[6]

Jack Nicholson directs this slice-of-life story adapted from the Jeremy Larner novel about a obstinate college basketball player (William Tepper) whose pretentiousness almost keeps him from being drafted into professional sports. But the film also centers on two other characters. Karen Black plays Tepper’s girlfriend, a character who can’t decide whether to leave him or stay with him. (Is she confused by the women’s liberation movement?) And then there’s the best friend character, played by Michael Margotta, a politically charged student who decides to take a lot of drugs to help him avoid the draft. Margotta steals the show once he’s on drugs. The third act sees him breaking into Black’s home and — pretending? — to kill her? (One’s not sure!) Then he strips down to his birthday suit and breaks into a biology class room to let a bunch of caged animals loose. Bruce Dern puts in a compelling supporting performance as Tepper’s coach.

What’s it all about? Drive, He Said is technically a narrative film, but there’s no overriding narrative through-line. Instead, it’s just a look into these three characters’ lives for a few days. I think the film is meant to capture the zeitgeist of the late ’60s — the college protests, the women’s liberation, sexual politics, the anti-war movement, the anti-corporate sentiment, etc. There might be something to be said about the fact that one character is trying to endanger a sports draft while another is definitely trying to avoid a war draft. There might also be something to be said about how each of the male characters interacts with the female character, and how she responds to each of them (as well as a third male character). I haven’t decided yet if the film is thought-provoking or indulgent.

While I would like to have seen a bit more of a through-line, I do very much appreciate the aesthetic of Drive, He Said. Nicholson employs a lot of verite techniques to keep things alive and fresh, especially when capturing a couple of different basketball game sequences. I’m not a fan of basketball, but Nicholson doesn’t just capture the game here — he captures the whole experience of participating in a spectator sport. The editing is fresh, the use of long lenses is intriguing, the use of music is interesting and untraditional. The film just feels so fresh in terms of technique, making it counter-culture in content as well as in form.

Look for David Ogden Stiers in a small role. The film was a nominee for Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.