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Backtrack
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by Lions Gate/Vestron
Sales Rank: 999
Price: $14.98
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Dennis Hopper directed, as well as acted in, this moody mess from 1989, which was barely seen for a couple of years until getting a boost from the rising fame of its star, Jodie Foster. Looking startlingly young, Foster plays a conceptual artist who witnesses a mob hit, thus becoming a target herself for an assassin (Hopper). But instead of killing her, Hopper's killer falls in love, demonstrating his passion by stalking her at a distance, "owning" her every move and keeping her in exile from ordinary life. The resulting isolation squeezes Foster's creative spirit, forcing her to confront doubt and self-loathing--everything that artists suffer as the price for self-expression. Deeply self-conscious, with a calculatingly meditative tone that becomes inseparable from Hopper's tenacious voyeurism (the film's most obvious commercial hook--Foster's nude scene--is almost prayerful in its pathology), <I>Backtrack</I> wants to be a confessional fable about the artistic process. Instead, it's a muted yet rambling confession about the sinner inside a filmmaker, which would be great if <I>Backtrack</I> were, say, <I>Rear Window</I>. But it surely isn't. <I>--Tom Keogh</I>
Viewer Reviews
Do not be put-off by the Editorial Review, which misses the point. Close attention (even to the edited version) reveals this story is about kindred spirits: the artist inside a contract killer (Hopper) recognizing the potential killer inside a conceptual artist (Foster).
Having reached the pinnacle of his profession, he is at a dead end; having witnessed a mob killing, she is "dead meat." At the risk of his, he saves her life in exchange for her absolute obedience. Now they must out-fight, out-run and out-wit both the mob and the Feds to survive. A pre-Tarentino attempt to explore a killer's humanity.
I'm waiting for a good version Director's Cut to come out on DVD.
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Backtrack
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Last Modified : 1-6-2009
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