Track 29

I end my look at Nicolas Roeg's films with 1988's Track 29, which is a mess. It stars Theresa Russell and Gary Oldman in way over the top performances with a script that makes little sense.

Russell, with a bad Southern accent, is the drunk and seemingly psychotic wife of Christopher Lloyd, a doctor at a nursing home who has a passion for model trains (I believe this is the first, and perhaps only, film I know that features the model railroader world). Oldman is a British man who has come to America to find his birth mother. Is it Russell? (The two actors are one year apart, so that immediately puts us on guard.) What's real, and what isn't? Does anyone care?

None of Roeg's films are told in a straight forward manner--all of them leave something critical out, which is an interesting style that works sometimes but can also lead to a lot of head-scratching. I found Roger Ebert's review of this film interesting. He said he didn't like the movie, but that doesn't mean it's bad film. Yes, it does, Roger. It's a bad film.

The one scene I found interesting is Lloyd giving a speech at model railroader's convention, whipping up enthusiasm as he defends their hobby, and getting mad when anyone calls it "playing with his toys." There are so many hobbies out there that have passionate bases, and it's an interesting idea to try to explore them. With Lloyd it's an interest in precision, but also an opportunity to get away from his bat-shit crazy wife.

Early in the film Oldman gets a ride with a truck driver, who throws him out after a while because he talks too much and the trucker "doesn't understand half a thing of what you are saying." I kind of had the same experience.