College friends reunite for a New England summer weekend in this low-budget first feature by accomplished independent filmmaker John Sayles. A predecessor of the well-paced, character-driven films in Sayles’ future, Secaucus Seven also looks ahead to the 1980s ensemble movies that it inspired, most notably Lawrence Kasdan’s The Big Chill, which arrived in theaters three years later. As each friend arrives at the house (or travels to the house), characterizations build, dialogue expands, and the house (and film) are full of people getting reacquainted and re-examining themselves and each other. Sayles builds the plot by testing the characters’ connections: Will these former radicals accept the uptight boyfriend of the well-loved politico? What happens when a couple splits up? How does the educated set treat the local blue-collars? Many critics cited Secaucus Seven in their decade-end list of the best films of the 1980s.
Film critic Emanuel Levy liked the film and wrote, “The movie became influential, launching a cycle of “reunion” films, which included The Big Chill and the TV series Thirtysomething. As a portrait of disenchantment, Return was more authentic and honest than Lawrence Kasdan’s star-studded Big Chill…A rueful movie about unexceptional lives that have prematurely grown stale, Secaucus is a bit commonplace, lacking genuine drama. But Sayles uses effectively a discursive, episodic format; he constructs strong scenes with resonant dialogue. The characters are complex and individually distinguished by speech, gesture, and manner.”
Critic Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat wrote, “Here’s a nice little movie about the baby boom generation…Novelist John Sayles wrote, directed, and edited this movie. It is a labor of love. We watch these laidback individuals share their stories and reminisce about the past…But these baby boomers can’t handle tension; the rift between Jeff and Maura sends tremors through the weekend. And although they put up a front of having a good time, one senses that things haven’t turned out well for them – either in terms of meaningful relationships or in terms of personal fulfillment. Return of the Secaucus Seven leaves one with a rueful feeling about this generation.”
Return.of.The.Secaucus.7.1979.DVDRip.x264.mkv
General
Container: Matroska
Runtime: 1 h 44 min
Size: 1.36 GiB
Video
Codec: x264
Resolution: 716x480 ~> 716x537
Aspect ratio: 4:3
Frame rate: 23.976 fps
Bit rate: 1 639 kb/s
BPP: 0.199
Audio
#1: English 2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 kb/s
https://nitro.download/view/0DA01B875E7E2CC/Return.of.The.Secaucus.7.1979.DVDRip.x264.mkv
Language(s):English
Subtitles:None