The movie "Blade Runner"
Alex (
Serbia
)
The “Blade Runner” movie from the 80’s – Alex’s goosebump moment
“Hi! This is Alex from Serbia, and one of the earliest goosebump moments that I had was probably when I first watched the first “Blade Runner” movie from the 80’s. The combination from everything from the sound, the story, the aesthetics. I think, for me, it was the first time that I saw that everything came together so seamlessly and flawlessly. That kind of experience was just different. I was a big fan of movies before, and I became a bigger fan of movies because of that film, because of how they portrayed everything and how it came together. The dialogue and, basically, the emotions that were portrayed made me want to pursue music and generally work for films as well. So, I think that was my greatest goosebump moment.”
A magical work of art about the human condition
To talk about the film “Blade Runner” is to talk about several things. It is to talk about the magic of cinema, about art, about the human being, about an experience that transforms the viewer.
The plot of “Blade Runner” (1982) centers on Rick Deckard, a policeman specialized in hunting replicants. Replicants are something like biological robots, artificial human beings, created to fulfill the tasks that men no longer want to do, in places where more manpower is needed.
The new generations of replicants, the Nexus-6, have begun to develop emotions and went so far as to commit crimes against people that they are now declared illegal. The ‘Blade Runners’ are the ones in charge of eliminating them. We are in Los Angeles, in the year 2019. Deckard is forced to fulfill a dangerous and unpleasant mission.
A milestone in science fiction
On a visual level, “Blade Runner” remains one of the most fearless and dazzling works in the history of cinema. Its version of the city of Los Angeles is a permanently nocturnal landscape made of chiaroscuro, rain and neon reflections, pure romanticism.
The influence of the detective fiction of the 40’s is perceived in every scene, in the atmosphere of defeat and melancholy, but especially in the figure of Deckard, a laconic sleuth whose kinship with Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum in the skin of Philip Marlowe is obvious. This film by Ridley Scott tells of a complex dystopian future. With a huge corporation controlling society and technology.
In this film we see the future of 2019 imagined in the eighties as a chaotic and dark world, but also in which it is almost always raining.
Although “Blade Runner” is nowadays a must-see film, the truth is that in its premiere the reception was rather mixed, and its box-office takings were below expectations. It is a classic case of how a film becomes a cult movie.
This film had a sequel in 2017, titled “Blade Runner 2049”. In it, the weather does not seem to have improved. It even explores places beyond the city of Los Angeles, the place where the 1982 film is set.
The rain in “Blade Runner” is constant throughout its history. Even one of the most iconic scenes of this film is under the rain and refers to it. Ridley Scott revealed the reason why this dystopian vision of the future has such a climate. His film, as we know, was inspired by Philip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”, published in 1968. Here we review Scott’s two reasons.
The complications of “Blade Runner”
“Blade Runner” was one of those films that had all kinds of setbacks and problems during its making. Disagreements of all kinds, arguments, mistreatment, accidents and so on. It is here where the first of the reasons why it is almost always raining in “Blade Runner”.
It’s due to rather mundane matters. The sets built for the film were never to Riddley Scott’s liking. In that sense he also had many disagreements, so he decided to use the rain to not give so much relevance to the backgrounds and sets.
Although it is a somewhat disappointing reason, the truth is that the effects achieved, and the atmosphere built in “Blade Runner” are unforgettable. It is curious that a rather technical decision that perhaps hides a complex background for the production, has come to fruition and has even given an unmistakable identity to the film.
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