betta, die at the end of youth

Francis Ford Coppola has two types of films, the classics like The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and The Wiretap; The free experimentation of personal style, with the looseness and edge of New Hollywood, has not won much praise. "Betta" clearly belongs to the latter. The film failed at the box office when it was released in 1983, and was not well received by critics, such as "Variety" criticizing the film for "thinking too much and doing too much" or "The New York Times" just praised the film's bold and beautiful black and white images. scoffed at everything else. But it is undeniable that just because of Mickey Rourke's eyes, "Betta Fish", like all movies entangled in the pain of youth, has an incomprehensible and hot charm.
The film is adapted from SE Hilton's novel (this is Coppola and Hilton's second collaboration after "The Outsider"), and the story takes place in the small town of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Rusty James (Matt Dillon) ) is a foul-mouthed, sweaty tank shirt-clad street boy who hangs around in the pool room, fighting, having sex, and doing nothing, seemingly forever waiting for "something" to happen in his life. Maybe it's his older brother -- the legendary figure, Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke) -- returning home from California. James hopes his brother will help him become the next king of the street, but the motorcycle boy seems to be tired of power. He always talks about incomprehensible philosophies with dreamy, confused and vulnerable eyes. And James immediately encountered more trouble, his girlfriend left him, his friends fell apart... At the end, of course, we have already guessed that such a beautiful character as a motorcycle boy must die at the end of his youth—— Although, Coppola choreographed the death almost like a joke, so absurd that it makes you want to cry -- and James completes his bar mitzvah.
Coppola once said it was an art film for teenagers. But apparently he was too engrossed in the extravagant black and white images, the highlights and Mickey Rourke's melancholy eyes, aimlessly rambling. Drinking, fighting, having sex, talking and dying makes you wonder if Coppola has completely forgotten what she was trying to say. But on the other hand, "Betta", like "Rebel without a Cause", captures the confusion and pain of youth, like a red and blue betta trapped in a fish tank, so gorgeous but has nowhere to go .
In addition to Mickey Rourke and Matt Dillon, who were so handsome when they were not disfigured, you can also see other familiar faces in "Betta", such as the young and tender Nicolas Cage (I don't know if he is relying on As Coppola's nephew, this nepotism only got the role), the skinny Lawrence Fishburne (not to mention Morpheus in "The Matrix", everyone is dead), Tom Wei , Dennis Hopper, and Diane Lane, a loli. Twenty years ago, they made people feel like they were in a trance.

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