Over the last few weeks, I viewed the films Persepolis and Sweetland. I would highly recommend them both. They are very different films but both excellently conceived and executed lower budget projects. Both films are also slightly and refreshingly understated by today’s standards. I also just finished Rebecca Solnit’s “River of Shadows: Eadward Mubridge and the Technological Wild West” which is a tremendous whirlwind of a cultural/political/art history narrative. I’m also still hoping that J.E. will post some of those sketches he was doing.
Category: Movies (Page 3 of 4)
1) I have read Atonement now. The book is different than the movie, the latter part being significantly different. I feel that it is more baffling than the movie too. I’m not sure what to make of it.
I feel that McEwan is making a statement about how certain behaviors can not be made right in life. To that I agree, one can not go back and change the decisions one has made, for better or worse we are bound by time; and I think in the most catholic sense, we can not atone for such choices. But in a larger sense, I feel that we can change. We learn from our mistakes, and we are changed by regret. I think there is something in this, maybe not equal to atonement, but very valuable nonetheless.
The ending of the book (radically more complex than the movie) confused me. SPOIILER ALERT: Briony’s character does not seem to be aware that her exposing of the rape and shaming others will not, in fact, bring about any kind of resolution or “atonement” for her own earlier actions. This is sad if nothing else.
But then, with the references to an author being like God and that there can be no atonement for God or authors because they can bend reality however they want to, I sort of lost him and what he was trying to say about life or fiction or atonement. The book certainly leaves your thoughts running in circles as to what fiction is and what a story is.
2) I also recently finished John Berger’s new book of essays. The essays are more political than many of his past and there is less about art. I think I prefer his book Shape of a Pocket. But I am glad to have read these new essays, especially a couple of them.
3) I am now in the middle of two books, Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny by Robert Wright, and The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr. (winner of the 1978 National Book Award), which is a fantasy influneced by Chaucer, Milton, and other cultural fables and myths.
As far as the Wright book goes I still think, as I did with the Moral Animal, that he takes too long developing his arguments, but I am enjoying it. It is interesting that he brings up some ideas of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the somewhat nonconventional Catholic monk/paleontologist/anthropologist who I happened to be reading when I was reading the Moral Animal. He focuses especially on de Chardin’s idea of society as a brain or organism and the more we unite and connect, the more we resemble the evolution of a complex organism. Maybe this simply prooves deChardin’s famous concept that “everything that rises, must converge.” Of course, he dismisses de Chardin’s mystical aspects. I appreciate the breadth of Wright’s writing, all of the sources he brings in.
I should have time to read this week (as Sara is leaving for a weekend with her sisters) but not much, since I need to be painting my ass off.
4) Next on my list is River of Shadows by Rebecca Solnit, just in case anybody actually reads this far into my post.
5) I also read an interesting article about Dark Energy and Dark Matter in the New York Times on Tuesday.
6) And it looks like it is shaping up to be Obama. Hope he picks a good running partner.
7) I saw the Golden Compass. The actress they chose for Lyra was great, but the movie actually felt lighter, less dark and less urgent than the book. It will be interesting to see if they make the next two.
8) I also managed to see Prince Caspian, which I thoroughly enjoyed. There is a scene where they attack Prince Miraz’s castle that is really visually rich and seems to spell out a subtle lesson of pre-emptive warfare that is relevant to our times. The movie is perhaps almost embarrassingly satisfying, but maybe I didn’t mind that so much in this instance. I was happy just having fun.
9) Of course, I felt a little guilty. Eliot and I are reading the Narnia series together, and he has been swinging a sword and shield I made for him for a costume party, pretending to be Peter the knight. So when he discovered I had seen the movie, he was full of questions about Peter… and about when he gets to see it…
10) Just thought this post was long enough to constitute ten items.
OK, so I am a little late to weigh in on the old discussion, so I thought I might renew it as I have finally been able to take this great movie in. I have to admit that I enjoyed it thoroughly and that it has haunted my thoughts the last couple of days (and, perhaps most embarrassingly, my bad version of DDL’s charater’s accent has been haunting Amanda since I saw it. I think we may have to rename our dog, Ernie as “H.W.”. Anyway, some points of interest for me- Mandy pointed out that the preacher was played by the angst-ridden teen from Little Miss Sunshine. She also pointed out the quite obvious and symbolic notion that where did the minister (term used loosely) come to get big oil’s help at the end? He was in the gutter. Sure it was a more oplulant gutter, but a gutter nevertheless. Knowing what he was and whata he represented the preacher pulled Plainview from the gutter to get what he wanted. Interesting to me was the character of Daniel Plainview- almost as though he is birthed from a pit at the beginning of the movie, I think he was intriging. There are some hints in the film as to his background, but I don’t think that it is all that important. I think there are some traits of anti-social personality here as well as a complete lack of social understanding, almost to an Asperger’s degree. I think he was intentionally played with a relatively flat array of personality. He is almost more a thing, than a person. A crazy thing, made most apparant in scenes like the one where he tells the other oilman that he is going to “cut his throat”. I don’t think one must interpret this movie in the most general of ways- that all oil industry is bad or that all religion is fake or full of lies. I think this movie is about a lot of things, a social commentary and cautionary tale about the lies we tell others and ourselves to mask our greed from ourselves and others, to be wary of the actual cost of things, the way that complex issues vibrate Hud’s “Web of Life”. Sometimes the things we hold most near and dear to us are the things that blind us the most to their effect on the systems they are connected to. I feel as though the metamessage is more about taking a critical perspective about our involvement in things, whether that be our church’s politics, our government’s foriegn policies, our own interactions with others, etc. Mandy watched it the day after I saw it and I joined her about halfway through. I have to admit the music, the mood, etc – Brilliant; I couldn’t take my eyes off of the film.
There’s an endearing article on the Jones chronicles in the Times today, not as important as Rauschenberg perhaps as J.E. has helped make evident, but diverting.
Sara and I managed to get out for a brief evening for my birthday (my Jesus year is over). We had a nice dinner and went to see Atonement.
Things I liked about the film:
1) It is really quite subtle and actually relies entirely at certain points on the actors ability to communicate simply through expressions and body language.
2) The visuals are strong, both beautiful and repelling.
3) The chronology and storytelling are engaging (though even I haven’t read the book it is obvious there was some chopping of details).
4) Its ending makes you think and reflect about its themes quite effectively, forgiveness, judgment, the imagination, class, etc.
Things I wonder about:
1) I am familiar with only one other story by McEwan, Black Dogs. I like Atonement better. Both stories rely on a rape as a central part of the plot. Even though this may even have metaphorical implications beyond traditional plot devices, it struck me as a bit strange.
Maybe those of you who have read more McEwan can comment. I wondered about this because Atonement seems to be about reality versus fiction and the power of fiction to redeem real life mistakes. Any thoughts on this?
I will say that we both thought the movie was a powerful and dramatic story. Just that one thing came up in our discussion.
If you haven’t yet seen U2-3D, I highly recommend getting to your closest IMAX theater to take it in. It gives a whole new experience to “Vertigo.” There are some amazing shots, and the 3D quality of it is such that you feel you could reach out and take Bono’s glasses right off his face. It also gives you some of the little details of what goes on up on stage–Larry Mullen’s orange Fanta, for example. The set list is very good, and while it can’t quite capture actually being at the concert, it’s the closest thing available. Even just some of the shots over the crowd are remarkable, and the whole film gives you the virtual experience of what it must be like to be walking out on those catwalks in front of thousands of people. I think the film is in limited release now, but supposed to be wider in the next few weeks. I’m not sure it will be coming to the Hutchinson Cosmosphere, however…
Happy holidays to all! Be safe, merry, and joyous, and accept good intentions for the New Year and for seeing you all in 2008.Â
Jen and I will be at her parents’ home for a couple of days over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, then will be enjoying some restful days here in Minneapolis. We have a good few inches of snow on the ground, and it’s expected to snow tomorrow an inch or two. So no need for dreaming of a white Christmas in these parts.Â
OUT STEALING HORSES by Per Petterson is #33 on this week’s New York Times Bestsellers list. Amazing for such an introspective, literary work of translation. Funnily enough the book is just ahead of WAR AND PEACE. So take that, Tolstoy!
Any thoughts on the past year? Predictions for the new one? Anyone care to share some of their favorite books, albums, gallery exhibits, songs, movies, etc. of 2007?Â
Here’s to what’s ahead…Â
It seems like there’s been a sad chain of obituaries on the blog lately. I’m a little hesitant in the midst of those to post something so frivolous, but it’s an exciting frivolous. At least, I can’t help but get a little giddy about these two news items today.
Click the links below to visit Tob’s excitement:
http://www.indianajones.com/site/index.html
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/ironman/
Sara and I had our only date in five months tonight. We ate dinner and saw HP and the Order. It was of course my choice of movie, but she enjoyed it almost as much as I did. We both liked it.
I recently read an article which talked about Rowling’s insistence that the themes and narrative arcs in the story are the product of a deeply felt Christianity. I felt that that was evident with this story more than the other stories that have made it to screen, for sure, but perhaps that is due to the escalting nature of the stories and good and evil. Her books, of course, took a beating from the right in this country, and I am amazed that Rowling managed to keep her Christianity basically a secret for all that time she was lambasted. She is quoted in the article as saying she felt that to state that Christianity undergirded the books was to give away the ending. In some ways I feel guilty for not having read the rest of the series (I thought at the time I finished the third book, years ago, that this series was never going to end and I wasn’t interested in reading the same thing over and over. I also read the first three books of the Series of Unfortunate Events). I do, as Shotts suggested, hope to enjoy them with my children some day, along with the Tolkien books and many others. Eliot has been learning some words with flash cards.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the film (which wouldn’t have been new to any of you readers of the series) was HP’s discovery of his father’s teasing and bullying of Snape. It is jolting and changing, that moment when you realize your parents are not right about everything and perhaps downright wrong about some things. I also read the NY Times article and found it interesting that Hitchens complains about the HP series’ avoidance of Christianity and then encourages readers to “graduate” to the Pullman trilogy.
There was an advertisement for the Golden Compass at the beginning of the film for which New Line cinema appears to have pulled out all the stops. I would strongly urge that anyone who plans to go see the movie (which I assume is all of the Hollow Men) should first read the entire trilogy, not necessarily as a recommendation from me, but because my guess from the preview is that they have toned down much of the philisophical content. And you certainly won’t get the Milton and biblical literary references from the film. It might make good discussion material; since in the very first scene of the book, Pullman deliberately decided to have a girl coming OUT of a wardrobe.
This may be a funny way to end this post, switching topics, but I’m curious as to how the HM would respond to this quote by Wright from the Moral Animal…
“Friends engage in mutual inflation. Being a person’s true friend means endorsing the untruths he holds dearest…it may be that the hallmark of the strongest, longest friendships is the depth of the shared bias; the best friends are the ones who see each other least clearly.”
(Click for a much larger photo)
I would just like to announce to all of you that Indiana Jones is officially underway with Speilberg at the helm and Ford, Connery, and Cate Blanchett along for the ride.
Video after the break.
Oh, and…first.
So here I am at the McPherson Public Library buzzing on coffee from the Main St. Deli. Now seems like an appropriate time to post Marlon Brando reading “The Hollow Men.” Enjoy if you dare.
I finished “The Lost Painting” on Friday. Toby, are you still reading it? (Good to hear the design stuff is keeping you busy by the way). The book follows the discovery of a Caravaggio painting entitled “The Taking of Christ” (among other names). It was a great escape every night from the hectic pace of my day. I kind of miss the book now that it is done, which is written as non-fiction, for a number of reasons.
I had a funny relationship with the painting. When the first articles came out about its discovery, I was at KCAI and I remember speaking with one of the art history professors there about what the painting would be worth, were the monks who owned it to put it up for sale.
Then, years later, I managed to see the work at the National Gallery in Dublin, Ireland.The book also goes somewhat into the details of restoring a painting, which was another stroll down memory lane, and it was interesting to see how accurate Harr was in conveying the details of the process.
Peters, the Nonviolent Communication book came in the mail the other day. I have started it but am digesting chapters at a time – partly because I want to make sure I am reflecting on what he’s saying – partly because I’m reading several other books concurrently. It is written in a very accessible style though; so I’m sure I can finish by the lake if you are planning on being there.
My other books are: Merwin’s prose pieces I already mentioned, the de Chardin book which I also mentioned earlier (the man who coined the phrase “Everything That Rises Must Converge” and was a strong influence on both F. O’ Connor and Walker Percy and who is quoted in Peters NVC book twice), and Lawrence Weschler’s new book, “Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences”, which is art criticism. “Out Stealing Horses” is still in the mail, and I ordered a copy of “The Moral Animal” too. So it seems our online discussion has left me both emotionally and financially broke.
J.E., I watched the two films at work when I should have been grading. I liked them both, but felt the first one was more challenging, the second more stylish.
Of course, I’m also reading “Flotsom”, this year’s Cladecott winner that I bought a copy of because Eliot loved the library’s copy so much. It’s a great piece of work.
I just finished my most recent painting going in a show at the library this summer, which may be quite bad because it’s fairly personal. I’ll try to post it when I can get a photo.
Recently, Sara and I took a few young kids to hear the “Women Speak” tour from Partners for Peace. It was our second time to hear the tour, which features three different women every year – one Israeli woman, one Palestian Christian, and one Palestinian Muslim. They talk about the history and the on-going problems in the West Bank and surrounding area. I have found both tours to be quite informative both factually and anecdotally (is that a word?).
Sara and I watched “The Children of Men” Sunday night. We needed an escape, which this film was not entirely successful at providing. But it was a good film, based on the PD James, Huxley-esque story. However, the documentary included on the DVD called “The Possibility of Hope”, was VERY good. I encourage anyone who views the film to be sure and watch it. It has a lot to say about Capitalism and the current state of our world that I think is important to begin addressing now (as does the movie in a more metaphorical way). Although I viewed the movie on Sunday night, you may not believe it when you watch the documentary, since one portion of it seems almost as if I quoted it verbatim in the H.P. exchanges. They are urgent ideas.
Though there are more scenes of graphic violence than I would have liked I highly recommend this movie. I didn’t see a better movie in 2006 and I don’t expect to see a better movie in 2007. I’m looking forward to Netflixing Guillermo del Toro’s other work as well.
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