There’s something charmingly mellow about Between The Lines (1977). It’s not a broad comedy nor is it a hard hitting drama, but it is amiable and funny, with an air of inevitable sadness about work and compromise. Its subject determines the form in a sense. Set in the city of Boston, Between The Lines is about the staff who work on an independent street press newspaper called the Back Bay Mainline (comparable to The Village Voice). Once a political force with the 60s counter culture, it now powers on with new blood out to make a name for themselves (such as Bruno Kirby’s endearingly serious reporter) and those who feel stagnant and stuck, waiting for the big time (like John Heard’s cynical, shiftless senior writer). While an incoming change of publisher is on the cards, with a rumoured buy-out by a larger conglomerate, which provides the overarching narrative trajectory and thematic point, this is quite a plotless hang-out movie. Basically a series of serio-comic vignettes, and it could almost be an off-broadway play if it wasn’t for the occasional street scenes (shot from a distance for realism). In some ways, the film seems quaintly nostalgic in the sense that the ‘death of publishing’ still had a long way to go in the successive decades. Yet its themes still remain recognisable and relevant, particularly for anyone working within something that runs on creative community and love more than actual money and profit. What’s particularly great is the cast with alot of recognisable character actors in their younger years; the most famous would be Jeff Goldblum who is hilarious and great as the hipster rock critic who is always broke and coasts on reputation (and in true Goldblum fashion, there’s a scene where he plays on a barroom keyboard). There’s also Heard, Kirby, Lindsay Crouse, Gwen Welles, Joe Morton and Michael J. Pollard as the often Harpoesque delivery guy. Music by Michael Kamen, more upbeat and swinging than his later 1980s action movie soundtrack work. Southside Johnny And The Ashbury Jukes appear as themselves during a record launch night. Perfect closing scene (I’ve had the Southside Johnny song, ‘I Don’t Want To Go Home’ stuck in my head weeks after). Also great to see a movie like this which was just people trying to figure themselves out while stuck with the day to day reality of work. Directed by Joan Micklin Silver and am keen to catch up with their other acclaimed movies like Chilly Scenes Of Winter and Crossing Delancey. Streamed from the Criterion Channel. Recommended.
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