Hasta La Motion!

Facsimile: an exact copy. But in order to be a copy, the same time and space cannot be occupied. So, always a reproduction rather than a copy and verisimilitude a function of desire. The film image of Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) playing a saxophone accompanying a vinyl recording of another performer is one of the finest examples in a film brimful of such shots. ‘Red, Red Robin’ bobs along from one character to another and allows Harry to use Meredith (Elizabeth MacRae) as a facsimile for Ann (Cindy Williams). From mime artists to ‘Ear of God’ shots, Coppola and sound designer Walter Murch capture all so imaginatively that despite forty years of huge advances in mechanical reproductive capabilities, the film is still fresh, relevant and questioning.