#1068: CHOPRA, Joyce: Smooth Talk (1985)

CHOPRA, Joyce (United States)
Smooth Talk [1985]
Spine #1068
Blu-ray


Suspended between carefree youth and the harsh realities of the adult world, a teenage girl experiences an unsettling awakening in this haunting vision of innocence lost. Based on the celebrated short story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates, the narrative debut from Joyce Chopra features a revelatory breakout performance by Laura Dern as Connie, the fifteen-year-old black sheep of her family whose summertime idyll of beach trips, mall hangouts, and innocent flirtations is shattered by an encounter with a mysterious stranger (a memorably menacing Treat Williams). Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Smooth Talk captures the thrill and terror of adolescent sexual exploration as it transforms the conventions of a coming-of-age story into something altogether more troubling and profound.

91 minutes
Color
Monaural
1:85:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2021
Director/Writers


Based on Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? By Joyce Carol Oates.
Screenplay by Tom Cole.
Joyce Chopra was 49 when she directed Smooth Talk.

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Forty-eight page booklet featuring an essay by poet and memoirist Honor Moore, a 1986 New York Times article by Oates about the adaptation, and Oates’s 1966 short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

Commentary

None.

Conversation

Between Chopra, author Oates, and actor Dern from the 2020 New York Film Festival, moderated by Turner Classic Movies host Alicia Malone.

Interview 1

With Chopra.

Conversations

Between Chopra and actors Williams and Place, moderated by Malone.

Interview 2

With production designer David Wasco.

Interview 3

From KPFK Pacific Radio with Chopra from 1985.

Three short films

By Chopra: Joyce at 34 (1972); Girls at 12 (1973); and Clorae and Albie (1975).

Audio reading

Of the 1966 Life magazine article “The Pied Piper of Tucson,” which inspired by the short story by Oates.

Trailers

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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