![]() ![]() ![]() Carla is confident without being arrogant, slightly distant without being an ice queen. You don’t really care how or why she got there, but you care about her character and how she’s going to affect Louden’s ultimate goal. Fiorentino brings something to the role that makes you forget the weaknesses of the story and focus just on the character. There’s no good reason for Carla to be the Swain household but she’s more than simply a plot device. Vision Quest is a film that you either follow with your heart or you don’t. The question is, however, will he fall so hard for her that he forgets his vision quest? What is important is that Louden falls for Carla completely. How this happens isn’t really that believable or important. Things begin to change (for better or worse? I won’t tell you) when a 20-year-old artist named Carla (Linda Fiorentino, in her film debut) comes to stay with them. We learn that he lives alone with his dad (Ronny Cox) and that his mom at some point left them both. Louden’s a smart kid, writing advanced term papers on medical topics that sometimes get him in trouble and working as a bellboy in the kitchen of a local hotel. Vision Quest is a coming-of-age story about a high school wrestler in Spokane, Washington named Louden Swain (Matthew Modine) who’s willing to drop down two weight classes (roughly 23 pounds) for a chance to wrestle Brian Shute (Frank Jasper), a powerhouse 3-time state champion at a nearby high school. How did that turn out for me? Keep reading. In my mind, Vision Quest was nothing short of a call to action. I wanted not only to be a great teacher, a great band director, but I wanted to be great early in my career, so great that people would think I’d been teaching somewhere else for years. It was my first year of teaching and I found my own drive mirrored in Louden Swain’s quest to defeat the toughest wrestler in the state. The film resonated with me for several reasons, primarily because I believed I was on my own vision quest. I first saw Vision Quest shortly after it appeared on cable TV, probably in late 1985 or early 1986. Strong (including Madonna's film debut in a nightclub scene DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN was released later the same year) the Spokane, Washington, setting is new and interesting and the mat action is authentic (Modine spent four months preparing for the role-running, wrestling, and exercising).īased on a novel by Terry Davis, this rites-of-passage tale is far from perfect but will leave few viewers disappointed.Based on the novel Vision Quest by Terry Davis All of Louden's rigorous dieting and training pay off in his match against Shute, and guess who's comeīack to witness his triumph? Although this finale isn't going to surprise anyone, VISION QUEST is full of patiently developed characters that have more to do with real life than movie scripts, distinguishing it from many similarly plotted big-finish sports films. When she leaves abruptly, Louden contemplates abandoning his other obsession, but the cook at the hotel where he works (J.C. The two people who loom largest in Louden's life, however, are Shute and Carla (Linda Fiorentino), a 21-year-old art student from New Jersey who stays with the Swains while the car she just purchased is repaired and who initiates Louden into ![]() While Louden embarks upon his "vision quest"-a physical and spiritual quest to find his place in the world-the film introduces the intriguing cast of characters who most influence him, including his father (Ronny Cox), a failed farmer-cum-auto mechanic,Īnd his friend and teammate Kuch (Michael Schoeffling). Earnest, warm, and often very funny, VISION QUEST features a finely etched performance by Matthew Modine as Louden Swain, an 18-year-old high school wrestler who is equally determined to lose his virginity and some 20 pounds-the latter so that he can take on the state's finest grappler,ġ68-pound champion Shute (Frank Jasper). ![]()
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