Smooth Talk

Joyce Carol Oates is a better writer than Joyce Chopra is a director. It is usually futile to argue that the movie should have presented a story exactly how it was written. However, I think the way the ending was written in the short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" is actually very filmable. While it is ambigous, the final three shots of the movie "Smooth Talk" leave some things unclear anyway. For instance,the way the audience isn't sure if Connie was raped or not. The absotutely jarring thing, is the way the film simplifies the Arnold Friend character. In the movie, since Connie returns alive and her death isn't up to debate, his status as a fantastic character is no more. He is reduced to "some creep". Arnold Friend is supposed to be "the imagination, the devil, death, and all that" according to Oates herself. It is much more satisfying to speculate, then to have it in your face and somewhat obvious. Perhaps I shouldn't rag on it though, when I have only seen select scenes that were shown to us in class.