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“I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious” — Part II
In 1979, the English band The Buggles released an album called The Plastic Age. The hit single on that album was “Video Killed the Radio Star.” This single was turned into a video, which ended up becoming the first music video aired at the US launch of MTV. Fittingly, the song had captured the future not only of radio but also of TV. With that song, the “New Wave” movement was born. Blondie, Talking Heads, Joy Division, and many other bands joined in creating the tone of the early eighties. In film, the “New Wave” or “La Nouvelle Vague” was captured in the movie Blade Runner. But none captured the mood and feeling better than French director Luc Besson, with The Big Blue and Subway.
Subway was released in 1985. The movie features a very young Jean Reno, a punk-styled Christophe Lambert in a ruffled tuxedo, and a very young Isabelle Adjani as a runaway housewife. It takes place in Paris, more precisely in the Paris Metro. I guess it was for the US market that the movie title became “Subway” rather than “Metro.” For me, Subway cemented the idea that I should go live in Paris. The movie was cool, it was modern, it did not have a lot of meaning, and later, Luc Besson was criticised for “favouring style over substance, and spectacle over narrative.” I didn’t care…
