This experimental, low-budget film, with its combination of moody music, numerous extended takes (including many breathtaking scenic shots of Utah -- which are better experienced on the big screen), brilliant writing (both subject matter and dialogue), and innovative narrative mechanisms puts director Jon Jost at the top of my list of important, and certainly creative, contemporary American directors. If you're into indie/art films, and don't know who Jon Jost is, this is an excellent place to start. If you already know who Jost is, I think this is his best.
4 Reviews
A breathtaking gaze into the heart of America.
Craig-3214 August 1999
SURE FIRE is a striking and haunting film; shot in glorious anti-establishment 16mm color, it uses the small frame to drill deep and quickly into the souls of a few everyday hicks in Utah. This is my first Jost film and I have to say that I am blown away by what he can do with such a small budget (he filmed, directed, and edited it himself) and it serves as quite an inspiration to this hopeful filmmaker. Better than any high-budget film I've seen this year (with the exception of Eyes Wide Shut, of course) and it was made in 1993, but my point is that SURE FIRE is a dark and disturbing portrait of America, beautifully executed, and well shot. *wink*
The hard west of Jon Jost
OldAle125 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
"Sure Fire" starts out with a couple of middle-aged good ol' boys, Wes and Larry (Tom Blair and Robert Ernst) immersed in a conversation about hunting, which quickly turns to the disappearance of a local girl, Sandra Jean, and jokes about her weight, each chiding the other at one point for being rude but not seeming to notice himself doing the same thing; it's all very casual as is another conversation between four old gents about baseball at the booth behind them. Slowly we notice that Wes is a little better dressed and coiffed than Larry, and more confident; just before leaving he gives Larry a quick bit of financial advice, before asking him to go pick up a gun for him, for his son. Just as he's leaving, the phone rings and is given to sheriff; Sandra Jean it seems has been found, dead.
All of this occurs over about 8 minutes, and in 4 shots, setting up both the formal pattern for the film (mostly long, static shots with a lot of dialogue) and the thematic concern - violence, implied and threatened, and macho posturing. As is usual with Jost we have a lengthy credits sequence, static shots of buildings and natural locations with no humans visible (similar to the later "Frameup"), punctuated by simple credits. There's one really beautiful shot of a store window that slowly grows more reflective as the sun hits it just right, in a few seconds almost perfectly mirroring the other side of the street. We're in a small western town (in Utah as it turns out), apparently on the thin edge between decay and revitalization; in the next scene we see that Wes is a real estate guy, as he talks to the local bank president about his next scheme, which he'll repeat to his wife with more detail later. Wes is a man with big ideas, plans that can't fail..."sure fire". Larry on the other hand is working a broken-down ranch and barely making it.
This is the basic set-up, and there's not a whole lot more to the early parts of the film; like the other films from the director I've seen, you have to read the scenes pretty closely. We have a scene with the two wives, in which they each talk at the other while staring off in another direction, dispassionately intoning hopes and dreams of other people, meaning themselves, that never went anywhere; we have one scene apiece between the couples. Larry and his wife Ellen seem close to violence and anger, especially when Larry is informed that Wes has paid off some of his outstanding loans, but they also seem to have genuine affection for each other. Wes and Bobbi, on the other hand, are clearly inhabiting different worlds; Wes is intent on his plans and wild future possibilities, including bringing rich Californians up to this obviously in-the-middle-of-nowhere country to buy second homes, oblivious that Bobbi isn't on board anymore -- in his business, or possibly in his life.
Finally, there's a closing hunting sequence, as Wes and his son Phillip are joined by Larry and his friend Ernest; just before this there's a long shot of Wes trying to persuade Larry to join him in his company -- when Larry refuses it's clear that Wes just doesn't get it. This scene is shot with a number of odd optical processes -- rear projection which changes from color to black and white, strange cut-outs behind each character, lighting which makes them look ghostly, etc -- it's all quite disorienting. There are a couple of earlier strange shots in the film that seem to match it -- one of just the highway from a car, shot backwards; one skyward looking at green trees, and a later one of brown trees against a black sky in negative. It's all a cinematic rendition of a breakdown, of winter coming on in the life of...the most fascinating thing is that for quite a while we wonder whether it is Wes or Larry whose life is coming to a crisis. When we find out at the end, the machismo, the implied violence, and the hunt all conspire to tragedy; it's all painfully predictable in a way, and yet Jost's use of off-screen action and the couple of very brief spurts of verbal and physical violence conspire to shock as much as in many more overtly harsh films.
A fascinating and strong film overall; at this point, certainly my least-favorite of the three I've seen -- at 82 minutes, it did feel underdeveloped and fairly simple, though I think that the director is aiming for a lean and pointed effect, and he largely achieves it. The odd stylistic tropes I mentioned that periodically occur like punctuations amidst the typical long, slow shots don't seem quite as artful or readily meaningful as similar effects in "Frameup", and the acting apart from the mesmerizing Tom Blair is just OK. But it's still powerful and compelling stuff, and the Jost quest will continue...
All of this occurs over about 8 minutes, and in 4 shots, setting up both the formal pattern for the film (mostly long, static shots with a lot of dialogue) and the thematic concern - violence, implied and threatened, and macho posturing. As is usual with Jost we have a lengthy credits sequence, static shots of buildings and natural locations with no humans visible (similar to the later "Frameup"), punctuated by simple credits. There's one really beautiful shot of a store window that slowly grows more reflective as the sun hits it just right, in a few seconds almost perfectly mirroring the other side of the street. We're in a small western town (in Utah as it turns out), apparently on the thin edge between decay and revitalization; in the next scene we see that Wes is a real estate guy, as he talks to the local bank president about his next scheme, which he'll repeat to his wife with more detail later. Wes is a man with big ideas, plans that can't fail..."sure fire". Larry on the other hand is working a broken-down ranch and barely making it.
This is the basic set-up, and there's not a whole lot more to the early parts of the film; like the other films from the director I've seen, you have to read the scenes pretty closely. We have a scene with the two wives, in which they each talk at the other while staring off in another direction, dispassionately intoning hopes and dreams of other people, meaning themselves, that never went anywhere; we have one scene apiece between the couples. Larry and his wife Ellen seem close to violence and anger, especially when Larry is informed that Wes has paid off some of his outstanding loans, but they also seem to have genuine affection for each other. Wes and Bobbi, on the other hand, are clearly inhabiting different worlds; Wes is intent on his plans and wild future possibilities, including bringing rich Californians up to this obviously in-the-middle-of-nowhere country to buy second homes, oblivious that Bobbi isn't on board anymore -- in his business, or possibly in his life.
Finally, there's a closing hunting sequence, as Wes and his son Phillip are joined by Larry and his friend Ernest; just before this there's a long shot of Wes trying to persuade Larry to join him in his company -- when Larry refuses it's clear that Wes just doesn't get it. This scene is shot with a number of odd optical processes -- rear projection which changes from color to black and white, strange cut-outs behind each character, lighting which makes them look ghostly, etc -- it's all quite disorienting. There are a couple of earlier strange shots in the film that seem to match it -- one of just the highway from a car, shot backwards; one skyward looking at green trees, and a later one of brown trees against a black sky in negative. It's all a cinematic rendition of a breakdown, of winter coming on in the life of...the most fascinating thing is that for quite a while we wonder whether it is Wes or Larry whose life is coming to a crisis. When we find out at the end, the machismo, the implied violence, and the hunt all conspire to tragedy; it's all painfully predictable in a way, and yet Jost's use of off-screen action and the couple of very brief spurts of verbal and physical violence conspire to shock as much as in many more overtly harsh films.
A fascinating and strong film overall; at this point, certainly my least-favorite of the three I've seen -- at 82 minutes, it did feel underdeveloped and fairly simple, though I think that the director is aiming for a lean and pointed effect, and he largely achieves it. The odd stylistic tropes I mentioned that periodically occur like punctuations amidst the typical long, slow shots don't seem quite as artful or readily meaningful as similar effects in "Frameup", and the acting apart from the mesmerizing Tom Blair is just OK. But it's still powerful and compelling stuff, and the Jost quest will continue...
fascinating
peacecreep31 July 2007
Shot on 16mm in rural Utah in the early 90's, Sure Fire is obscure American cinema at its finest. Josts style is very unique, containing many long scenes of dialogue, and beautiful photography of landscapes. This film contains some of the longest, most engaging monologues I've ever seen or heard, courtesy of the lead actor, Tom Blair. Blair is an amazingly strange actor that really gets into his roles. All I can really say is watch him work, it is fascinating.
The story was developed in accordance with the people Jost met in Utah and what was going on in their lives and the area at the time. The story concerns Tom Blair's character, Wes, wanting to sell real estate to people moving to his town from California. It goes on to explore his relationship with the people close to him.
At times, the film feels like a weirder version of Twin Peaks, and that's a very good thing. But it is no doubt a singular vision by a truly underground filmmaker. It is hard to find, but worth the hunt. -James Sinclair 7/07
The story was developed in accordance with the people Jost met in Utah and what was going on in their lives and the area at the time. The story concerns Tom Blair's character, Wes, wanting to sell real estate to people moving to his town from California. It goes on to explore his relationship with the people close to him.
At times, the film feels like a weirder version of Twin Peaks, and that's a very good thing. But it is no doubt a singular vision by a truly underground filmmaker. It is hard to find, but worth the hunt. -James Sinclair 7/07
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