Boxing up old trophys.


There is one scene near the end of this film where the characters are preparing to leave yet another cold, broken down hotel room and Bruce Dern is seen very briefly boxing up a few old trophys....basketball and golf pherhaps. It's interesting and touching that Dern's character, who leads such a transient lifestyle, would hold on to these relics of the past. It also adds a nice, much needed glimpse of background to a character who we really know nothing about. This lack of any real history/background detail may be a deliberate move from Bob Raefelson…(Nicholson’s opening monograph is just a fabrication) but it does make it tough to connect with the two brothers on an emotional level. Kind of leaves you as cold and indifferent as the frozen East Coast landscape which permeates this unusual movie.

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Good eye to catch that, and good analysis. The people who say Marvin Gardens is "slow" or "dull" are missing that nearly every scene has a little clue to the characters' personalities, just like this one.

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I too noticed the trophies & thought I was totally apropos of Dern’s narcissistic, egocentric character: Of course he’d keep the trophies, they are evidence that he is a ‘winner”, when in reality, he’s a loser.

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