It must be emphasized that this film is a loose adaptation of the novel of the same name. To even consider it loose is even a ripping stretch. The only parallels between the two stories are the character names and the context: the anxiety of young rich nihilists.   The novel is much more graphic and portrays much more complicated characters than what amounts to in the film. What is....

Commitment. Honor. Duty. The damn principle of the thing. This is the consistency of the character of George, who has been carrying around a ball and chain by the name of Lenny because of a promise. If could cut Lenny lose, a big dumb giant, he would in a split second.   Its interesting to see the open-ness of the world of California pre-World War II. There are none of Eisenhower’s....

What is decadence? We can loosely grasp at a sense of indulgence, a sense of embellishment of pleasure. In decadence, it is as if the fantasies of sensual desires become overly fulfilled, to the point of no return. As in, there reaches a dizzying point where the orientation between the world and the individual is lost. All he knows is what he wants. And he gets it.   Such is the....