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Friday, September 12th, 2008
 Samuel Beckett's Film (1965), featuring Buster Keaton as O, has been uploaded to YouTube by user richardhead. It is too long for a single video but I've created a playlist so you can watch the whole thing sequentially. Beckett called his production "an interesting failure"; Times critic Dilys Powell called it "a load of old bosh." Katherine Waugh and Fergus Daly wrote a celebration of Film's 30th anniversary for the Spring 1995 issue of Film West, "Ireland's film quarterly."
posted morning of September 12th, 2008: Respond
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
 As I was leaving the theater tonight -- my eyes wide open, my heart still racing -- I heard someone muttering to his date, "A lotta holes..."
And yeah -- the plot was not perfectly formed. There was some implausible stuff if you stop to think about it, some threads that if you spun them out would lead to contradictions or impossibilities. But I had to wonder, when in the movie had this guy gotten the chance to think about the plot holes? Tell No One is a thriller, I thought it was a very well-realized example of the genre. I could not move a muscle for much of the movie, I was gazing rapt at the screen and my head was full of fear and excitement. That seems to me like a well-spent 2 hours. (Well an hour and a half; the first thirty minutes was more confusing than gripping.)
posted evening of August 30th, 2008: Respond
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Friday, August 29th, 2008
 We are watching an early Almodóvar movie tonight, Dark Habits (1983). He had not quite worked out his story-telling ability yet -- the story of this movie is too tangled, too busy -- but God: this guy is a visual genius.
The photography of the nuns is beautiful but what really gets me is Yolanda's face, both when she's made up for performances and when she's plain.
 ...Yolanda's concert, with the nuns backing her up: totally worth while. And oh my God! The Mother Superior took an icon of Yolanda's face from her towel!
posted evening of August 29th, 2008: Respond
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Sunday, August 24th, 2008
Vicky Cristina Barcelona was... not a complete waste of time. (Note: Arguable spoilers follow; if you are planning to see the film and don't want any plot elements given away, don't read this.) There were fun and even moving bits to it, it was really enjoyable visual composition, but the movie did not hold together. It did not seem like the filmmaker's heart was in the project. The central problem I had with the movie was the voice-over. The narrator was obviously, audibly bored with the story he was telling. Every time he started talking I tuned out completely. Ellen suggested the narrator was playing the role of Allen's character in his old movies, which sounds right -- but Allen's character being bored with his own life comes off as jaundiced and world-weary; whereas Allen's narrator being bored with the story he's telling just comes off as lazy. Also lazy: not bothering to develop the character of Judy, the older woman who is trying to warn Vicky off of getting bogged down in an unsatisfying marriage. The first conversation she has with Vicky was really moving and sympathetic, and seemed like it had the potential to form the emotional core of the movie; but apparently Allen was not interested enough in the story he was telling to develop that any further, once he had the plot element set up he lost interest in the character. So... not a great movie. Fun and pretty, though! The high points for me were four actors: Rebecca Hall, Patricia Clarkson, Javier Bardem, and Penélope Cruz. These four are just splendid, poetry in motion. Watching them move around through the streets of Barcelona is an excellent way to spend an hour and a half.
posted evening of August 24th, 2008: Respond
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 We had no trouble finding a baby-sitter on the spur of the moment, and we're off to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona after dinner tonight. Yay! Woody Allen's "diary" from the project is published in today's NY Times. (thanks for the link, Cyrus!)
posted afternoon of August 24th, 2008: Respond
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Sunday, August third, 2008
And since I was its audience, I was happy with it. Not sure I learned much about Thompson that I did not already know; but I liked watching the footage. His ex-wife, who got a lot of screen-time, was definitely the most interesting person they interviewed. I could have done without all the re-enactments of him typing stories, and I could totally have done without so much screen time devoted to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, easily the least interesting portion of the movie. I just absolutely did not get why they would use footage from the 1998 movie.
posted evening of August third, 2008: Respond
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  We're going out tonight to see Gonzo -- how exciting!
I've loved Thompson's writing for a long time now, and am interested to see his life on the screen.
posted afternoon of August third, 2008: Respond
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Friday, August first, 2008
So it seems like Robyn Hitchcock has written some of the soundtrack for an as-yet-unmade movie about the life of Brian Epstein. He sang two songs from it at the Turning Point show; the first one especially is beautiful, and catchy as hell. The lyrics do not seem to be on the web yet, so here is a quick transcription (the titles are my own, just taken from the choruses; I don't know what Robyn calls these tunes):
 I'm in a Hurry for the Sky
This is from a forthcoming movie about the life of Brian Epstein, which hasn't been made yet; but it's been written. Not sure if it's in "development" or "turn-around"...
Knock yourself out yesterday, tomorrow will be fine
It's all for the best you say, somewhere down the line
Everything is fine, Everything is mine.
Pharoah's tomb is empty now, you can crawl right in
Bandage up your sin, bandage up your grin
Oh I, am in a hurry for the sky
Yeah I, am in a hurry for the sky
You can easily confuse, money with success
Success is always relative, money's absolute
Money is acute, money be my girl* -- Yes...
Oh I, am in a hurry for the sky
Yeah I, am in a hurry for the sky
Number 2 said to number 1, you fix us up oh we've finished son
Number 3 said to number 2, I wish I could trade boots with you
Number 4 said to number 5, How does it feel to be eaten alive?
Number 5 said,
I, am not an integrated guy,
Yes I, am in a hurry for the sky
Hurry, for, the, sky...
* On the record it is "money in your dress". Not sure if this was heard right in the live version.
Tryptizol, Librium, Carbitol
Here's another song from the Brian Epstein saga; in this one, Brian's getting near the end, and he has a cocktail* that sustains him:
Ah, I feel so close in my head,
I feel so close to my bed;
You've got me spinning around.
I, feel like a big chandelier,
Could crash any time around here;
You've got me spinning around.
When, the world revolves around you,
And then you revolve too...
You've got me spinning around.
Tryptizol, Librium, Carbitol.
Tryptizol, Librium, Carbitol.
I, I feel on top of the world.
And you're my opposite girl.
You've got me spinning around.
Tryptizol, Librium, Carbitol.
Tryptizol, Librium, Carbitol.
Tryptizol, Librium, Carbitol.
Mr. Epstein has left the building. *The cocktail's ingredients:- Tryptizol is a brand name for Amitriptyline, an antidepressant.
- Librium is a brand name for Chlordiazepoxide, a sedative.
- Carbitol is a brand name for 2-(2-Ethoxyethoxy)ethanol, a solvent used in mixing drugs; it was named as the cause of death in the coroner's report on Mr. Epstein's death.
↻...done
posted evening of August first, 2008: 4 responses
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Tuesday, July 29th, 2008
In the middle of Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, Harry Crews appears at Sheffield's Diner ("Where Jesus is Lord"), quoting Goethe: "There is no crime of which I cannot conceive myself guilty"... to me, my understanding of that is, he's admitting his one-ness with mankind, his involvement with mankind -- he did not escape original sin.
 -- reminds me strongly of this line from My Name is Red.Later in the same diner, the Singing Hall Sisters sing "The Knoxville Girl", which might be the best performance in the movie (though I like the Handsome Family's songs a lot too.)
(As near as I can tell from Google, the actual quote from Goethe is, "Es gibt kein Verbrechen, dessen ich nicht selbst potentiell fähig wäre" -- roughly, "There is no crime, of which I could not myself potentially be capable," even closer in spirit to the Pamuk quotation. But I haven't been able to figure out where this line is taken from.)
posted evening of July 29th, 2008: Respond
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Thursday, July 17th, 2008
 I did not know until today about Joss Whedon's new movie (movie? I don't see any indication that it will be in theaters -- it is an internet phenomenon but it sure looks like a movie), Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Just now I watched the first episode -- what a great thing this is! Nothing to say about it yet other than, go take a look.
 ...Oop, well, you can't go take a look any longer, not without paying at any rate.
posted evening of July 17th, 2008: 2 responses
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