I had a hard time getting into this film but it picked up and I think the supporting cast is what kept me into this movie. Visually this film was awesome. I saw the cover of this movie and was immediately intrigued by that alone. I loved the shots of the open desert and the open road. It really kind of gave us a sense of where the “vanishing point” was and I guess Kowalski’s was the bulldozers plows. He hit the plows and that was it, he disappeared from the movie and nobody really talked about him or even his body at the end.
This film really played with the audience and how you find yourself watching this film and hoping he never gets caught. You meet this blind DJ, Super Soul, and he’s rooting for him basically trying to guide him and is sort of an ally on his journey to California. I really, really liked Super Soul and found myself rooting for Kowalski right with Super Soul. Kowalski is really just an anti-hero who loves speed and the open road. He is really just trying to get a job done and wants to do it really, really fast.
As the movie progresses you find yourself understanding Kowalski and his past through flashbacks. You see that he was once a professional driver of cars and motorcycles and was also a detective. He does want to do the right thing and loses his detective job for it. He really is just a normal guy, not particularly heroic, but he really is trying to do some good and always finds himself being screwed by society and life as well.
Kowalski enjoys freedom and the open road. The only way to really get to where he is going is by taking the interstate which was planned and is run by the government. I guess the connection that the interstate has to capitalism is the monopolization of the interstate roads. There really is only one interstate that is run by the government. In a capitalist society, people and businesses try to work as fast as possible and try to use resources and time as efficient as possible. Kowalski is using the open road and the time he has to deliver a car faster than he really needs to and really fits into society, whether we like it or not, in this aspect. Kowalski is someone who we see as free from society but really is he? He is using this “open road” which really isn’t open and is trying to travel freely but is really going anywhere and everywhere the government intends him to go through this road system. It is only a matter of time before the police, death, or both catch up to him.
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The shots of the desert and nature were amazing! For me, they really communicated that sense of freedom that being out on the road in the middle of nowhere can bring. I just wanted to be there so badly, out in the sun and heat.
ReplyDeleteYou make some really interesting points in your last paragraph. In class we talked about how Kowalski can't truly escape the man, because he is still driving on government created and regulated roads. I like how you took it further to say that his urge to go as fast as possible really represents capitalism and our society in a way too.
Good job!
I really liked this post because it touched on a lot of the same things that I talked about in my blog with the whole Idea behind Kowalski's character. I love that you talked about how enjoys the open road, but only in the way that presents himself with the opportunity to drive really really fast.
ReplyDeleteOn top of this I really like how you said that he was being screwed by society, that really does tell exactly what was happening to Kowalski throughout the majority of his life... even up until the end.
You definitely did some good things here, talking about the relation to capitalism and society. I think that just a plain viewing of this film would have left those aspects uncovered, but the reading really helped to pull all these aspects of the background together.
ReplyDelete“Kowalski is someone who we see as free from society but really is he?”
ReplyDeleteI don’t think Kowalski is free from society at all. As you say in your blog, he is travelling on the interstate, an area that could represent openness and freedom but is actually controlled and restrictive. However, although Kowalski isn’t free from society, he represents a different kind of hero, one that fits perfectly with the time period of American society. Kowalski represents that rebellious attitude that that point in time is representative of, as well as the desire to do what you love to do and to do what makes you feel good even though it might not be accepted by everyone else.
Nice. Just really, concisely, sharply-written, nice.
ReplyDeleteI'm not even sure Kowalski's even much of a rebel. As the reading points out, he seems bemused or even disdainful of countercultural types, he turns down offers of pot and free sex, he used to be a cop and a soldier--about as not rebellious as you can get, especially in America at that time. He's just....driving really really fast, on a lot of speed. And there's literally nowhere for him to go, because of what you've all already quite nicely mentioned.