Reality blows
The absolute worst band description I've read in a press release lately: "Take Jimmy Eat World and stir in a little James Taylor, add a little Get Up Kids and top with a pinch of Phil Collins and out comes Brighten. They are rock and roll boys that you can take home to mom." Man, motherfuck these emo geeks. God.
When I was a wee lad, I had a lot of dreams and nightmares. They were always pretty intense, feeling very real while they were happening. Then came the turning point, a short stint of codeine-inspired night terrors I got during my senior year of high school (five impacted teeth removed + pharmacist dad = weeks of free, sort-of-legal high). I haven't had a whole lot of dreams since, good or bad or even just weird, and they never came sequentially until a few weeks ago.
For four days in a row, I had all sorts of weird/bad sleepytime visions. It was a fairly unsettling development, although I was loathe to ascribe any meaning to it. It sorta made me feel like a kid again. I was even waking up, chowing down a big bowl of Peanut Butter Crunch and watching cartoons. Then I won $75 at the Super Bowl party, and voila! The bad dreams were gone. Or so I thought. I've actually had three since, most recently Friday night. Now it's starting to flip me out a little, and I'm sure more free money won't solve it. (If you'd like to find out, contact me.)
Been on a documentary kick lately, and haven't even seen the penguin or wheelchair rugby ones yet. I think I want to feel more productive when cheesing in front of the set, so these have helped by providing visual stimuli in the guise of "learning" something. Some highlights:
"Lost In La Mancha" - Chronicling Terry Gilliam's ill-fated attempt to turn Cervantes' windmill-tilting classic into "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote," a film for modern international audiences, this is one sad, amazing story. Gilliam invited the team who filmed the long making-of doc for "12 Monkeys" to follow his production, and the dudes obliged, seeing it as a potentially perfect pairing of filmmaker and subject. "Quixote" is not as popular a saga in America as in Europe, so the financing had to come from a consortium of continentals, who for such an elaborate production could collectively still not match the budget of your typical Hollywood romantic comedy. Unfortunately, the project quickly spun out of control, with aging French star Jean Rochefort taking ill, personnel conflicts on the set, outrageous costs, natural disasters and several other factors leading to the film being shut down after only six days of filming. Perhaps "Lost" is best characterized by a scene where the "Quixote" movie's sets are demolished by a brutal flood as the documentary crew films the destruction, safe inside a car, likely conflicted that the film they're documenting is falling apart while their own film gains new focus as an "unmaking-of." The most heartbreaking aspect is watching Gilliam's demeanor transform from giddy overconfidence to creeping despair as he comes to understand his film will not happen, despite the valiant efforts of his crew, whose beautiful costumes and props are now rotting away somewhere. The small bits of footage created for "Quixote" look very nice - one of the hopes for putting this out there is that it will build sympathy for Gilliam, and that one day he will finally make this film. Seeing this only increased my respect for the man (and intended co-star Johnny Depp, who says he's ready to start again whenever Terry says the word)... after "Lost In La Mancha" and "The Battle of Brazil", the story of an ambitious dreamer hamstrung by harsh reality truly fits Gilliam's career. Go rent "The Brothers Grimm", dammit; it's much better than you've heard.
"Slut" - Only 45 minutes, but this Sundance Channel dealie packs in a lot of content. Patricia DiTillio and Rina Barone's project is an exploration of the title word, its origins, implications and repercussions on women to whom it has been applied. What could have been a dry, academic linguistics/gender studies lecture actually comes alive as the filmmakers underscore the contemporary relevance of their inquiry. No one they talk with seems to have a clear definition of the term, confusing it with a number of desparaging terms for sexually active women which do not really distinguish crucial things like intention or awareness. In addition to delineating the obvious double standard (men who like to hump a lot of different people are studs, women who like to hump a lot of different people are sluts - at least among heterosexuals), the film's most effective tactic is explaining how easily and often scurrilously someone can be branded a slut, as well as what that can do to her self-image and social interactions during her formative teen years. Unlike, say, the n-word, "queer" or even "freak," it is unlikely that "slut" might be defanged through ironic usage or embraced as a identifying badge of honor. When the filmmakers visit former California Rep. Doug Ose, who was trying to get a list of dirty words banned from the airwaves, he completely shrugs off their insistence that "slut" is more harmful than "piss." Personally, I'd never considered how ugly and judgmental the word is, nor how pervasive it is in everyday conversation with both men and women. I've met plenty of women regarded as sluts, but even the few truly amoral ones who deserve its negative connotations did not get there on their own. After taking in their treatise, I fully agree with DiTillio and Barone - I tend to cringe when I hear the word now, and do not intend to use it anymore. Even when fully meant as a pejorative, "roundheel" just sounds nicer.
"Jim Brown: All American" - Keeping up with Spike Lee's directorial career has become quite difficult. His last theatrical feature, "She Hate Me", turned disparate ideas about modern black male identity and corporate responsibility into a shrill, muddled mess, even for someone like myself who's found something redeeming in virtually everything else the guy has done. Plus, he keeps making all these documentaries, which aren't always easy to track down. I saw this HBO special about "She Hate Me" co-star Jim Brown the morning of the Super Bowl, perhaps in an attempt to make myself more football-sympathetic. It didn't work, but Spike's flick is a nice tribute to an interesting athlete, movie star, businessman, activist - and possible woman beater. It's not all that special to look at, mostly having the dusty, reverent feel of those old ABC "Wide World of Sports" profiles (preferable to the cheesy music video diaries accompanying some of NBC's current Olympics broadcasts). But I was unaware why his action movies in particular were a big deal in the '70s, and the film also helps to underscore how much Brown's done to nurture the black community. This is a worthy catalogue of Brown's considerable accomplishments, one not so adulatory as to completely ignore some of the negative aspects of the man's mercenary bulldog M.O. It does somewhat gloss these over by ignoring their implications, but I'd like to think Spike intentionally left it up to the viewer to connect those dots.
"Gates of Heaven" - Errol Morris' early docs aren't as flashy as newer ones like "Mr. Death" or "The Fog of War". Of my recent Morris double feature, this, his debut, was more interesting than the subsequent, somewhat fluffy "Vernon, Florida". "Gates" tells both the tale of a man who tried to build a pet cemetery but ultimately failed, as well as of the family operating the site where the animals were eventually relocated. The first guy seems wholly altruistic, genuinely motivated by his own relationships with non-humans and appreciating that in others. Like Terry Gilliam and his unrealized "Quixote" movie, his endeavor was another victim of ambition, nature and capitalism, his admirable pie-in-the-sky attitude contrasted with a sleazy suit running a nearby rendering plant. The family behind the successful cemetery comes off as far more pragmatic, though not unsympathetic. They founded their own church, a Christian faith that believes God lets animals into Heaven as well as deserving humans, and I wish Morris explored this idea a little more. The dad seems condescendingly sympathetic when discussing arrangements with a couple who has lost their dog, but the couple doesn't seem to notice. Perhaps that obsequiousness is part and parcel of helping strangers grieve? Particularly affecting are his sons, who seem like they walked straight off the "Six Feet Under" set. Both saw their dreams dashed and, at the time of the film, were surviving by joining the family's burial business. The lonely single one, who mostly sits around huffing reefer and wailing on his guitar, opines that everyone should have their heart broken once (for a more complete understanding of life's disappointments and their hidden effect on the people around us?), an unprovoked, forlorn but ultimately true sentiment in a movie filled with them. I don't agree with Morris' detractors that claim "Gates" makes fun of its peculiar subjects, nor with Ebert that it is among the 10 best movies ever made, but it's certainly an intriguing slice of obscured reality.
"Joe D'Amato Totally Uncut 2" - This came with Shriek Show's long-awaited, beautiful "Anthropophagus" DVD, and is an extension of a doc by Roger Fratter that came with their release of D'Amato's nunsploitation picture "Images In A Convent". The general complaint with the first "Totally Uncut" seems to be that it ignored the contributions of D'Amato - prolific director Aristide Massachesi's best-known psuedonym - to the horror genre, which is supposedly the major focus here. Personally, I'd rather hear about Laura Gemser's sapphic, tragic career, but I like the scholarly female narrator's assessment of "Anthropophagus" and "Buio Omega" as, if not true classics, then effectively unpleasant highlights of Italian horror's most notoriously gruesome period. I imagine if viewed together and uncut (these American versions are apparently trimmed), Fratter's two films paint a decent portrait of a productive guy whose epic filmography includes everything from family adventures and post-apocalyptic action flicks to genuinely disturbing gore and tons of hardcore porn (which the aesthete famously continued to shoot on actual film well into the '90s). Long disparaged by cinephiles as a complete hack, a paragon of crassness among the many opportunists who fueled the once-thriving Italian exploitation industry, his huge body of work has been reevaluted after his early death in 1999. Nobody really has an unkind word about D'Amato here, who in some of his final interviews seems like a fun, lusty, self-aware movie lover that just happened to make lots of disreputable movies. (I'd stop before calling him an artist - after all, the guy is somewhat responsible for the existence of both "Troll 2" and "Anal Palace"). His contributions to envelope-pushing cinema are without question, as D'Amato brought together sex and violence to the extent of making XXX movies featuring cheap, flesh-eating, woman-overpowering zombies. Ya gotta admire the temerity, if not the results - if you need a handy sleep aid, let me loan you the lousy unsubtitled boot of "Erotic Nights of the Living Dead" which I possess through no effort of my own. Joe's quips and stories are amusing, especially when he calls Eurofilm legend Klaus Kinski a "whore" and recounts how a prop screw-up during "Anthropophagus" led to his possession of a bunch of ancient Christian bones from the catacombs in which he filmed the infamous fetus-ripping-and-eating scene. More on that lovely image and other reasons I love Shriek Show's DVDs to come...
In a mellow mood? Try Leafblade, medieval balladry by Anathema's Danny Cavanagh and pals, another fine addition to the Strangelight records family. And, whoo, am I out of the loop... if you enjoy unorthodox recordings, maybe you were aware of The 365 Days Project. It's three years old, and full of pure insanity.
When I was a wee lad, I had a lot of dreams and nightmares. They were always pretty intense, feeling very real while they were happening. Then came the turning point, a short stint of codeine-inspired night terrors I got during my senior year of high school (five impacted teeth removed + pharmacist dad = weeks of free, sort-of-legal high). I haven't had a whole lot of dreams since, good or bad or even just weird, and they never came sequentially until a few weeks ago.
For four days in a row, I had all sorts of weird/bad sleepytime visions. It was a fairly unsettling development, although I was loathe to ascribe any meaning to it. It sorta made me feel like a kid again. I was even waking up, chowing down a big bowl of Peanut Butter Crunch and watching cartoons. Then I won $75 at the Super Bowl party, and voila! The bad dreams were gone. Or so I thought. I've actually had three since, most recently Friday night. Now it's starting to flip me out a little, and I'm sure more free money won't solve it. (If you'd like to find out, contact me.)
Been on a documentary kick lately, and haven't even seen the penguin or wheelchair rugby ones yet. I think I want to feel more productive when cheesing in front of the set, so these have helped by providing visual stimuli in the guise of "learning" something. Some highlights:
"Lost In La Mancha" - Chronicling Terry Gilliam's ill-fated attempt to turn Cervantes' windmill-tilting classic into "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote," a film for modern international audiences, this is one sad, amazing story. Gilliam invited the team who filmed the long making-of doc for "12 Monkeys" to follow his production, and the dudes obliged, seeing it as a potentially perfect pairing of filmmaker and subject. "Quixote" is not as popular a saga in America as in Europe, so the financing had to come from a consortium of continentals, who for such an elaborate production could collectively still not match the budget of your typical Hollywood romantic comedy. Unfortunately, the project quickly spun out of control, with aging French star Jean Rochefort taking ill, personnel conflicts on the set, outrageous costs, natural disasters and several other factors leading to the film being shut down after only six days of filming. Perhaps "Lost" is best characterized by a scene where the "Quixote" movie's sets are demolished by a brutal flood as the documentary crew films the destruction, safe inside a car, likely conflicted that the film they're documenting is falling apart while their own film gains new focus as an "unmaking-of." The most heartbreaking aspect is watching Gilliam's demeanor transform from giddy overconfidence to creeping despair as he comes to understand his film will not happen, despite the valiant efforts of his crew, whose beautiful costumes and props are now rotting away somewhere. The small bits of footage created for "Quixote" look very nice - one of the hopes for putting this out there is that it will build sympathy for Gilliam, and that one day he will finally make this film. Seeing this only increased my respect for the man (and intended co-star Johnny Depp, who says he's ready to start again whenever Terry says the word)... after "Lost In La Mancha" and "The Battle of Brazil", the story of an ambitious dreamer hamstrung by harsh reality truly fits Gilliam's career. Go rent "The Brothers Grimm", dammit; it's much better than you've heard.
"Slut" - Only 45 minutes, but this Sundance Channel dealie packs in a lot of content. Patricia DiTillio and Rina Barone's project is an exploration of the title word, its origins, implications and repercussions on women to whom it has been applied. What could have been a dry, academic linguistics/gender studies lecture actually comes alive as the filmmakers underscore the contemporary relevance of their inquiry. No one they talk with seems to have a clear definition of the term, confusing it with a number of desparaging terms for sexually active women which do not really distinguish crucial things like intention or awareness. In addition to delineating the obvious double standard (men who like to hump a lot of different people are studs, women who like to hump a lot of different people are sluts - at least among heterosexuals), the film's most effective tactic is explaining how easily and often scurrilously someone can be branded a slut, as well as what that can do to her self-image and social interactions during her formative teen years. Unlike, say, the n-word, "queer" or even "freak," it is unlikely that "slut" might be defanged through ironic usage or embraced as a identifying badge of honor. When the filmmakers visit former California Rep. Doug Ose, who was trying to get a list of dirty words banned from the airwaves, he completely shrugs off their insistence that "slut" is more harmful than "piss." Personally, I'd never considered how ugly and judgmental the word is, nor how pervasive it is in everyday conversation with both men and women. I've met plenty of women regarded as sluts, but even the few truly amoral ones who deserve its negative connotations did not get there on their own. After taking in their treatise, I fully agree with DiTillio and Barone - I tend to cringe when I hear the word now, and do not intend to use it anymore. Even when fully meant as a pejorative, "roundheel" just sounds nicer.
"Jim Brown: All American" - Keeping up with Spike Lee's directorial career has become quite difficult. His last theatrical feature, "She Hate Me", turned disparate ideas about modern black male identity and corporate responsibility into a shrill, muddled mess, even for someone like myself who's found something redeeming in virtually everything else the guy has done. Plus, he keeps making all these documentaries, which aren't always easy to track down. I saw this HBO special about "She Hate Me" co-star Jim Brown the morning of the Super Bowl, perhaps in an attempt to make myself more football-sympathetic. It didn't work, but Spike's flick is a nice tribute to an interesting athlete, movie star, businessman, activist - and possible woman beater. It's not all that special to look at, mostly having the dusty, reverent feel of those old ABC "Wide World of Sports" profiles (preferable to the cheesy music video diaries accompanying some of NBC's current Olympics broadcasts). But I was unaware why his action movies in particular were a big deal in the '70s, and the film also helps to underscore how much Brown's done to nurture the black community. This is a worthy catalogue of Brown's considerable accomplishments, one not so adulatory as to completely ignore some of the negative aspects of the man's mercenary bulldog M.O. It does somewhat gloss these over by ignoring their implications, but I'd like to think Spike intentionally left it up to the viewer to connect those dots.
"Gates of Heaven" - Errol Morris' early docs aren't as flashy as newer ones like "Mr. Death" or "The Fog of War". Of my recent Morris double feature, this, his debut, was more interesting than the subsequent, somewhat fluffy "Vernon, Florida". "Gates" tells both the tale of a man who tried to build a pet cemetery but ultimately failed, as well as of the family operating the site where the animals were eventually relocated. The first guy seems wholly altruistic, genuinely motivated by his own relationships with non-humans and appreciating that in others. Like Terry Gilliam and his unrealized "Quixote" movie, his endeavor was another victim of ambition, nature and capitalism, his admirable pie-in-the-sky attitude contrasted with a sleazy suit running a nearby rendering plant. The family behind the successful cemetery comes off as far more pragmatic, though not unsympathetic. They founded their own church, a Christian faith that believes God lets animals into Heaven as well as deserving humans, and I wish Morris explored this idea a little more. The dad seems condescendingly sympathetic when discussing arrangements with a couple who has lost their dog, but the couple doesn't seem to notice. Perhaps that obsequiousness is part and parcel of helping strangers grieve? Particularly affecting are his sons, who seem like they walked straight off the "Six Feet Under" set. Both saw their dreams dashed and, at the time of the film, were surviving by joining the family's burial business. The lonely single one, who mostly sits around huffing reefer and wailing on his guitar, opines that everyone should have their heart broken once (for a more complete understanding of life's disappointments and their hidden effect on the people around us?), an unprovoked, forlorn but ultimately true sentiment in a movie filled with them. I don't agree with Morris' detractors that claim "Gates" makes fun of its peculiar subjects, nor with Ebert that it is among the 10 best movies ever made, but it's certainly an intriguing slice of obscured reality.
"Joe D'Amato Totally Uncut 2" - This came with Shriek Show's long-awaited, beautiful "Anthropophagus" DVD, and is an extension of a doc by Roger Fratter that came with their release of D'Amato's nunsploitation picture "Images In A Convent". The general complaint with the first "Totally Uncut" seems to be that it ignored the contributions of D'Amato - prolific director Aristide Massachesi's best-known psuedonym - to the horror genre, which is supposedly the major focus here. Personally, I'd rather hear about Laura Gemser's sapphic, tragic career, but I like the scholarly female narrator's assessment of "Anthropophagus" and "Buio Omega" as, if not true classics, then effectively unpleasant highlights of Italian horror's most notoriously gruesome period. I imagine if viewed together and uncut (these American versions are apparently trimmed), Fratter's two films paint a decent portrait of a productive guy whose epic filmography includes everything from family adventures and post-apocalyptic action flicks to genuinely disturbing gore and tons of hardcore porn (which the aesthete famously continued to shoot on actual film well into the '90s). Long disparaged by cinephiles as a complete hack, a paragon of crassness among the many opportunists who fueled the once-thriving Italian exploitation industry, his huge body of work has been reevaluted after his early death in 1999. Nobody really has an unkind word about D'Amato here, who in some of his final interviews seems like a fun, lusty, self-aware movie lover that just happened to make lots of disreputable movies. (I'd stop before calling him an artist - after all, the guy is somewhat responsible for the existence of both "Troll 2" and "Anal Palace"). His contributions to envelope-pushing cinema are without question, as D'Amato brought together sex and violence to the extent of making XXX movies featuring cheap, flesh-eating, woman-overpowering zombies. Ya gotta admire the temerity, if not the results - if you need a handy sleep aid, let me loan you the lousy unsubtitled boot of "Erotic Nights of the Living Dead" which I possess through no effort of my own. Joe's quips and stories are amusing, especially when he calls Eurofilm legend Klaus Kinski a "whore" and recounts how a prop screw-up during "Anthropophagus" led to his possession of a bunch of ancient Christian bones from the catacombs in which he filmed the infamous fetus-ripping-and-eating scene. More on that lovely image and other reasons I love Shriek Show's DVDs to come...
In a mellow mood? Try Leafblade, medieval balladry by Anathema's Danny Cavanagh and pals, another fine addition to the Strangelight records family. And, whoo, am I out of the loop... if you enjoy unorthodox recordings, maybe you were aware of The 365 Days Project. It's three years old, and full of pure insanity.
posted by SoulReaper at 10:33 PM
9 Comments:
You fucking liar. "The Brothers Grimm" was not particularly good, and I hadn't heard anything about it before I watched it. It was like somebody was trying really hard to make a Terry Gilliam film but was failing miserably. Take a really clever movie and then remove all the wit, and then BOOM - you've got yourself "The Brothers Grimm." And the pacing was awful... there was no payoff to anything that was being set up! It was like watching a guy inflate a balloon, and as the balloon gets bigger, you anticipate a grand "POP" - maybe one with glitter in it even - but each time the balloon reaches its capacity, the guy just lets all the air out of it and then starts inflating it again. Being perpetually let down for ninety fucking minutes (which, admittedly, is probably what it's like to sleep with me) is not my idea of a good time.
I liked The Brothers Grimm if for no other reason than because Gilliam had such a hard time getting it made. I like rooting for the underdog.
Also, before I left the video store in Missoula, we enjoyed these compilation videos of work by Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, and Chris Cunningham.
National Geographic's series on Taboo was interesting.
Mad Hot Ballroom had a regular rotation as did the ever classic Buena Vista Social Club. Oh, and Keep the River on your Right: a modern cannibal tale.
There was a trailer for "Keep the River On the Right" on the "Noam Chomsky: Manufacturing Consent" DVD I rented a month or two ago. I had totally forgotten that had come out after the reviews piqued my interest. I will hunt that down. I was surprised I liked "Buena Vista," I thought it would be really sappy.
Dude, widespread animal violence. Peter Stormare. Jonathan Pryce. That horse shooting spider webs out of its mouth. All that fucking mud. It did feel like a series of anticlimaxes, I'll give you that, and the CG was really poor. But it's good fantasy. I don't really think of it as a real Gilliam picture, more something he did for a paycheck, and with a shitload of effort at that. I like it like I like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" or "Intolerable Cruelty" - diluted Gilliam, but it's got personality.
Don't listen to Kyle, everybody. Everybody knows he's a "closet stud."
Good fantasy? I mean, "Titanic" is good boat sinkery - doesn't make it a good movie. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Intolerable Cruelty," while arguably not the best Tim Burton or Coen Brothers contributions, are still good. Oh, and thanks for reminding me about the terrible CGI - I forgot to mention it.
In regards to Terry Gilliam having a tough time making "The Brothers Grimm," has there ever been a time he didn't? "Baron Munchausen" had almost as rough a go of it as "Don Quixote" and it still turned out phenomenal.
And seriously. A former Monty Python creating something almost completely devoid of wit and humor? Who does Gilliam think he is, Eric Idle?
And what about me? Will I ever stop criticising things in the form of questions?
Take Jimmy Eat World and stir in a little James Taylor, add a little Get Up Kids and top with a pinch of Phil Collins
...and back away slowly?
By the way, I second Barb's recommendation of "Mad Hot Ballroom." Fabulous, fabulous movie.
Wow, James Taylor AND Phil Collins? I bet the folks at TRL are squirming in anticipation. 'Cause that last kid who had the hipness of Gordon Lightfoot with the fiery intensity of a young John Denver never panned out.
Well, if Barb and Kitten both vouch for "Ballroom," I will watch the kids dance.
Charlie: Sure he did. His name is Chris Carrabba.
Kyle: I mean it is good genre entertainment. Imagine "Krull." It is horribly paced, the actors are dull (except Lysette Anthony, who is still hot even with the puffy '80s hair). But, there's the Glaive. The Crystal Spider. The Slayers. The Beast. Elements which add pleasure to the experience for those who enjoy that sort of thing. "Suspiria" makes no damned sense and everything takes forever to happen in it. But that opening murder. The Goblin score. The insane lighting. The blue velvet walls in the dance academy lobby. That part where everything goes quiet and zombie Sara busts out of the wardrobe with the butcher knife. Or how about "Dune"? Or "The Beyond"? None of those is really a "good" movie, especially if you consider what has been shown as possible for genre entertainment ("Lord of the Rings," "Evil Dead," "Star Wars," etc.), but if you are going to try to tell me "Krull" and "Suspiria" are not good fantasy or horror on my own blog, I would be very surprised. Maybe "Grimm" is not a good movie, but is good fantasy, and the little Gilliam fingerprints just make it better for me as a fan of his previous work. If you mean the main thrust of the story and the fairy tale allusions have no wit, you probably have a point. Perhaps, as is rumored, Miramax got pushy and Gilliam just wanted to finish - I haven't listened to his commentary yet. Personally, I thought Stormare and Pryce were hilarious.
Fair enough. I did start listening to Gilliam's commentary. He mentioned something about not liking the screenplay when he first read it, which was reassuring - but of course, he went on to make the movie anyway. And then he started talking about how great things turned out. Meh. I had to return the DVD so I never finished listening to it. I intended to give the movie another shot someday, but in the meantime, I'm waiting for Tideland to finally come out.
And with ten comments, I officially declare this post a hit. Granted, three of them are mine...
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