You Ain't Seen Me, Right? - Eureka (1983)

Looking forward to the weekend? Gonna get off your face on booze and drugs? Well you have to earn it first, buster! Here's another edition of You Ain't Seen Me, Right?, a weekly discussion on those little-known films that just want to get to know you.

You Ain't Seen Me, Right? is brought to you by Daniel Palmer, of Part-Time Infidel web fame. Y'know our Total Film Blog Awards entry lists us as 'small and dedicated'? Well, he's the 'dedicated'.

Eureka (1983)

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It's a shame that Nicolas Roeg has been relegated to directing formulaic thrillers and tawdry TV movies, as his '70s work stands up against the best of the decade. After a long apprenticeship, which included second unit work on Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and uncredited cinematography on Doctor Zhivago (1965), Roeg's artistic vision and technical prowess came fully formed by the time he made Performance (1970). Eureka may not be held in the same esteem as his Walkabout (1971) or Don't Look Now (1973), but its influence can be seen in films like There Will Be Blood (2007).

Jack McCann (Gene Hackman) is a prospector who, after fifteen years of scouring the Arctic in search of gold, hits the mother lode. Cut to twenty years later, where McCann lives in wealthy seclusion on a Caribbean island, locked in a battle of wills with his pampered daughter Tracy (Theresa Russell) and his wily son-in-law Claude (Rutger Hauer). McCann also has to contend with the attentions of Mayakofsky (Joe Pesci), the head of a Miami crime syndicate who wishes to build a casino on his land.

Roeg's bold visual style, replete with dramatic zooms and oblique angles, is writ large on the film's dramatic locales; abetted by Alex Thomson's resplendent photography, which lends extra pulchritude to the shimmering Arctic backdrops and the stifling tropical environs of Luna Bay. The contrast between these landscapes is so stark that, along with the film's purposely languorous pace, it serves to articulate just how far McCann has strayed from his industrious past and how deep is his malaise.

As with every role in his storied career, Hackman brings authenticity and depth to McCann, a man slowly drowning in surfeit, longing to recapture his inner fire, but slowly rotting in a tasteful mausoleum. In a departure from the battery of psychopaths with which he made his name, Joe Pesci delivers a performance of rare composure as the scheming Mafia kingpin. Equally, Mickey Rourke displays an understated cunning as Mayakofsky's lawyer, at a time when he was regarded as a one-dimensional pretty boy. Inveigled and blackmailed on both sides, Roeg's then wife Russell skilfully evinces the mental toll taken by the conflict between Tracy's parents and Claude, while Hauer exudes the creepy calm threatening to tip into hysteria that is his metier.

Eureka takes place during World War Two, with those wealthy enough to escape the conflict watching from the comfort of their colonial compounds. The beauty and opulence of the setting is contrasted with the ugly, mercenary deeds of its inhabitants, highlighting the barbarity that greed inspires in a series of grisly, unsettling scenarios. McCann sees life in brutally unsentimental terms, deriding those who believe in luck, fate or faith, believing everything is there for the taking, keeping the world at a safe distance. Part domestic saga, part crime thriller, Eureka posits that wealth and success are as much a curse as a blessing, with the potential to poison the soul and leave one bereft of purpose.
Wow, and here I was thinking Eureka was a Swedish sex comedy. Still think it needs an exclamation mark though. More from You Ain't Seen Me, Right? next week.