
Movie jackets are usually at their best when they look lived-in. This isn't the case with Ryan Gosling's scorpion jacket, though, which looks as if it came straight off the costume department's rail and will go straight back there at the end of the scene. Are we meant to picture this guy going into a sports clothing shop and asking if they "had anything with scorpions"? The film's marketing relied heavily on the jacket and there's certainly no denying its iconic charm, even if it seems borrowed from Rocky II. I'm not sure if this jacket would have a place in this blog if it weren't for the ways the film disrupts its iconography. At one point, Gosling kills a man in an elevator by stomping on his head and reducing it to a pulp. It shows us, through the eyes of would-be love interest Carey Mulligan, what he is capable of. More disturbing still, Gosling continues to wear the blood-splattered jacket as he wanders around in an oblivious haze. It's now that we understand that things are not going to turn out OK.
American Werewolf in London – those shiny puffa jackets
Two American tourists wander around the moors at night, in spite of the warnings they receive in the world's least inviting pub. They are fish out of water and completely vulnerable, as is revealed to us by their shiny red and blue jackets. They look like the last two deliciously wrapped sweets in the box, ready to be savaged and swallowed whole. They are in the wrong place and this will not end well.
Out of the Blue – Linda Manz's denim jacket
Dennis Hopper's Out of the Blue is one of the all-time great forgotten films, doing for the early punk scene what Easy Rider did for the hippy movement (it is a far better, far more insightful film). At its heart is an electric performance by the great Linda Manz (Days of Heaven, The Wanderers, Gummo). Everything we need to know about this character is contained in that great denim Elvis jacket she wears so well. Contained within it are her dissatisfaction, rebellion and romantic notions of an early death – something echoed in Neil Young's song Out of the Blue, a song written for the film and later cited by Kurt Cobain in his suicide note. The film captures something essential about the punk movement, making its nihilism seem justified. The jacket itself ended up in the hands of actor Chloe Sevigny.
Desperately Seeking Susan – all-seeing eye jacket
This is jacket as plot point, Alfred Hitchcock's MacGuffin in action. It is also a truly excellent jacket housed in an underrated and misunderstood film. For my money, this is one of the all-time great New York pictures, showing us a deeply romantic city of projection booths, thrift stores and Chinese takeouts. The jacket's all-seeing eye is central here, familiar to most of us who have ever held a dollar bill. The jacket is a perfect fit for the 1980s, when the film was made, when it often seemed there was but one god, and this god was green.
Wild at Heart – snakeskin jacket
Sailor (Nicolas Cage): "Did I ever tell ya that this here jacket represents a symbol of my individuality, and my belief in personal freedom?"
Lula (Laura Dern): "About 50,000 times."
Unsubtle but effective.
Last week, Joe Churchman selected clips on the theme 'dead or alive'. Here's Daniel's pick from the thread.
1. ImmenseDisciple gave us two very different, epoch-defining westerns – Shane …
2. … and the Coen brothers' possibly apocalyptic No Country for Old Men.
3. Lambretinha reminded me of John Sayles's appropriately monikered Limbo.
4. I was delighted that FreakyChucker1 introduced me to this from The Incredible Shrinking Man.
5. Bonnacon reminded me of a childhood favourite – The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2012/nov/28/clip-joint-great-movie-jackets
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