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Just watched The Year of Living Dangerously.
It's good to be reminded that once upon a time Mel Gibson was an actor. Having recently seen Body Heat and now this and catching both Kathleen Turner and Sigourney Weaver I had to pause for a sexist moment to reflect on how aging is a differently cruel process for some people (especially considering that Weaver is 8 years older than Turner).
Anyway, a good subtle movie. Kind of touched on some of the same themes of journalistic responsibility and involvement that featured in the Sam Waterston portions of The Killing Fields. In fact, this movie and that might make for a very good pairing.
The brilliance of casting Linda Hunt (a white woman) as Billy Kwan (an Indonesian man) is amazing in its audaciousness. I'm sure it was all the buzz back in 1982 but I didn't realize it and it was very late into the movie before I realized it was Linda Hunt. I'd recognized the character as very feminine but it lent am amazing ethereal quality to an already bizarre characterization. Looking it up now I see Hunt won an Oscar and without checking the competition it seems thoroughly deserved.
Peter Wier shows a restraint that seems to have mostly abandoned him in recent years, willing to just let the camera linger without filling it with movement. But he showcases the ability to get the best from actors for which he is famous.
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