harold and maude
In rock ‘n roll terms, Harold and Maude (1971) is the Velvet Underground of movies: it might not get much play, but those who seek it out are inevitably left inspired. The story of a barely 20-something Goth kid (a full decade before the term Goth was even invented) who finds an unlikely soul mate in an 80-year-old woman, director Hal Ashby’s film stretches the May-December romance well past even Hollywood’s liberal standards. And yet by the time the film is over, even those who initially find the idea of “sagging, wrinkled flesh comingling with a fresh youthful body” morally and physically repugnant will find a surprisingly uplifting life philosophy. What comes first, though, is dark comedy. For amusement, Harold (Bud Cort) stages frequent and elaborate phony suicide attempts to annoy his stuffy, aristocratic mother who casually ignores them. Antisocial and unresponsive to psychotherapy, Harold drives a hearse and attends stranger’s funerals for fun. It’s here that he meets Ma...