John & Mary
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Rated: R
Release Date: 2007-03-06
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Mia Farrow, Michael Tolan, Sunny Griffin, Stanley Beck
Director: Peter Yates
WorkNameSort: John & Mary
You’ve probably never heard of 1969’s John and Mary, and neither had I. That such a masterful, self-reflexive character study has been neglected boggles the mind. Overshadowed by his own turn in the Oscar-winning Midnight Cowboy the same year, the film teams Dustin Hoffman with Mia Farrow for an intricately layered mosaic of shifting chronologies orbiting around a one-night stand and its aftermath. Hoffman’s John and Farrow’s Mary are both insecure, analyzing each minute gesture their new partner makes. They speak their lines, then we hear what they really mean in neurotic voice-over, beating Annie Hall to the punch by eight years. (Woody Allen used subtitles instead of voice-overs, but it’s the same idea.) We flash forward and backward, sometimes way backward, as these peculiar ciphers become fully formed people to each other and to the audience at an equal pace. It’s a startling turn for filmmaker Peter Yates, who’s known for having directed the more conventional entertainments Breaking Away and Bullitt. But here’s a delectable New Wave’inspired dish for thoughtful viewers tired of the same old menu.
This article appears in Mar 7-13, 2007.