The Nobodies #10: Harold and Maude
What a strange little film. Harold and Maude is about a teenager who, for fun, commits suicide repeatedly and attends funerals and an 80 year old lady who steals peoples cars. they enter a very strange but sweet relationship. Harold and Maude is a precursor to the very quirky branch of comedy that's very much a part of the indie wave nowadays. Juno, Son of Rambow, (500) Days of Summer, and especially Little Miss Sunshine. But Harold and Maude is different, in a good way. Here's why:
First of all, Harold and Maude is amazingly filmed. You can tell that you are in safe hands very early on, in the amazing credits sequence, a long tracking shot following a Harold walking around the room. Synched marvelously with Don't Be Shy by Cat Stevens, it's a wonderful bit of filmmaking. His style is not over the top, it's stylish but grounded as well. It feels so real.
His second bit of magic is his writing. His characters are quirky, but not over the top. Ashby does not create two strange characters rather, he creates two people who do strange things. An unmarketable film? Not especially. A romance between a teen and an old woman will turn audiences off, for sure, but what Ashby does is takes the concept and tries to reel it back in as much as possible, while sticking to his guns.
But it boggles the mind how many people have not seen this film. This should be a cult classic, this should be the film that gets talked about among sixteen year olds more then something like Donnie Darko. It's strange but sweet, and Harold and Maude are two people you just absolutely fall in love with.
The two leads are amazing. Bud Cort as Harold is quirky, goes from a wide eyed loner to totally sympathetic and sweet/naive kid throughout the course of the film. The real star, though, is Ruth Gordan, because not only is it such a hard role but also because she is bascially fantastic. She oinvest so much life into Maude and into Harold too, in a way, and Ruth Gordan managed to capture all that.
Verdict: Quirky, fun, sweet, delightful. It's a real gem of a film, and one that should be seen by more people.
Grade: A-