In this the third part of an ongoing 70s cinema series I discuss the treatment of emotions -from detached humor, to intimate domesticity.

More on this Funky Friday, Here:

Seventies cinema is, above all else, about the undiluted, raw and immediate expression of human feelings in all of their authenticity.

The emotions I have in mind are not only those of the characters in the films but the attitudes too of the filmmakers.

The films see this expression as far more important than any solution or conclusion about what to do with any of these feelings.

This feature of 70s cinema is not for everybody, of course, but gives them their distinctiveness, across differences of genres and budgets.

Interestingly, humor and comedy is one of the ways they accomplish this - in addition to unsparing episodes of intense melodrama.

Rather than seeing these two modes as mere opposites I will show how they interact with one another, through the powers given to actors and radical tonal shifts within given films and, most unusually inside of single scenes.

Examples I discuss include Taxi Driver, A Woman Under The Influence, Nashville, Between The Lines , The Conversation and more to be announced.

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