Admittedly this film was most perplexing, perhaps unsettling at my first few viewings of it and I did not begin to truly enjoy it until I just let it be itself. It has since won a permanent place of endearment in my top ten. Many of the strongly favorable reviews herein resonate with my own experience so no need to rehash these (praxis22 fairly nails it). Even those critical seem ambivalent, haunted? A few have rightly made note of the brilliant, deeply evocative score by Mark Isham. Marianne Faithful's contributions are emblematic; in particular her gentle presentation of the Isham/Kristofferson collaboration El Gavilan – which, in the estimation of some, beautifully embodies the ultimate theme of this film: an elegy of regret inhered of loss, infused with hope. This work was re-released in a special edition DVD by Shout! Factory in its original 1:85 and is of excellent quality; it also includes a remarkably candid and affectionate retrospective featuring the surviving principal cast, crew and production staff. Sadly, the soundtrack has become nearly unobtainable – it also deserves to be rediscovered and recognized.

This film is perhaps the ONLY film to "document" what life was probably like for the vast majority of young people in working class America in the late seventies and early eighties, when a true sense of bizarreness reigned in big cities all across the country. This was the world that David Bowie, Kiss, disco and cocaine had made for everyone who had to "get out of the house at night". It was also a statement about how rough life was for anybody trying to make their way in the world during that period, where inflation was rampant and jobs were VERY difficult to come by.This situation leads one of the characters, Koop, played by Keith Carradine, to join forces with a paranoid but educated and shady black guy by the name of Solo in a diner owned by Genevieve Bujold's character, Wanda. Also frequenting the diner, which he also lives over, is ex-cop Hawk, newly released from prison, played by Kris Kristofferson. The two clash, as Koop descends into a life of crime with Solo, trying to feed his wife and baby while Hawk develops an eye for his young wife, played by Lori Singer.The mood of this movie has many parts: equal parts weird, compassionate, exposition, self-consciously fashionable, and stylish. It captures the zeitgeist of the period between 1975 and 1982 perfectly...the desperation of young people, especially POOR young people, to get a taste of the glitzy good life and to simply survive in a world that it is too easy to realize really IS cold and cruel! Alan Rudolph's art director should have won an Oscar for his work on this film, as it captures the presumed time it was set in perfectly. Rudolph himself deserves kudos too, for giving the world a chronicle of the weird world of new wave-disco era, big city America. Bujold, Carradine, Morton, Singer and even Kristofferson are good in it as well.This is the middle one of three great movies Rudolph produced in the mid-to-late eighties that he and his repertoire company, (usually just Bujold and Carradine,) can be justifiably proud. These are "Choose Me", "The Moderns" and this one. "The Moderns" must be seen to be believed. As good as the mood setting is in "TiM", "The Moderns" walks all over it.Enjoy.

A terrific, quirky film by Alan Rudolph. As an earlier reviewer wrote, he has weird things going on that are never explained. They are just features of his "alternative future". Remember that so much of the world we live in goes by, unexplained. It helps break this film away from the Hollywood-spoonfed blandness. A real treat not commented on is Keith Carradine. A veteran of Alan Rudolph films, he has a wonderful transformation. Without any commentary, he goes from a rural-type (flannel shirt & jeans) to a denizen of the city (wild clothing, make-up, boufant hairdo). And his behavior gets more bizarre with his change in locale. Also, watch for one of cinemas most unique murders. Let's just say it involves water, a major feature of the movie, but it takes place in a location you would never fathom. This is one film I would love to see get the deluxe DVD treatment. Widescreen, director commentary, deleted scenes. It is an overlooked wonder.

I have a strong feeling that writer/director Alan Rudolf really enjoyed BLADERUNNER, and longed to create a BLADERUNNERish film of his own. As such, TROUBLE IN MIND has much in common with the former film - a dark, sad view of the future, a Vangelis-like instrumental score. Unfortunately, where it departs from BLADERUNNER most noticeably is in the area of and talent and budget. Bujold, Kristofferson and Singer are about as exciting as bran flakes. Carradine's hair is rather dull to begin with, but develops unusual colour and a neat curl towards the end of the film (which comes none to soon). Divine offers the only performance of note, but it is far too brief. Obviously this film experienced a great deal tightness in the budget department. The future appears to be Seattle on an overcast day, with a handful of classic cars and one army jeep cruising the streets. A vague vision of the future, coupled with an aimless script, makes TROUBLE IN MIND a not so great movie to see. A better bet would be to rent the directors cut of BLADERUNNER.