"The Crying Game" (1992) - British-Irish-Japanese Suspense Thriller Written and Directed by Neil Jordan, Starring Stephen Rea and Jaye Davidson

[DonRocks]

A friend has been urging me to watch "The Crying Game" recently, and unfortunately, I kind-of, sort-of found out why before deciding to watch it, but not quite - anyway, I think that a great film should be able to still be a great film even though its Big Reveal is lost. There are advantages to knowing it in advance, because you can take note of the director's brilliance in trying to gently hint at it throughout.

Forest Whitaker has always seemed the unlikeliest of stars to me - a dark-skinned, overweight Texan with a physical quirk -  but I've always loved him in his roles, for example, "the guy who hustled 'The Hustler.'" Here, he plays Jody, a British soldier in Northern Ireland; his nemesis, a Provisional IRA volunteer named Fergus, played by Stephen Rea (Academy Award Nominee for Best Actor). Both actors are introduced to the viewer virtually immediately.

*** SPOILERS FOLLOW *** DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT UNTIL YOU "KNOW"

Alright, there are two ways to watch "The Crying Game" - knowing in advance about Dil (Jaye Davidson, Academy Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actor), and not knowing in advance about Dil. I'd just found out about her a couple of weeks ago, but decided to watch the film anyway - great works of art do not depend on a single reveal. In many ways, I'm glad I knew in advance, because I could see just how much went into concealing things, but also because I got to enjoy the film as an art film, without having to look back and wonder if I would have "really" liked it had I known.

This is an excellent movie, and I think in many ways I like it more having "known" about Dil in advance.

PS - As much as I love "Unforgiven," Jaye Davidson deserved the award for Best Supporting Actor over Gene Hackman.

[weezy]

My clearest memory, seeing the film in the theater during its initial release, was the ad hoc Gay Men's Chorus sitting down front singing along to Stand By Your Man when the closing credits started rolling.  

[DonRocks]

On 11/1/2017 at 3:36 PM, weezy said:

My clearest memory, seeing the film in the theater during its initial release, was the ad hoc Gay Men's Chorus sitting down front singing along to Stand By Your Man when the closing credits started rolling.  

I'm looking for this clip on the internet, and can't find it anywhere - I remember the song (it couldn't really have been any other), but don't have a perfect picture of the chorus.

*** SPOILERS FOLLOW ***

"Stephen Rea on 'The Crying Game's Surprise ....." by Jennifer Vineyard on vulture.com

[DaveO]

Oh man.  I recall that film.  1992.  Hmmm.  It was a shocker at the time.  

[weezy]

20 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I'm looking for this clip on the internet, and can't find it anywhere - I remember the song (it couldn't really have been any other), but don't have a perfect picture of the chorus.

*** SPOILERS FOLLOW ***

"Stephen Rea on 'The Crying Game's Surprise ....." by Jennifer Vineyard on vulture.com

It wasn't part of the film....it was the audience in the theater singing along with Lyle Lovett's cover.

[DonRocks]

4 hours ago, weezy said:

It wasn't part of the film....it was the audience in the theater singing along with Lyle Lovett's cover.

That's great!