One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Watched this again recently for the first time in years and am still processing the film's powerful effect. It's one of the great counterculture statements put on film and just as relevant as ever (if not more so) -- an explosive indictment of institutional abuse, the scourge of authoritarianism, and societal pressure to conform and obey.

Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched is the personification of "the system", of cold, heartless authoritarianism, enforcing the rules at the expense of the humanity of her patients. Her cool, calm demeanor belies her sadistic nature and one can sense the pleasure she derives from wielding her power over the patients in her ward.

Jack Nicholson's McMurphy is an explosive force that upsets the order of hierarchy and turns authority on its head, a non-conformist who fights the system but is ultimately crushed by it. Even though he represents a triumph of individualism, it is his concern for the happiness of his fellow men that reveals the hypocrisy of the institution supposedly responsible for caring for them and wakes them up to rebel against the injustices and humiliations they suffer under authoritarian control.

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

One of the best films I have seen in a long time. Robert Eroica Dupea (Jack Nicholson in one of his finest and most understated performances) is a man who finds his life divided between where he has come from and where he is going, a perfect metaphor for a country divided -- between economic and class barriers, between changing traditions and ways of life, between the old and the new.

As the son of an upper-class family in Washington state, Dupea left a promising career as a concert pianist in order to drop out and work on oil rigs and experience what America had to offer beyond the comfortable but unsatisfying bubble in which he lived. However, by the time we catch up with him, he is starting to become disenchanted with his new life in rural Southern California, strongly questioning his decision after his girlfriend (Karen Black) unexpectedly becomes pregnant and his best friend is arrested for a past crime. This leads him back to re-connect with his family, but he soon finds he is unable to reconcile his new experiences with their ideas and attitudes. Dupea is perpetually rootless, perpetually in search of the experiences that will give his life meaning, in search of answers he may never find.

Bob Rafelson's direction, sensitive and restrained, achieves a totality of style and tone that stands as some of the finest work in American film from this period. Stylistically, the film is rooted in the naturalistic approach prevalent at the time, and remains one of the key works of the American New Wave. Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs brings his distinctive eye in capturing the breathtaking Southwestern landscapes and skies at dusk, the subdued atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest, and other locations throughout. Like the previous year's EASY RIDER, also lensed by Kovacs, the choice and presentation of the locations are absolutely essential to understanding the film. FIVE EASY PIECES is a film about America, about the road, the drive resulting from dissatisfaction with our circumstances, the sense of moving forward to an uncertain future and the experiences we encounter along the way.