First to appear is Kris Kristofferson\u2019s Hawk, a former cop fresh out of a stint in prison. He\u2019s paid his debt to society and is looking for something to do with his idle hands apart from making the highly detailed models cinematographer Toyomichi Kurita\u2019s camera occasionally glides through during scene transitions. \u201cYou got a fine eye for detail,\u201d says one of the prison guards walking Hawk out. \u201cWhat do you expect from a cop?\u201d asks the other, offering the first clue to his background that Rudolph doles out over the course of the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While this is a homecoming for Hawk \u2013 and a return to the scene of the crime that sent him up for 2842 days (he counted) \u2013 Rain City also greets newcomers in young couple Coop (Rudolph regular Keith Carradine) and Georgia (Lori Singer). She\u2019s the hopeful one, enthusing that \u201cthe city is a promise of something better,\u201d but he\u2019s jaded. \u201cI\u2019ve been to plenty of cities, and they ain\u2019t nothing but trouble.\u201d All three converge on Wanda\u2019s Caf\u00e9, a greasy spoon whose owner is played with flinty resolve by Genevi\u00e8ve Bujold (like Carradine, a returnee from Rudolph\u2019s Choose Me<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As much as Wanda tries to help all three of them get a foothold in Rain City \u2013 Hawk for old time\u2019s sake, the couple because she\u2019s innately generous \u2013 both men are tempted by its criminal element. Barred from rejoining the police force, Hawk is courted by gangster Hilly Blue, who\u2019s as overdramatic as any character played by Divine (forgoing drag entirely) would be. (He\u2019s even followed around by his own personal violinist.) As for Coop, he falls in with Joe Morton\u2019s philosophical Solo, a war vet who brings him in on a shady deal that promises quick money, but the longer he stays in Solo\u2019s orbit, the more Coop changes, eventually becoming unrecognizable to his wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Significantly, Georgia and Hawk are the two characters who don\u2019t fully acclimate themselves. Hawk never sheds the distinctive, all-black ensemble he arrives in, and Georgia remains mostly innocent in spite of the opportunities for corruption that present themselves. In contrast, Coop\u2019s look evolves and his hairstyle in particular gets more extreme the deeper he gets in with Solo, who sports his own distinctive look, a reflection of how much time he\u2019s spent in Rain City, as well as the lingering effects of his war service. While it\u2019s never specified which war Solo fought in, another may be in the offing based on how many \u201cReady for War\u201d posters dot the streets, along with the omnipresent soldiers patrolling them and the jeep driving around with a loudspeaker encouraging citizens to \u201cenlist in the militia.\u201d (This is a device Rudolph borrowed from his mentor Robert Altman, specifically the Hal Phillip Walker campaign truck that is a constant presence in Nashville<\/em>, on which Rudolph was an assistant director.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eventually, Rain City\u2019s reality gets so heightened \u2013 much like Coop\u2019s hair \u2013 that Trouble in Mind<\/em> takes a turn for the absurd. When it starts racking up a body count in the back half, Rudolph devises unique demises for some of the supporting cast, following the lead of his characters as they let their emotions rule their decisions, and defying narrative logic in the process. \u201cWell, thank God love is blind,\u201d Wanda says, \u201cotherwise it would see too much.\u201d That sums up the film as well as anyone could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like his characters, Rudolph has followed his whims, resulting in an idiosyncratic career that\u2019s hard to pin down. If nothing else, the selections streaming on the Criterion Channel this month show off his range as a director. Trouble in Mind<\/em>\u2019s neo-noir deconstruction is far removed from Remember My Name<\/em><\/a>\u2019s oblique character study, and his late \u201990s efforts Afterglow<\/em> and Breakfast of Champions<\/em> make for even stranger bedfellows. Love in all its permutations is never far from his mind, though. Ask any of his characters and they\u2019ll tell you that falling in love is the quickest way to get into trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTrouble in Mind\u201d is streaming on the <\/em>Criterion Channel<\/em><\/a> as part of <\/em>\u201cAlan Rudolph\u2019s Dramas of Desire.\u201d<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/trouble2-1024x576.jpg\")
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