five easy pieces (1970)

produced five years before nicholson's turn in antonioni's "the passenger" (our current number 2 on the list), bob rafelson's "five easy pieces'' sees jack on similiar form. while "one flew over the cuckoos nest" is the nicholson film of point that exhibits his talent for playing angry, and kubrick's "the shining" pushes his angle of sheer madness, "five easy pieces" straddles the two perfectly.

nicholson is just amazing in the role of robert, a young man who has thus far drifted through life. a talented musician who has withdrawn from his calling in life, either through ignorance or mental illness. unusually a definitive reason is never actually given, which leads me onto my next point; ''five easy pieces" is an example of subtly intelligent filmmaking. the viewer is given much more credit than usual, for instance, we dont have the reasoning behind the attraction to jack's character of robert to that of his brothers girlfriend, as we can read between the lines. the director has enough faith in his audience to let them come to their own conclusions. this sort of filmmaking was rife in american cinema of the 1970's, alas lowest common denomination rules the studios these days.