A few weekends ago, I watched Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980) again. I first watched it circa 1982, and enjoyed it so much that I brought a different girl to see it a week later. I rented it on VHS for one girlfriend, and then another, to see. Several years ago I bought the DVD to show my wife, and I probably watch it about once a year.

The film concerns a weekend reunion of a handful of people that knew each other as young adults in the 1960s. On IMDB, reviewers can't resist comparing Sayles' small film to The Big Chill, a big budget film about a reunion of people that met in the 1960s. Both groups talk a lot, and share a lot, but they are actually very different films in almost every other way. The Return friends are still fairly young, not yet settled in life, not rich or famous, not generic types, and not played by familiar actors. I enjoyed Chill, but I have come to think of the characters in Return as old friends. I always look forward to seeing them again.

Around 1985 I read Sayles' book, Union Dues, and much later I saw his scifi flick The Brother from Another Planet, his coal miner's union epic Matewan, and a modern western, Lonestar. Oddly, I never saw The Howling, though I knew Sayles had worked on the script. But after watching Return again, I wanted to see more of Sayles' work, and ordered copies of The Secret of Roan Inish (1992) and Sunshine State (2002). They arrived in time for our staycation last week:

I was surprised by Roan Inish. A few key characters tell long stories, but Roan isn't as heavy with dialogue as his other films. There is a lot of quiet, industrious action in the film. Being set in the Aran Islands doesn't hurt, and Sayles lets the fable develop in straightforward fashion.

Sunshine State reminds me more of Return. Although the actors are more established, there are similar stretches where an unflinching camera shoots a long conversation between two characters, then cuts away to another long conversation between two other characters, then another. People do good and bad things without being heroes or villains. There are no stock situations and no pat endings. But there is growth.

I found this short clip with Sayles talking about the unseen thought and work behind his characters.

In the following clip, Sayles is flanked by his longtime partner Maggie Renzi, one of my "friends" from Return (she played Katie), and his creative partner in that she produces nearly all his films.

Articleman might appreciate Sayles' brief observation about Eastwood in Unforgiven.