The Client
A boy and a woman, each of whom has suffered at the hands of an unjust world, gradually become close. The dialogue and performances at first seem very weak and awkward, but it eventually settles down into a kind of rhythm. To what degree the whole thing is pure Hollywood nonsense is most clearly revealed when the unlikely pair decide that it’s necessary to travel to New Orleans to ensure the corpse is where the boy has been told it is. Still, watching this three decades later (in 2023), it seems impossible for big Hollywood movies today to show an eleven-year-old protagonist-hero smoking cigarettes at every opportunity (the actor would sadly be killed by other drugs at age twenty-five). Was this movie that introduced the notion of “post-traumatic stress disorder” to a wide public (it being apparently rather loosely defined when introduced into DSM-III in 1980, a more precise definition having to wait until the publication of DSM-IV in 1994)?
Mini Review: A boy and a woman, each having suffered at the hands of an unjust world, gradually become close. To what degree this is pure Hollywood nonsense is most clearly revealed when they decide that it’s necessary to travel to New Orleans to ensure the corpse is where the boy has been told it is. Still, three decades later, it seems impossible for big Hollywood movies today to show an eleven-year-old protagonist smoking cigarettes at every opportunity (Renfro would be killed by other drugs at age 25).
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