ragepists

SHADOWS

I have not been in a Cassavetes Mood. I realize that may sound blasphemous to some, but hurr me out. I got into a Cassavetes Mood after watching the remarkably powerful "A Woman Under The Influence", possibly my favourite movie of 08. Unfortunately, none of the other JC movies I've seen have had a comparable impact. I didn't even get halfway through "Killing of a Chinese Bookie." By the time my Inter-Library Loan of "Shadows" came in, I was fully out of the JC Kick. But since the dvd had traveled over 100 miles to reach me, and it was due back soon, and I'd recently devised the Absolutely Genius Scheme of Fast-Forwarding Through Boring Parts of Movies, and Shadows was a mere 81 minutes long, I figured why not.

On the box it implies that this 1959 movie single-handedly ushered in The Independent Film Movement. I don't take umbrage with that. Cassavetes' reputation as the Father of Independent (not to be confused with The Independent "Spirit" "art-house" films of today produced by insidious megacorps like Fox Searchlight or Miramax etc) is fairly credible. I just need to be in the right mood to watch his stuff. Often I find his dialogue ridiculously overwrought and his male characters to be unrelatetoable (conversely, he really lets his humanity show through his female characters cough GENA ROWLANDS).

Take Faces. I disliked the men in that movie very much. The men in Shadows were a Little Better, but they still weren't that likeable. These men are outwardly annoying and obnoxious, and (non-significant spoiler alert) I was very glad to see them get the bejesus beat out of them at the end. If these men were transported into the modern era, such would happen immediately. You just cannot act like this with getting your ass beat.

Cassavetes was flourishing during the postwar era of unheard-of cultural change. Arguably, it was a bit easier to challenge the status quo then than it is in this current "nothing's shocking" epoch. (Generalization. Of course you can still shock people!) Stuff like interracial romance, adultery, women's personalities, and mental illness were kind of a big deal at the time, and people had not made 6,000,000 "Independent-Spirited" movies on these topics yet. So I fully understand how JC blew many minds at the time.

And this movie does seem a bit ahead of its time for 1959 and everyone is "real" in a way that seems kind of Beat-ish and nascently self-aware. "We're the first generation o to really DISCOVER ourselves, MAN", which, understandably, was probably pretty fun at the time, but now it seems dated and CLOYING. They apparently did not discover how abrasive and annoying they were! I dunno. Maybe it's just a new york thing. Also note the scene in "Shadows" in which the older woman engages in some "intellectual" agression with the younger woman regarding an interpretation of Sartre. Cassavetes clearly played this for comedic value, so he was certainly aware of how ridiculous the academic posturing is.

He's a smart guy. I just wish his men weren't so damn annoying. I'm starting to think it was his intent, though, to make so many of his men immature and unsympathizewithable. A bold intent indeed.

That's about it. I have an innate admiration for Cassavetes, but I just don't seem to Love his movies the way I love movies I really love. He's more than worth a couple Cool Points, though.

ii.

Political Milieux

Several things I've noticed in the "Immediate Action" Dep't:

1. Putting Guantanamo on hiatus. Not sure of all the details here, and I'm not sure how Actual of an Effect this will have, but the Symbolism is evident.

2. Mini-Controversy with Treasury Secretary "forgetting" to pay his taxes. I'm sure critics are gonna jump on this horse and ride it into the ground.

3. Some sorta stuff re Gaza. I haven't been following this as closely as I should. Although I hear the Palestinian Babies' Blood Wafers are selling like hotcakes over in il.

4. Our local papers spotlighted the somewhat "human interest issue" of Obama's overthrowing of W's "no shirtsleeves in the oval office" rule. I feel like a jerk even mentioning something so Fluffy. But I do morbidly hope some obnoxious journalist writes a whole damn article about it for me to link.

iii.

ACADEMY AWARDZZZ

I cannot take these too seriously, but, it's Big Movie News and it'll get you two minutes of conversation in a pinch.

Benjamin Button has been receiving some flack. It looks pretty stupid, and I have not seen it yet. I have not seen 95% of the movies on the list because they have not yet come to the second-run theatre I frequent [which does not tend to show award-worthy fare anyway], and I refuse to spend more than $6 to see a first-run movie unless I have a somewhat compelling reason to see it beyond mere curiosity. Welcome to Michigan Motherfuckers.

Robert Downey Jr's nomination for "Tropic Thunder" was the most surprising thing. Obv.

I kinda like David Fincher but Ben Button doesn't seem to have that gritty "typical Fincher" look.

Fuck Danny Boyle.

I hate Ron Howard, but I like his daughter, and Frost/Nixon does look interesting.

I don't know much about The Reader other than it would probably make me a little uncomfortable, and I kinda want to see it. But I don't really like Kate Winslet.

I want to see "Milk" but I don't want Gus van Sant to win.

I'm disappointed "The Wrestler" got the shaft in Best Pic and Best Dir bc I like Darren Aronofksy and Mickey Rourke. Hopefully Rourke gets the best actor. A semi-predictable "upset", but don't even lie: seeing Rourke back on top o' the world gives you some feeling of hope. "The Wrestler" is the movie I'm most willing to shell out the big bucks for.

Apparently There's a Baader-Meinhof movie in the Foreign category. Because I live in a culturally-backward wasteland, I have not heard of most of these movies, and they certainly have not played at the one theater even remotely likely to play them.

Some people will no doubt be disappointed by the lack of recognition for "The Dark Knight." I'm gonna repeat my verdict that I thought it was a pretty boring movie, so. . . . c'est la vie. I do grant, though, that wanting Ledger to win best supporting actor is a legitimate desire. In fact, the untakeseriouslyable nomination of R Downey suggests, to me, that Heath has this category on LOCK.

Documentary: see my remark on the "Foreign" category. I'm a Documentary / Foreign movie kinda guy, so I really do wish there were some opportunity in my area to see these movies before the damn awards. But there's not. I think "Encounters at the end of the world" is a Herzog movie, so I'm gonna say give Werner the trophy already.

Animated feature: I enjoyed WALL-E, I walked out of "Kung Fu Panda," and I heard Bolt (3-d version) was extraordinarily entertaining. So I'd like to see the latter because it sounds fun.

Some critics will be upset not too see more recognition to "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", but you really can't be surprised to see WOODY ALLEN getting snubbed by the academy. He's simply too cool for that sort of thing. Penelope Cruz got a nom for supactr, but I don't really like her. So I have mixed feelings. I'm still upset I haven't seen this yet.

But I am glad that Charlie Kaufman and "Synechdoche, N.Y." got nominated for nothing.

I can't really recall a movie I've seen at the theatre in the past year that I thought was oscar-worthy.

I am making myself inaccessible to that population of the world who does not read this paragraph; After fully enjoying a one-week hiatus from Myspace, I'm going to be taking another until 1/29; and, my phone is outta commish for the next couple of days. I apologize for any messages I have not returned.

In a couple days I'll have a few freshly-fast-forwarded-thru movies for Yew.

And I'm totally going to see "The Wrestler" on Friday.

Have a day that is not the worst day of Your life.