Irish Film Institute -THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS

THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS

Director: BOB RAFELSON

103 minutes| U.S.A.| 1972| Colour| 35mm


Bob Rafelson’s terrific follow-up to his justly acclaimed Five Easy Pieces is both a darkly humorous depiction of the madder aspects of the American Dream and an almost Harold Pinter-like depiction of twisted human relationships. Deliberately cast against type, Jack Nicholson plays an emotionally aloof Philadelphia late-night radio host who’s summoned to Atlantic City by a flamboyant brother (Bruce Dern) with wild plans to make a fortune by building a resort on a Pacific island. As Nicholson gets drawn into Dern’s dangerous get-rich-quick schemes, and also into his complicated affairs with a mature woman (Ellen Burstyn) and her stepdaughter, the characters’ dreams and obsessions founder, with tragic consequences. Brilliantly performed and cleverly constructed by Rafelson and writer Jacob Brackman, this is probably the director’s masterpiece. It also goes a long way towards proving Bruce Dern’s contention that he could act his friend Nicholson off the screen when given the right role.

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