Midnight Cowboy (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #47 extract: Midnight Cowboy (1969)

I haven't seen Midnight Cowboy in a few years and I completely forgot how incredible it is. 

The direction and editing are entirely masterful - rough and quite 60s, but masterful nonetheless. It's the impressionistic montage that puts us into the psyche of characters, and in turn says so much about the darker side of New York and what you could maybe call the American spirit, that binds Midnight Cowboy together. This is a film about naivety and where blind will gets you in the world. It is hard to then see this as critical of society. Very much so a comedy for its first hour, Midnight Cowboy tries to take a blundering fool seriously. The closer we get to the conclusion of this narrative, however, a more important question is raised. Can this fool find redemption? 

It is just as hard to answer this question as it is to even articulate how the final shot makes you feel. But, one thing is clear, this is one astonishing ride of thought and emotion.