Jeez, I had written this review in which I compare this film to another early Redford starring film, Barefoot in the Park. They played in succession two nights ago on TCM and I caught the tail end of Barefoot but saw The Hot Rock in it’s entirety.

I blathered on & on about how some 70’s movies would pile plot elements on top of plot elements to the point that it could make them overlong and muddled, blah, blah, blah.

So…

NGL, I was watching this at home and was having trouble staying engaged. This film is all greys and rain until out of nowhere; music and color!

These beautiful sequences are really what makes this film tick. 
They exist as fanciful escape from the drudgery of a decayed apartment building in Taiwan.

It rains incessantly and we learn from a TV news broadcast  that the world is suffering through an “end of the millennium” pandemic. How quaint for 1998😀

This…

Why in the world did I watch this after seeing Tarkovsky’s, The Sacrifice AND Alan Parker’s, Mississippi Burning?!
These three films are simply awash in existential dread and human suffering. But hey, I’m a wacky guy!

I know this is a John Cassavetes’ film but again, for the billionth time, would his films have the punch that they do if it weren’t for Gena Rowlands?  She is as much the author of the films they collaborate on as he is;…

Hell! This movie gets 4 ⭐️’s just for having a male character that enthusiastically desires to perform cunnilingus! The 5th ⭐️ is for everything else. And there’s a whole lot of everything else!!

I’m betting that Ryan Coogler shot everything that he wrote. I could almost imagine him thinking to himself, “should I have three scenes of traditional Irish music?!” The answer is yes!

This movie is a feast! First off…it might count as a musical! There are definitely choreographed…