You would think that a movie starring Jack Nicholson, made at the peak of his acting powers in 1975, and directed by noted auteur Michaelangelo Antonoini… well, that would be a movie film lovers around the world would know and respect, right? Yet when I told friends that the next movie I’d be watching in my Neglected Cinema series would be The Passenger, the reaction was unanimously “What’s that?”
“What’s that” is an intriguing and mesmerizing movie that unfolds like a documentary, and is an amazing piece of cinema. Nicholson plays a reporter looking for a war to cover, a war that he can’t seem to find no matter how hard he looks. After a series of setbacks, he finds himself in a hotel room with a dead man… one of the men who is running arms as part of this and many other war efforts. He decides to take the man’s place, and then… things happen. Interesting things.
The minimal dialogue makes this a movie you have to pay attention to – nothing is spelled out for the viewer, and nothing is obvious about where the film goes. It is filled with details that also reward repeat viewing, and is utterly compelling.
Why is this movie overlooked? The sometimes non-linear style of the film is not very approachable, and was a commercial disaster… even when it was rereleased in limited engagements in 2006. Also, Jack is in many ways his own worse enemy: by the time The Passenger came out Chinatown had been out for a year and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was coming out a few months later. Jack’s subtle acting here looks small in comparison to those two epic scene-stealing performances.
Whatever the reason it was ignored by audiences, it’s a film that should be seen by cinemaphiles everywhere, because The Passenger is a fantastic piece of art that is rewarding and extraordinary.
And definitely stay for the last ten minutes of the movie, to experience one continuous shot that is absolutely fantastic.
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