A 1993 Gen-X movie by Gen-X director Michael Steinberg, with a
Gen-X cast composed of Bridget Fonda, Pheobe Cates, Tim Roth, and
Eric Stoltz, which has the feel of a play adapted for the screen,
but is not. The title, of course, refers to Newton's First Law: bodies at rest will remain at rest, and ones in motion
will remain in motion, unless acted on by a force. And the film
revolves around four young inhabitants of Enfield, Arizona, who are
divided between these two categories of bodies. Fonda and Roth, are a
couple of the "stay in motion" kind. Roth thinks it's time for the two
to pack up and leave to a new locale. (If you though Enfield was a
weird choice, what do you think of Butte, Montana?) So, he quits his
crappy retail job, using the oppurtunity to steal a TV, and is all set
to hit to road. The "stay at rest" category is represented by Cates,
Roth's ex, who still hangs around with him and Fonda for some reason,
and by Stoltz, a house painter sent to pretty-up Roth and Fonda's house
for the new tenants, who's never left Enfield and doesn't ever plan to.
Naturally,
forces act, resulting in a transfer of momentum. After telling Cates
at the last moment about the move, Roth leaves early without waiting
for Fonda. Stranded, Fonda compares philosophies with Stoltz over a
joint. Meanwhile, Roth visits the house where he grew up, to find out
that his parents are no longer there, and that he has lost touch with
them. This revelation prompts some reconsideration of the drifter
lifestyle choice, and Roth decides to go back to Enfield. Meanwhile,
Fonda has left town on her own to try her luck alone in the world, so
Roth settles back with stable anchor Cates. He does implore Stoltz
however, who has fallen for Fonda, to try to catch up with her,
wherever she is going.
All of these developments take their place
on screen with the traditional Gen-X philosophical focus, with both
rest and motion having their foundations in that culture. Gen-X
thought embraces rest in its avoidance of upward social mobility,
but embraces motion when it comes to following Dylan's words, that
"He not busy being born is busy dying." In the end, I find the movie
a very sobering meditation on life adrift without an anchor, on life
tethered to a security net, and on the spectrum between
groundedness and ungroundedness. Personally, I view it as the best
Gen-X movie made.