Tuesday, December 20, 2022

John and Mary (1969)

IMDb plot summary: John and Mary meet in a singles bar, sleep together, and spend the next day getting to know each other.
Directed by Peter Yates. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Mia Farrow, and Michael Tolan.

John and Mary tells the story of a couple the morning after their one-night fling. The two are played by Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow, and we see them interacting with each other, interspersed with voiceover telling us what they're actually thinking and flashbacks highlighting past relationships that shaped who they are today. The more I watch of Peter Yates' directorial filmography, the more I'm intrigued by how many genres he jumps around in his early years, hardly ever seeming to tackle the same one twice. This is his first talky romantic drama, and there is something interesting about the formatting of it. It really captures the intimacy of the characters' bedroom and how they alternatingly want to hold onto and let go of that intimacy. That formatting is probably the most interesting thing about it, however, as the subjects themselves are not very interesting, and I'm not sold on Hoffman and Farrow's performances. It's maybe worth watching for those involved but it doesn't stand out in any special way.

How it entered my Flickchart:
John and Mary > Vampyr
John and Mary < Anna Karenina
John and Mary < Die Hard
John and Mary < Fanboys
John and Mary < Jeff, Who Lives At Home
John and Mary > It Had to Be You
John and Mary > Space Pirate Captain Harlock
John and Mary < Cabaret
John and Mary < Ambulance
John and Mary < The Forbidden Kingdom
John and Mary < The Chalk Garden
John and Mary > The Lost Skeleton Returns Again
Final spot: #1779 out of 3735, or 52%.

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