He is matter-of-fact, straight down the middle, uninflected, unmoved, uncomprehending in all of his scenes - except when his routine is disrupted, when he grows disturbed until it is restored. He does not play cute, or lovable, or pathetic. I don't know quite how Hoffman got me to do it. You want a tomato?" And he can play autistic.Īt the end of "Rain Man," I felt a certain love for Raymond, the Hoffman character. "You want taller?" he asks in the audition scene in " Tootsie." "I can play taller. If fiction is about change, then how can you make a movie about a man who cannot change, whose whole life is anchored and defended by routine? Few actors could get anywhere with this challenge, and fewer still could absorb and even entertain us with their performance, but Hoffman proves again that he almost seems to thrive on impossible acting challenges. Barry Levinson came on board after three previous directors signed off on this material. ![]() "Rain Man" is a project that Hoffman and Cruise have been determined to bring to the screen for a long time. Eventually, toward the end of the journey, he finds that he loves his brother, and that love involves accepting him exactly as he is. Charlie at first does not quite seem to accept the dimensions of Raymond's world and grows frustrated at what looks like almost willful intractability. In a roadside diner somewhere along the way, he still stubbornly insists on the routines of the dining room in his mental institution: The maple syrup is "definitely" supposed to be on the table before the pancakes come. And although we have seen this structure in dozens of other movies, it is new this time because for Raymond it is definitely not a voyage of discovery.Įverything changes in the movie except for Raymond. The two brothers meet genuine actual Americans on the road, of course, and have strange adventures, of course. It is an old formula, but a serviceable one, using shots of the car against the sunset as punctuation. And so Charlie puts Raymond in the front seat of the 1949 Buick and they head out on a cross-country odyssey of discovery. But Raymond will not fly (he "definitely" recites the dates and fatalities of every airline's most recent crash). Angry that he has been cut out of his share of the inheritance, Charlie takes Raymond out of the mental home and vows to bring him to live in California. "Rain Man" follows this discovery with a story line that is as old as the hills. Visiting Raymond at the home where he lives, Charlie finds a methodical, mechani cal, flat-voiced middle-age man who "definitely" knows things, such as that tapioca pudding is "definitely" on the menu, and that his favorite TV program is "definitely" about to come on the air. Who is the trust for? Performing some amateur detective work, Charlie discovers with a shock that it goes to support an older brother he never knew he had - an autistic brother who has been institutionalized for years. ![]() At the reading of the will, he learns that he has received a pittance (including a prized 1949 Buick Roadmaster), and that his father's $3 million fortune has gone into a trust. One day he receives word that his father - a man with whom he has had no contact for years - has died back East. As the film opens, we see Charlie frantically trying to juggle his way out of a crisis in his Los Angeles business, which seems to consist of selling expensive imported automobiles out of his hip pocket. "Rain Man" works so well within Raymond's limitations because it is a movie about limitations, particularly Charlie's own limited ability to love those in his life, or to see things from their point of view. This is not a movie like " Charly" in which there is a miracle cure. But what he is thinking? There is a moment in "Rain Man" that crystalizes all the frustrations that Charlie feels about Raymond, a moment when he cries out, "I know there has to be somebody inside there!" But who? And where? "Rain Man" is so fascinating because it refuses to supply those questions with sentimental but unrealistic answers. ![]() He can also count 46 spilled toothpicks in an instant and calculate square roots in a flash. He can carry on conversations, stick to a schedule, compile baseball statistics, memorize dinner menus and become disturbed when anything upsets his routine. That is precisely the situation that Charlie Babbitt ( Tom Cruise) is faced with in "Rain Man." His brother, Raymond ( Dustin Hoffman), is "high-level" autistic. But I never know what the cats are thinking. I have useful relationships with both of my cats, and they are important to me. Is it possible to have a relationship with an autistic person? Is it possible to have a relationshbip with a cat? I do not intend the comparison to be demeaning to the autistic I am simply trying to get at something.
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