Echo Park (1986)

Apologies to you if a search for information about the Los Angeles neighborhood landed you instead on this movie blog and this entry about the movie titled for and set around Echo Park. No apologies to the people who landed here because they searched 'Austrian body sculptor,' 'pizza delivery man,' or 'singing telegram stripper.'

Watched this movie in hopes of prolonging the good feelings aroused by watching Modern Girls (1986 movies set in LA). Also, this Netflix user review persuaded me:

I saw this movie when it came out, I was delivering pizzas [and] my girlfriend was a stripper [and] it struck close to home. I thought the movie really captured what it's like to be on the margins of the industry. Maybe the bad reviews come from folks who've never been in that position.

The poster art (above) strikes me as superior to the dvd art (below):

Reality is for Dreamers

The movie rates somewhere between the poster art and dvd art.

Jonathan's truck converted to neon pizza-delivery mobile -- Los Angeles fever dream

August flexes at top of stairs to the amusement of May -- Los Angeles fever dream

Echo Park is the story of pizza delivery man and "closet poet" Jonathan, played by Tom Hulce (Milos Forman's titular Amadeus). Echo Park is the story of May, played by Susan Dey (Laurie Partridge in The Partridge Family tv series), the mother of an eight-year-old boy named Henry; she rents Jonathan her spare room. Echo Park is the story of August (Michael Bowen), their Austrian immigrant neighbor who works as a "body sculptor," but dreams of converting star power into battery power, or something. August is described by Jonathan as "out to lunch."

May: I said, at least it's showbiz. I-it's performing,which is more than I can say for bartending. I mean, Marilyn Monroe started out naked, didn't she?
Hugo: Everybody in the world starts out naked, sugar.

Early in the movie, May gets a new job as a singing telegram stripper, and views the job as a career advancement, despite the objections of Jonathan and best friend Gloria (Shirley Jo Finney).

August stars in a viking/dragon-themed commercial for deodorant spray. He and May share a need to make it in Hollywood as entertainers; their romance is an early part of the film.

Jonathan seems content delivering pizzas. He seems genuinely interested in connecting with Henry, and encourages Henry to opt for the name Hank.

Jonathan: I think I know a secret about you Henry. Yep. I think I do. I only just realized it too. I think you hate your name. Nobody, in their right mind, would wanna be called Henry. You know what's a good name for Henry? Hank. Every once in a while there is a Henry called Hank. So hop in Hank, 'cause we gotta go now.

Echo Park feels like an unordinary narrative - not a lot of change or conflict. The movie takes place in a specific, cohabitated environment, and is about people and their relationships with each other. These qualities remind me of Altman and the 70s spirit of filmmaking in America, in movies like Scarecrow and Aloha Bobby and Rose.