Breathless
Originally uploaded by Tombrarian
Always a happy day when Film Comment shows up.
Unfortunately the restored version of Breathless is not coming to Vegas (surprise). I had heard it was going to play in L.A., and I toyed with the idea of driving out for it but found out the date it was playing about 2 days too late.
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I took a break from reading Against the Day (and from the summer of long novels) to read Revolutionary Road. The main reason I took the break was because I was flying to Chicago and didn’t feel like lugging an 1,085 page hardback. It’s now August of my self-imposed summer of reading fat novels and I still have more that 200 pages left in Against the Day. I was hoping to have this and at least one other fat novel done before Inherent Vice comes out this week but that’s not going to happen.
The break for Revolutionary Road was worth it. I read about half of it on the plane and in Chicago, and I finished the second half the week we got back. I was not at all familiar with the book or with Richard Yates until I read a review of the movie. I have a strange fascination with the suburbs, especially in the development of the suburbs (as a place and as a way of life) in the years following WWII. When I read what the setting was in the film review, I knew I wanted to read the book before seeing the movie.
Revolutionary Road is reminiscent of the works of Raymond Carver and captures a similar post-war ennui as something like The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. Like those works, Revolutionary Road does not paint a pretty picture of post-war suburban life. For Frank Wheeler, in Revolutionary Road, and Tom Rath, in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, life in the suburbs and in business is drab and uneventful compared to their experience in the war. This discontent wreaks havoc on their family lives.
What’s difficult to appreciate is the novelty these works presented in the late 1950s. In the 21st Century, the idea that the suburbs are not some kind of blissful paradise is rather banal. But, at the time, this idea was unconventional and daring.
The film, Revolutionary Road, doesn’t quite live up to the novel, but it quite excellent. The film is very faithful to the book, with, of course, many scenes left out for length considerations. Having read the book, I wondered if these exclusions left too many gaps in the narrative and left too much unexplained. The biggest omission was the background story about Frank and his father. This background gives great weight to Frank’s working at Knox. In the film, Franks does explain a little bit of this background, but it certainly doesn’t compare to the actual scenes in the book. That said, the film still holds up well on its own. Even though I am not a big Leonardo DiCaprio fan, I knew he would make a great Frank Wheeler. Kate Winslet is likewise a perfect April Wheeler.
Youth Knows No Pain is an excellent documentary about the cosmetic surgery industry. The filmmaker is the daughter of a plastic surgeon and she presents an excellent balance of personal story, pertinent information, and interviews with people who want or have had cosmetic surgery. The interviewees are all fascinating.
Mercy is an exceedingly predictable tale of a vain writer who falls for one of his critics. Scott Caan (who also wrote and directed) plays a womanizer who writes books about love meets woman who turns his life around. Despite the triteness of the story, Mercy still finds a way to be mostly engaging and entertaining.
Godspeed is a slow, predictable, poorly acted film about a faith healer who is kidnapped by the family of a woman he failed to cure.
World’s Greatest Dad is a wonderfully black comedy about a father, played by Robin Williams, of an incredibly obnoxious teenage son. I have grown tired of Williams over the years, but he is stellar in this film. Writen and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, World’s Greatest Dad is relentlessly nasty, laugh-out loud funny, and strangely effecting.
Stingray Sam, directed by Cory McAbee, who also directed The American Astronaut, is best described as a science fiction musical western and all the goofiness that implies. This short film (about 60 min) is actually a series of ten minute episodes. After the screening, McAbee explained he decided on this structure partly because The American Astronaut was chopped up an put on YouTube. Stingray Sam is designed for various distribution methods. It can be watched as an entire film or digested in small chunks.
Stingray Sam, starring the members of the band American Astronaut, is a joy to watch. Filled with big ideas–the end of civilization, genetic experiments, tiny robots, pregnant men–it, nonetheless, never takes itself seriously. Each episode features its own song, most are quite memorable.
It Came From Kuchar is a documentary about the underground filmmakers George and Mike Kuchar. The film is a by-the-book documentary (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing) alternating between talking head interviews and historical clips. I did not know much about the Kuchar brothers going in and found the film very informative and entertaining. It provides an excellent overview of their lives and works and convincingly asserts their importance to the history and development of underground film.
Asylum Seekers is a terribly misguided film and a candidate for the worst film I have ever seen at a film festival (previously held by the unintentionally humorous Hard Candy). The story of six misfits who either committed themselves or in one case was committed by a spouse to a mental institution, Asylum Seekers loses its way early an often. The asylum has room for only one new patient, so the six characters each need to prove that they are the most worthy.
Ostensibly a satire (one hopes), the film is painfully unfunny. Most of the “jokes” are groanfully predictable. The characters never rise above type (the horny virgin, the shy exhibitionist…see these are contradictions, clever, no? No). As tedious as the proceedings are, the film comes to a dead stop during a “talent” competition.
It’s hard to describe Humpday without making it sounds sleazy which would be unfair because it is anything but. Two old friends reunite and during one drunken evening make a deal to make a gay porn video. Pride and mutual egging on remove any possibility that they will just turn their backs on the promise. Much more about male friendship than anything sexual, Humpday is funny and touching.
Redland takes place during the Great Depression and focuses on a poor family living in the woods in Northern California. The film proceeds with minimal dialog. The focus here is on visual storytelling and setting a mood which the film excels at. Through the use of filters, Redland has a unique look which enhances the disturbing tale. Redland is challenging to sit through but well-worth the effort.
Easier with Practice, which won the CineVegas Jury Award, is about a writer who is traveling with his brother, ostensibly to promote his book. One night in a hotel room, he receives a random call from someone offering phone sex. At first reluctant, the writer begins a phone relationship that ends when he finally meets the person on the other end of the line.
Although based on a true story, Easier with Practice comes across a bit contrived, and the “surprise” not so surprising or satisfying. The main character become increasingly unlikable especially during the stretch of the film where he has a chance to develop a relationship with an old girlfriend but casts her aside because of his phone interest.
Likable tale of Patriotville, a small town which is in such financial crisis that they initiate plans to build a casino much to the disappointment of a young curator of the local history museum. The film is enjoyable enough but isn’t particularly substantial.
It’s a bit difficult to keep up with posts about the CineVegas films since, well, I’m in the theater all day. Being thus, I will shoot for shorter overviews.
Yikes. I was very curious about this movie since it sounded like it was inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow. It certainly was but very very loosely. The film centers on Tyrone who is searching the woods for “his” miniature V-2 rocket. Eh…that’s about it as far as plot goes. He wanders about the woods, bumps into strange characters, speaks with a talking octopus, makes out with a rocket. Films ends with an extended scene of Tyrone talking with Katje, who had been pestering him in the woods. Not sure how long this scene is but it felt like it would never end.
Plot-wise, Impolex uses Gravity’s Rainbow as a jumping off point but really has nothing much to do with the book. Characters have names from the book but they aren’t the characters; they just have the same names. The film makes references to items from the book: kazoos, bananas, the aforementioned octopus. But none of these references contribute anything to the story. They are just details thrown in.
I was disappointed not only because there was no substantial connection to Pynchon, but also because I didn’t want to start my day bored to tears. Impolex is only 74 minutes but as John Simon once said about Robert Creeley’s poetry: “They are short; they are not short enough.”
Moon, on the other hand, was phenomenal. I think part of the reason I was so taken with it is that it is an intelligent, philosophical science fiction film that is a throwback to films like 2001, Alien and Solaris, with a touch of Philip K. Dick thrown in. Director Duncan Jones admitted as much in the Q & A after the film.
It’s hard to say much about what Moon is about since saying anything feels like it would give away some of the ample twists the film provides. Sam Rockwell is excellent as Sam Bell, an astronaut who works by himself on a moon base operated by a company that extracts energy from moon rocks. The isolation wears on his mind and a hallucination causes him to have an accident, after which, Moon takes off in a fascinating and challenging direction.
The Square is about an affair gone very very wrong. Married man is in an affair with a married woman. Married woman’s husband shows up with a bag of money. Married women wants to steal money so that she and married man can run off. Nothing good can come of this and nothing does.
The Square is very bleak and intense. But as needs to happen in such a tale, the characters make poor choices that make a bad situation worse. There is a lot to like about The Square, but some of the poor choices feel, at times, a bit mechanical. The choices are made to prolong the plot.
Last night, I went to my first opening night for a film festival and saw Saint John of Las Vegas, which opened CineVegas. I’m not much into all the fanfare that surrounded the premier. There was a crowd of people outside the theater all taking pictures. I couldn’t see over the crowd to see who they were taking pictures of, so I just shrugged and went into the theater to get a good seat.
The film was good but not great. Very entertaining but ultimately pretty slight. Steve Buscemi plays an man with a gambling addiction who moves from Vegas to New Mexico to run from a streak of bad luck. He works for an insurance company and gets a chance for a promotion to the fraud detection arm of the company. His first investigation sends him back to Vegas.
Romany Malco plays the fraud detection expert that Buscemi teams up with and the contrast between Malco’s serious Virgil and Buscemi’s dishelved John provides the most interest. Sarah Silverman plays Buscemi’s co-worker and love interest and that relationship is played mainly for laughs.
The film is partly inspired by Dante’s Inferno but that association is pretty loose and a bit heavy handed. John’s last name is Alighieri. There is a character named Lou Cipher. And in case you don’t catch that joke the first time, Buscemi’s John repeats the name 3 times for you when he first meets him.
Overall, Saint John of Las Vegas is very entertaining and often laugh-out-loud funny. The acting is top notch and the production belies it’s low budget origins. The film is the first feature film by Hue Rhoodes and has enough going for it that one can look forward to his future work.
The process of selecting my films for CineVegas was easy. I had purchased a pass a while ago for 16 films and was able to fill out an online form last week to select the films. I was prompt and received all my first choices.
When I bought the pass, I hadn’t realized that the 2009 festival is a few days shorter than it was last year. Also, the pass I bought includes the opening night film and I wasn’t sure at first if that counted against the 16. It doesn’t, so I actually have passes to 17 films. The fact that the festival is shorter than I thought means I have a much tighter and busier schedule than I anticipated. The full schedule for the festival can be found here.
Wednesday, June 10th:
Thursday, June 11th:
Friday, June 12th:
Saturday, June 13th:
Sunday, June 14th:
Monday, June 15th:
After a hellishly busy semester at work, I now have quite a few fun things I’m looking forward to.
In about a week, Chris and I will be spending 5 days in Yosemite National Park. We are staying in Lee Vining, CA just east of the park.
The week after coming back from there is CineVegas. Last year, I was able only to see 3 films. This year, I bought a pass for 16. I didn’t realize at the time that the festival is shorter this year. So, it’ll be a busy 5 days.
We have tickets to see Wilco at the new Joint the week after that.
And, in July, we head off to Chicago for the American Library Association conference. I am taking a few days off after the conference so Chris and I can sightsee. It’ll be a half-work, half-vacation trip.
Last weekend, I hurt my back while sneezing, of all things. First thing Saturday morning, too. Missed two days of work. Crazy. But it did give me the chance to be lazy and watch some baseball and old movies. Would have been much more enjoyable if I had done so by choice, but there you have it.
Chris and I have been talking about getting rid of our cable and our home phone. We’re paying $100 for both and we don’t watch that much TV and rely mainly on our cell phones. However, being laid up for 4 days made me realize that if we got rid of the cable, I couldn’t ever be sick or injured again. Back in Philly, we didn’t have cable for 14 years. Now that we have it, I’m finding it difficult to let go even though I still don’t watch it that much. Mainly for baseball and old movies. As a huge movie fan, I always look first to Turner Classic Movies. What I like about watching movies on cable as opposed to getting films through Netflix is that I often watch films that I wouldn’t actively seek out. Which is what happened while my back was hurting. I watched three movies that I would never have added to my Netflix queue and enjoyed all three.
The good news is that the back is all but better. The bad news is that I don’t have an excuse to sit around all weekend watching baseball and old movies!
Libraries and Transliteracy
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