Jacob's Ladder
Introduced by Robert Brustein
Screening on Film
Screening on Film
Directed by Adrian Lyne.
With Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello.
US, 1990, 35mm, color, 115 min.
With Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello.
US, 1990, 35mm, color, 115 min.
Visually astounding and truly frightening, Adrian Lyne’s hallucinogenic film centers on a Vietnam veteran (Robbins) whose life shifts seamlessly between past, present, and future—between reality and terrifying illusion. Deeply affected by his experiences in Vietnam, including being dosed with a derivative of LSD to increase his capacity for killing, Jacob experiences multiple realities: divorced and living with another woman; married and successful with children; dead on a field-hospital table in Vietnam. Robbins’s remarkable performance as a man experiencing the baddest of bad trips anchors this challenging work.