Being given more change than you should have received from staff in a shop never gets tedious, nor does an ATM machine that inadvertently dispenses 20s instead of 10s
My point is a simple one exceeding expectations is one of life's underrated joys!
Let's not pretend, 'Black Cadillac' (BC) should have been an unmitigated disaster.
Why?
1. A relatively unknown cast 2. A tired genre Teen movie 3. A tired concept road/horror/chase 4. Single location The middle of nowhere!
Somehow and I still can't figure out how the film was nothing short of forgettable greatness!
I'll be brief and bullet-point the highlights of this splendid film;
1. A ridiculously witty script fantastic banter that I too could have watched for another 5 hours! 2. Awesome sound design. The car actually 'speaks' to us throughout the film, albeit in a very grumpy fashion via the world's finest sounding engine! 3. Marvellous acting. No one is gonna win a tiny gold fella called 'Oscar' for their performance in this film, but by the same token any new up and coming actors might want to view this film as an exercise in understated, laid back, well timed delivery
I adored the interplay between the 3 key characters - the casting team struck gold
they just worked together so well! 4. Subtle yet dexterous direction. The Director clearly wasn't trying to impress us in a "look what I can do" kinda way, but we were at times left thinking "Look what he can do".
It would be ill-conceived to suggest that BC doesn't contain echoes of 'Duel' because it simply does - not least the Cadillac's ultimate moment of reckoning.
I adore 'Duel'; it's one of my top 3 films of all time, but so what? BC manages to pay homage to a timeless classic, while simultaneously and seamlessly saying "Cheers for the concept, now let's take it somewhere else
somewhere funnier, somewhere more contemporary
somewhere utterly different."
(Don't get me wrong, we weren't taken somewhere better than 'Duel', I doubt such a place exists, but we were shown new landmarks on a favourite holiday resort!)
I'll probably forget about this film in a few weeks
months at best, but during those 90 minutes and several minutes after - I was relishing every moment of humour, action, intrigue, suspense and all round escapism it offered.
I absolutely loved it!
