Director: Jonathan Demme
Year Released: 1987
Rating: 3.0
Entrancing monologue by Spalding Gray that weaves in his own personal experiences as a supporting actor in the 1984 film The Killing Fields and political commentary regarding America's horrendous bombing campaigns in Cambodia that formed the basis of that movie - there's a fascinating parallel between Gray trying to find a "perfect moment" while on set versus the virtual lack of perfect moments for the Cambodians themselves. Gray's a marvelous storyteller who speaks with great speed and gusto but remains clear and keeps you following along, which makes the entire duration to be an illuminating affair - in fact, one of my faults with this is the fact that Demme truncated the original monologue, which ran apparently a full hour longer. Ever since I read Gray's personal essay "College Girls" (one of my all-time favorites, by the way) - when, incidentally, I was in college - I've been a fan of his work; his suicide in 2004 was a tragic end to an unorthodox career.
