Nicolas Roeg directs Theresa Russell, Gary Oldman and Christopher Lloyd in this Dennis Potter drama about Oedipal fantasies in suburban America and model trains.

Oh to be a Nicolas Roeg completist! This one appears to be leaning way too heavily into being a kitsch cult item and doesn’t even really achieve camp. It is histrionic and grating in equal measures, served up with a melted layer of cheap pretension on top. Like the art school boys directed a Tennessee Williams play in their parents’ house after reading a load of Vonnegut. Oldman is committed and Russell is always stunning to look at if miscast. As with pretty much everything from this era, deja vu kicked in horrendously. I can’t believe I rented this on VHS as a kid but maybe half caught it late night or saw the trailer a few times. That bonus personal mystery didn’t help.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Cast Away (1986)