Kritiken

In Choose Me (1984), [Rudolph] dissects the sexual mores of the 80s as precisely as did Arthur Schnitzler those of Vienna at the turn of the last century, but there is nothing Duran Duran in this movie, otherwise distinguished by a neo-noirish vision of urbanity and a spirit that is close to that of old barrelhouse blues.

Choose Me, which the Quad will present on 35mm, never fails to live up to the carnal need — and menace — promised in its title... The opening credit sequence emits its own pheromones, its come-on irresistible.

Rudolph's best films are unique amalgams of film noir atmospherics, screwball-style dialogue, sinuous camerawork reminiscent of classic musicals, and a profound sense of romantic longing. CHOOSE ME is not just Rudolph's most characteristic film, but also one of the best American films of the 1980s, a romantic roundelay infused with mystery and danger.

Candy colours, the ebb and flow of relationships, Teddy Pendergrass on the soundtrack; what's not to like?

The delight of Choose Me is that while seemingly spinning airy nothing but actually weaving a deceptive tapestry that depicts either dark disenchantment or sunny optimism depending upon point of view, Rudolph has got everything right. The songs, by a cohesive variety of composers, are as allusive s Richard Baskin's for Welcome to LA but much less constrictingly intrusive... It is, in short, Alan Rudolph's best film to date, and bodes a bright auteurist future.

The unnatural perfection of this schema (or near perfection – Zack and Nancy never quite make it to bed) indicates the greater playfulness with which Rudolph approached Choose Me, the greater extent to which it makes use of comic conventions. The farce mechanism doesn't gather momentum until the second half of the film, but from the beginning Rudolph prepares us for a different kind of reflexivity and abstraction than that in which he has dealt in the past.

Alan Rudolph (Trouble in Mind) has Schnitzler (La Ronde) and Renoir (The Rules of the Game) in mind for this panoramic 1984 romantic comedy, effectively tinged with anxiousness and uncertainty. He doesn't dishonor his sources, though the serial structure sometimes falters... Rudolph's off-center characterizations and looping dramatic rhythms keep the tone complex and varied, and the film has a lovely choreographed quality that's only slightly marred by some indifferent cinematography.