July 13, 2010: Light of Day
OK, I brought this one on myself. I watched the wrong movie.
Everyone knows Michael J. Fox from the TV show Family Ties (1982-1989) and from the Back to the Future films (1985, 1989, 1990). I won’t recount his entire career here, but he has sprinkled dramatic roles among the comedic ones through the years, then saw TV success again on Spin City from 1996-2001. I’ve been a fan of Fox for as long as I can remember.
The film I intended to watch on this particular evening was Bright Lights, Big City (1988). Instead I accidentally put on Light of Day (1987). Both are gritty dramatic turns by Fox during a time when his comedic star was shining brightly, and both have “Light” in their titles. I don’t know how Bright Lights, Big City has held up, but Light of Day is crap.
Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett play a brother and sister who are struggling rock musicians. They try to get through life while caring for Jett’s young son, taking factory jobs to make ends meet between tours with their band. Jett eventually goes out on her own since she feels the rest of the band is holding her back musically, leaving her son with Fox and their mother. While this whole mess is not an acting stretch for Jett, Fox seems out of place portraying a profane blue-collar guy.
Speaking of blue-collar existences, Light of Day’s writer-director is the inimitable Paul Schrader, whose directorial debut was Blue Collar (1978), a wonderful little film about union-busting automakers and starring Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto. Schrader has worked a fair bit with Martin Scorsese over the years, including writing the screenplays for Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). However, my reaction to the films he has directed has been mixed, most recently with Adam, Resurrected (2008).
Gena Rowlands, best known for her work in husband John Cassavetes’ raw and emotional films, plays Fox and Jett’s mother, a deeply religious woman who struggles to understand her daughter. When she becomes ill, the two of them have a heart-to-heart and are better able to see eye-to-eye after a shocking revelation is made about their family history. This prompts Jett to go back to the band, just as Fox has just volunteered to take over singing for a gig when they have been left abandoned by her.
And that’s about it. I found the movie to be awkward and oddly paced, as if it was a solid idea for a 40-minute film but needed to be expanded to feature length. It’s a shame there aren’t more commercial opportunities for shorter movies, in order to tackle shorter stories. Schrader knows what he’s doing, but Light of Day strikes me as a misfire.
Michael J. Fox as a rocker.
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