Word: tracey
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Tracey's life moves along merrily in its limited sphere until she encounters Johnny Rourke (Aidan Quinn) at a high school dance. Repeated shots of Rourke reviving up his motorcycle, along with scenes of him fighting with his alcoholic father show--in conventional. Hollywood style--that Rourke is from the other side of the tracks. Propelled by a sexual attraction she is just beginning to understand. Tracey follows Rourke on a program of rebellion and destruction that culminates in their escape from a high school Career Day on Rourke's motorcycle: complete with Tracey's friends calling her names...
This might have worked if Foley and scriptwriter Chris Columbus hadn't been so heavy-handed Hannah as Tracey gives a fairly convincing portrayal of limp, youthful resentment. Unfortunately, the script prevents her from displaying any other emotions as she faces the choice between her institutionalized life and the freedom of being with Rourke--choosing differently each chance she gets. Tracey's life at home and in school is represented so shallowly--her bedroom, for example, is decorated in flowers like a cheap innocence metaphor--that her indecision seems fickle rather than agonized. Her passion for Rourke takes...
...Tracey...
...FAIRNESS, a few sparks of well-timed humor relieve the melodrama. Tracey's mother returns early from a weekend away, almost catching her and Rourke under the covers. Rourke escapes out the window, and Mrs. Prescott's big news is a credit card for darling Tracey. However, such spots of lightness vanish in the film's overwhelming murk...
...film's repeated associations of sex with violence and both with liberation raise more serious questions. Rourke and Tracey break into their high school at night and trash the front office while Kim Wilde's "Kids in America" plays on the soundtrack. Perhaps the scene tries to terrify adults by showing typical teenagers in a Lord of the Flies atmosphere--or perhaps the filmmakers are advancing a suggestion for high school students everywhere? It's hard to tell. Then Rourke and Tracey commence lovemaking by hitting each other with sponge bats; the message isn't even subliminal...