The Future is Now

Hi Delicious-

I just watched Blade Runner on my Netflix Watch it Now movies.  How is it that a cinephile like me has not seen this movie before???  It has made its way into my Top Ten (although I don't know who I'm kicking out). 

I've never been much of a Harrison Ford fan although I am a great fan of a lot of movies he's starred in.  Blade Runner is no exception.  Harrison's narration is cheesy and overacted but given that it's basically a film noir set in the future, maybe that was the intention.  And that's my only criticism cuz this film was narratively and stylistically compelling. 

Anyone else creeped out that it's set less than a decade from now?  Filmed back in 1982 I suppose the year 2019 sounded like a long way off and it seems everyone thought we'd have the flying cars and human "Replicants".  I also am pretty sure this is where Robert Zemeckis got his Back to the Future 2 version of 2015 (yikes, I must be getting old if the horrible future everyone envisioned in my childhood movies will soon be upon me...I suppose that's fodder for a whole other blog post!).

What I enjoyed most about Blade Runner was its melange of styles that effortlessly seemed to create a new one.  Film noir meets robots, 40's Girl Friday meets action film and Victorian Opium Den meets Japanese street fare.  Rutger Hauer was brilliant and managed to be an emotional stoic.  Darryl Hannah truly looked and acted other worldly and Sean Young's Rachel (below, right) was a perfect iteration of Clare Trevor (left, 1940's film noir star) in the 20th century.

I see now why this film is endlessly referenced in fashion and futuristic design.  Ridley Scott is a genius we should all be a little afraid of.