St. Elmo's Fire 4K 1985

In my opinion, this film deserves much more than it ultimately received: in terms of audience recognition (in the West), critics' opinions, and certainly not the Golden Raspberry Award that Rob Lowe received.

It's just that back then, in the distant year of my birth, he was unlucky. I can't explain his relative failure in the history of cinema any other way. Because the film is good. Especially for a youth film. Especially in the era of the dominance of silly and vulgar youth comedies of the 80s, among which, of course, there were quite decent works by John Hughes and his colleagues, which later became cult classics. Perhaps St. Elmo's Fire is one of the most intellectual films of that period in this particular category of youth comedies/dramas (of course, of those that I have personally seen). Interesting characters, a wonderful 80s atmosphere (oh, those hairstyles, clothes, music — it's so bad that it's just wonderful), unexpectedly clever, non-trivial and sometimes even witty dialogues (fans of Linklater, for example, will not be bored, I think). After all, a good half of the brat pack is here! This alone is worth the attention of fans of 80s cinema.

But perhaps the reason for the failure of St. Elmo's Fire is precisely that it turned out to be a little more unusual than the clichéd films that young viewers are used to. After all, there is no unhappy/happy main character (male or female) who is finishing a hated school and preparing for the most important event in his or her life, such as a first date, a crazy party in the absence of parents, the loss of innocence, prom night, and so on. There are unexpectedly many characters here (slightly more than in The Breakfast Club — and now it doesn't work anymore), they don't go to school, and, horror of horrors, they don't even go to college anymore. They enter adult life with all the consequences that entails. So who finds them interesting? I do, for one.

It's not that the film is completely flawless. But I would rather attribute these few moments to the costs of the genre. No matter how much you want to be original, you have to sell. So sometimes you have to be cunning, insert various implausible things, or simply smear the ending with universal unity and happiness. But still, it's impossible not to love this film: for the couple Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy, for Demi Moore with her ridiculous hairstyles, for the hilariously lovestruck Emilio Estevez, for Rob Lowe and his saxophone, for Andrew McCarthy in general... And even the most unattractive one is tolerable for the sake of all the above.

In general, this film is yet another confirmation that ratings are not to be trusted and that the majority is never right. A wonderful film.