When the film opens, it is
morning on an ordinary suburban street, and a child retrieves the newspaper, clearly
happy to see the RV parked in the driveway. Soon he and his father are loading
the vehicle with fishing poles and other stuff, while his mother is inside,
appearing sad and troubled about something. And then they are on the road,
traveling north along the coast of California, this opening sequence done
without any dialogue. When they reach the campground, Kevin goes off by
himself. It is daylight, and with the sunlight playing on the trees and the
sounds of the birds, the film at this point has a cheerful vibe. Everything
feels safe. Everything feels normal. It is then that Kevin runs into Eric
(Maxwell Caulfield), which will change everything for the family. Kevin brings
his new friend back to their campsite, and his parents invite the man to join
them for dinner. Eric reveals he is studying abnormal psychology. Dana invites
Eric to join the family on their drive north, which, as you can gather from her
expression, bothers Rita. Eric turns down the offer, and we see him at his own
campsite at night, writing in his journal. But, it turns out, his campsite is
not at all far from the family’s site, and that shot as he looks up to see the
RV is really the first hint that something is not right. It’s a wonderfully
creepy and unsettling moment.
In the morning, Eric waits for
the RV to exit the campground, and then steps out of the woods, knowing the
family will offer to give him a ride. And though Rita says “I wish you wouldn’t,” Dana stops the
vehicle to pick him up. I love how this little moment reveals so much about
Dana and Rita’s relationship, and their dynamic, revealing at least some of
what has upset Rita from the start. It also puts the viewer firmly on the side
of Rita, who seems to be able to sense trouble. Now, that will change over the
course of the film, but it is interesting that at the start the filmmakers have
us side with Rita. At one point, she even directly asks Eric if it is sex with
her that he is after. She puts it bluntly, and not at all seductively, which is
wonderful. We learn just how unsteady Dana and Rita’s marriage is when Rita
tells Dana she is going to sleep alone for the rest of the trip, that this
attempt at saving their relationship wasn’t working. She again uses that moment
to tell him, “I want to get rid of that
hitchhiker.” Dana, now angry, refuses her that, and we get the sense he
does so only because he’s hurt and is lashing out the only way he can in that
moment. It’s interesting, because that decision – made rashly – is going to
have some rather serious consequences for them both.
It is crazy that Kevin’s
parents let him go off camping with Eric. That certainly would not happen now.
But at the time this film takes place, and considering how strained their
marriage is, it is believable. Eric dons a pair of gloves and says he’s going
to leave Kevin alone at their camp site for an hour to go, as he says, “have some fun.” It’s an intense and creepy
moment. When Kevin then beg him to be allowed to accompany him, Eric says, “You’d have to do everything I say and not
ask any questions.” I love how this film slowly builds, taking us from a
bright morning in suburbia to a dark place in the forest, where Kevin is now
relying on this stranger for his safety, when of course it is from this very
man that Kevin needs to be protected. Eric takes Kevin to a farmhouse, where he
begins to smash things, and encourages Kevin to join him. And when Kevin starts
to get into it, that twisted look of joy on Eric’s face is fantastic. It gets
even creepier when Eric offers to let Kevin sleep with him in his sleeping bag,
though there is nothing overtly sexual about it. It’s more about control. And
again, Rita is no idiot. She sees the change in her son after that night.
This is a movie where you
desperately wish Rita would follow her instincts and tell the stranger herself
that he is no longer welcome. Why does she leave it up to Dana to do it? It is
like the very thing that she is angry with him for in their marriage is the
thing that she herself is perpetuating. She is upset at being treated
essentially as nothing more than a housewife, that all the decisions are his.
Yet, she leaves this incredibly important decision up to him. And then she
allows herself, against her better judgment, to be seduced, to be comforted by
Eric. And it is soon after that scene that we as viewers begin to dislike Rita,
that we side more with Dana. What is truly interesting about this film is that
as Eric studies and manipulates these people, we study them too, and draw our
own conclusions about them. Another thing that is interesting is that there are only four characters. The film contains no other speaking parts, so the whole world is this family and the hitchhiker.
Special Features
The Blu-ray includes a
feature-length documentary, The Making Of
Mind Games, which – at an hour and forty-eight minutes – is actually longer
than the film itself. This documentary focuses on interviews with director Bob
Yari, producer Mary Apick, and cast members Maxwell Caulfield, Shawn Weatherly
and Matt Norero. (The fourth cast member, Edward Albert, died in 2006.) They
talk about how the project came about, the characters, the locations, and tell
anecdotes about the filming and about their lives outside of this film. Shawn
Weatherly talks about her experience in beauty pageants. Matt Norero mentions
noticing Maxwell Caulfield’s effect on women. Maxwell Caulfield jokes fondly
about not being seen as the hero by film producers and so embracing and
enjoying roles as villains. Interestingly, originally cast in the role of Dana
was Jeff Conaway (from Grease, Taxi), and Shawn Weatherly says she and he had
no chemistry in the one scene they did together. Maxwell Caulfield says that
Jeff was attempting to go cold turkey at the time. Another surprising (and sort
of scary) thing that was revealed in this documentary is that in the driving
shots, the actor was actually driving the RV; it wasn’t towed, as is usually
done. They spend a good amount of time discussing the farmhouse scene, and the
way it was shot, with Maxwell Caulfield mentioning that he cut his wrist during
it. About the film’s themes, Bob Yari says, “We were trying to explore where tensions come from, how couples can
become disenfranchised with each other, and how a kid plays in that dynamic.”
There is no behind-the-scenes footage, but the people being interviewed are interesting
enough to carry this feature.
The special features also
include Portrait Of A Producer: Bob Yari,
which features an interview with Bob Yari in which he discusses his life and
some of the films he has produced (such as Perfect
Fit, Shortcut To Happiness, Agent Cody Banks, Employee Of The Month, Laws
Of Attraction, House Of D, A Love Song For Bobby Long, Crash, Chumscrubber, Thumbsucker,
Matador, Hostage, The Illusionist,
and Papa Hemingway In Cuba, the last
of which he also directed). Interestingly, he got a degree in cinematography. It
is also interesting that as a producer he focused on helping first-time
directors. He was only twenty-five when Mind
Games was released. This feature is approximately thirty-two minutes.
Also included is a small poster of the Blu-ray cover.
Also included is a small poster of the Blu-ray cover.
Mind Games was directed by Bob Yari, and was released on Blu-ray on
February 25, 2020 through MVD Visual.
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