The Landmark on Pico is awesome ... spent some good time in Barnes & Nobles, then off to see Blade Runner: Final Cut.
I saw the first (1982) and thoroughly enjoyed it, and enjoyed it again - especially the sound. Cleaned up digitally, it's impressive, although the sets and their technology seem dated, like watching an old Frankenstein film.
Who can forget Harrison Ford's wry smile and when threated, a perplexed, frightened visage? He's a gifted actor, playing the role with a sense of detached irony - "I don't wanna be here, but no choice, so I'll do it."
It's the ideas within that catch my attention: all life seeks its creator for answers, even if it's replicant-life and its creator an engineer. We're fearful of strangers. At the core of our humanness, even replicant humanness, is decency. Life is precious, and death is the inevitable enemy. We're often very alone, but who likes it? We all want to love and be loved.
In 1982, LA in the early 21st century seemed rather far away in time, but in 2007, 2019 is a short hop, but the LA envisioned in Blade Runner needs another century or so.
The sense of LA is medieval - cold, damp and brutish. No sunshine, only rain. Decrepitude on every corner, fortress-like mega-structures, off-world living, hyper technology, and the ageless issues of life: loneliness, power, hope, death, fear, kindness, courage, resignation, doubt and the ceaseless quest to understand who we are.
One of the theater attendants, with whom I was chatting prior to the screening, reminded me this version has no voice-over. I don't mind voice-over, but the film in its "final cut" doesn't need it - visually impressive with a hopeless appearance (what have we wrought?), a musical score that drives but doesn't overwhelm, superb performances by the entire cast - especially the smaller parts, played with disdain for the world in which they live, but like Deckard, who has a choice.
The tag-line for me: "Too bad she won't live, but then, who does?"
