THE CHINA SYNDROME
Your March 2008 Unrandom Movie Club Results Are In!
Tagline: Today, only a handful of people know what it means... Soon you will know.
Preshow Entertainment: SRL - THE VIRTUES OF NEGATIVE FASCINATION
PRESHOW ENTERTAINMENT:
We watched a tape of "Industrial Performance Art" pieces by Survival Research Labs. Founded in 1978 by Mark "Honey I Blew Off My Hand" Pauline, SRL is the precursor to Battle Bots, but on a much grander, louder, and scarier scale. Gigantic, monstrous, post-apocalyptic robotic contraptions roam around their playpen (usually an unsanctioned parking lot) destroying each other in metal-to-metal combat, or the occasional flame throwing. I went to one in L.A.'s Chinatown and it's a pretty awesome spectacle. Hundreds of people gathered to watch the show, which left the taste of gasoline in our mouths. There is indeed a thrill to this fantastic-bombastic event which is rooted in the subconscious joy that people came together to do this...and to watch this.
SRL often features creepy visuals like baby heads, gigantic heads, and one contraption that drags itself on the floor by its arm making it appear like a wounded animal. They've also reanimated dead animals by use of robotics, which borderlines eerie, distasteful and genius.
The problem with the tape is...it's a tape. I can't think of any performance that benefits more from seeing it live. After about 10 minutes we were done, letting it play out as we chatted. But people who've never heard of SRL got a taste of it. They just didn't taste the gasoline.
AND NOW, OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION:
The '70s were winding down and the No Nukes protesters were rising up. So what better time to make a movie about a potentially dangerous nuclear reactor. But perhaps the best example of timing in movie history was that only 12 days after THE CHINA SYNDROME hit the theaters, the accident at Three Mile Island nuclear plant occurred, amping up the nation's fear and concern, not to mention the number of conspiracy theorists.
Enter Jack Lemmon.
Talk about dream casting. Lemmon's built-in righteousness gives TCS all its credibility and humanity. He glows, and not because of any fallout. The way he stares at the coffee cup during the accident's aftershock is worth it right there. Many actors are great at just that - acting. But fewer are great (excuse the pun again) reactors.
Jack lives in a modest apartment, alone. They never get into his backstory, which works just fine. It lets us fill in the missing pieces any way we want. While most people who live alone have a plant to take care of, Jack's life is to take care of a nuclear plant (I have no idea what it is with me and puns today). But it's not only how he reacts to the aftershock, but - how will he react to the company that has been his home. Sure, the plant may have a meltdown, but can Jack Godell stop his?
The safety reports come back positive. No accident, no threat. But Kimberly and Richard aren't convinced. The employees did their jobs and the system (and two back-up systems) worked. The end?
There's a great scene when Kimberly has a chance encounter with Jack. Two rival dogs that have an appreciation for each other. No yelling or accusations. Just two people talking and defending their turf. And maybe each walking away thinking, Hey, maybe this other person's not so bad. And the placing of a burning flame from the open pit between them is a nice touch too.
Jack leaves that meeting thinking. Damn, you can actually see Jack Lemmon think. And then he discovers a small leak, and some falsified reports. And the melodrama turns to thriller.
As I mentioned, Lemmon is outstanding in this movie. But I did have a slight problem with Jane Fonda. Though highly lauded for this movie, she seemed more like a character from Mad TV - always on and in control, fighting with someone, tugging a last intake on a cigarette. It was a performance of mannerisms more than of character.
Also in the cast, Wilfred Brimley (in his first real movie role) as Jack's co-worker Ted Spindler, also torn between company loyalty and doing the right thing. Ventana's PR spin man was played by James Hampton. Yup, it's TV's Dobbs from F TROOP. Also of note, plant baddie Peter Donat and Kimberly's co-worker James Karen, who together have appeared in everything ever produced.
Besides Lemmon, the real star of THE CHINA SYNDROME is director James Bridges' pacing. Some scenes felt like real time, which lets the suspense breathe, exaggerating the threat. And to accentuate the environment, he lit much of the reactor's containment area in muted greens. Also interesting and effectively jarring was the decision to go musicless. Except for car radios, etc., TCS was music-free, which made the closing credits an ominous coda to the finale.
THE CHINA SYNDROME unfolds into a smart and suspenseful thriller, so much so that Act Three had some of us calling out to the screen. It's been 30 years since the movie was made, and the times have indeed changed. But even so, the movie holds up nicely. Even better than a reactor with a stuck relay and a faulty intake valve.
Tags: random movie club, the china syndrome, jack lemmon, jane fonda, michael douglas, srl
