Retrospective: Reds (Patreon)

Diane Keaton, you know?

I suppose I could talk about Reds here. It's a fine film for both Keaton and Beatty — a moving story of a relationship hampered by the demands of a radical life and the shortcomings of revolutions. The Sopranos-like cycle of "together-less together-together" sustains more of the film's protracted running time than that. The shift around the halfway point from Louise's story to Jack's story is handled deftly. There's not a lot of interesting stuff about journalism here, though there is any (we can talk about that in a piece about journalism in movies). It's about an hour too long, and has a little too much dialogue consisting of the film's themes spelled out, but a B-tier Diane Keaton movie is still going to be a fine watch.

But let's talk about Diane Keaton. Louise Bryant is not the same character at the end of the movie as she is at the beginning. She's found more freedom, but she's still living her life around a powerful man. Yet throughout the scenes of Bryant lingering in the periphery of John Reed's life, Keaton is largely the focus. Beatty shoots scenes in a way that give even her suffering and loneliness a tremendous amount of power. And it's hard to imagine him being unable to do that.

Keaton simply can't help being the star of the show. Even when she's generously letting a scene partner dominate the action, she is still the center of attention by dint of just being magical to watch. Keaton was nothing short of a miracle. She brought joy, tragedy, beauty, and fucking hysterical comedy to every movie she was in. The bitch even made Woody Allen movies watchable. I've loved Diane Keaton since I was a teen, and I cannot fathom a world without her. Rest easy, queen. I miss you.