Thread by @hradzka

Moose-feeding movie of the last few days has been WIND (1992), a sailing movie directed by Carroll “THE BLACK STALLION (1979)” Ballard that sought to definitively answer the question “Are Matthew Modine and Jennifer Grey movie stars”

answer: nope

The thing is that Modine and Grey are actually pretty great choices for the weirder movie lurking beneath the surface of WIND (1992)

but it was clearly a hella expensive movie to make so it got nudged in the direction of a “they’re together, they break up, they get back” romance

Modine and Grey are perfect for the weirder, more indie-ish, more introspective movie, but they’re not right for a blockbuster crowd-pleaser

the weirder movie beneath the surface of WIND is a subculture movie about the people who crew professional racing sailboats for very wealthy people, and the kind of person it takes to be drawn to do something like that for a rich man’s world that doesn’t otherwise much want him

basically the weirder version of WIND (1992) is a movie about the sport of kings starring Matthew Modine as a horse

that is an interesting premise for a movie

the racing sequences are great, the stuff with Matthew Modine’s character journey weirdly uneven and dumbed down

he has to learn to trust Jennifer Grey, rather than learning what it means to him to be, basically, a rich man’s horse

the movie should have gone for a Dads’ Movie tone like the recent Tom Hanks war pic GREYHOUND, where it’s not so much about internal conflicts and more about people just trying to do a hard job

as it is too much of WIND is forced and just as quickly cut short conflict, plus a bunch of dudes failing to listen to Jennifer Grey

who really should have told Matthew Modine to go fuck himself on multiple occasions in this movie

the movie is sort of loosely inspired by true events in that America had a huge winning streak in the America’s cup, lost it to Australia, and won it back the following year

the interesting stuff is about what it actually feels like to do a race like that, and lose like that

WIND is strongest on racing itself and on what it feels like to be really care about racing but is far weaker on technical aspects of the world

it is also hilariously insensitive by 2021 standards bc Matthew Modine, inspired by an Indian pictographs, names his boat “Geronimo”

is there ostensibly Indian dancing drumming and war-whooping from Modine and company, yes there is

but the corresponding sail designs are mad and gorgeous

and I suddenly realize: this is because in the early 90s that Kokopelli icon was everywhere

anyway, WIND is an interestingly flawed movie with a much weirder and more interesting movie lurking beneath its surface so if that sort of thing interests you, check it out