"I'm not in the business."

"I am the business."

Some thoughts on the 'Final Cut' of Blade Runner

A couple of years back, right before Kill Bill, Volume 1 was released, The New Yorker did a profile of Quentin Tarantino ("The Movie Lover," which doesn't seem to be fully available online) in which he said the kind of movies he wanted most to make were "hang-out movies," the kind you would revisit for their characters. I've always revisited Blade Runner for the scenery. The characters are ciphers. Items on which clothing is hung, around which ambiance is placed. But we don't go looking to Ridley Scott for real human beings.

• Stripped of his narration, Deckard now spends most of his time staring at fixed points to the left or right of the camera as neon lights pass over his visage. He's no longer the hero - just a functionary. He looks like he just swallowed something awful. Maybe Harrison Ford always looks like this.
• I still can't understand the 'infinite zoom' scene in Deckard's apartment. What are we meant to take from the fact that Zhora was in the photograph?
• Where the heck does Batty find that dove?
  
• Sean Young, I love you, but you're crazy all the same.