Brookswords

The Girl Who Played With Fire

Just finished The Girl Who Played With Fire, which had me as transfixed as its predecessor, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The 'girl', Lisbeth Salander, is one of the most unusual & unpredictable protagonists I've ever come across. It will be quite a challenge for the actress just chosen to play her in the Hollywood version, Rooney Mara. In the weeks before the choice to play Salander was announced, there was quite a frenzy in Hollywood -- comparable to the protracted Scarlett O'Hara search which eventually handed stardom on a silver platter to Vivien Leigh. I like the fact that Mara, a virtual unknown, was chosen over big names like Scarlet Johansson -- said at one point to be a shoo-in for the role -- Ellen Page and Natalie Portman. And I also like the fact that, like me, she has a last name for a first name.

In 1959 two television series, the Twilight Zone and One Step Beyond, began. They seemed at first glance like carbon copies. Each featured a charismatic host who would introduce a strange tale, then reemerge at the end to present a coda. The two series even shared some of the same actors, such as the pre-Star Trek William Shatner.

But there was one crucial aspect that separated the two. The Twilight Zone relied on the some of the best science fiction and horror writers of the time, like Richard Matheson and Robert Bloch. One Step Beyond, however, presented an early form of docudrama -- the stories were all based on real events.

Here is the very first episode of One Step Beyond, broken down into 3 Youtube clips. They appear to be  cut at the moment of commercial breaks. (If you want, you could turn on your TV to watch a commercial between the clips!) The starring actress, Virginia Leith, is pretty impressive -- she exhibits a raw emotion that makes me wonder why her career never really got off the ground. She would, however, go on to star in a cult classic, The Brain That Wouldn't Die. It's been presented -- tongue firmly in cheek -- by both Elvira and Mystery Science 3000.

National Spelling Bee

Watched the final championship round of the National Spelling Bee last night, and the crowning of a new champion, 14 year-old Anamika Veeramani of Cleveland, Ohio. It had all the nail-biting suspense of a Hitchcock thriller. For those who missed out on the drama from last night's prime-time finale, you could rent one of the best documentaries I've ever seen, the Oscar-nominated Spellbound, which chronicled the experience of 8 participants in the 1999 National Bee. (It's a little ironic that the National Bee is getting so much attention now, at a time when the budgets of schools and public libraries are being decimated.)

I was surprised and disappointed to learn that there were protesters at the event. But then I leaned that they were dressed up as bees--with signs saying things like "Enough is Enuf"--and were actually engaged in a pretty sophisticated argument for reform of the English language. Two clear steps toward reform that they suggest--ending the use of the  silent e, and the weird 'i before e except after c' rule. As this article explains, the "National Spelling Bee highlights what a mess English spelling is--a hodgepodge of orthographies borrowed from German, French, Greek and Latin. Is it time for a makeover?" 

The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw is said to have joked that the word "fish" could  legitimately be spelled "ghoti," by using the "gh" sound from "enough," the "o" sound from "women", and the "ti" sound from "action."

The curiosities of English were fully on display last night, as every participant asked for the etymology of every word. Some words have a long and winding road, beginning, for example, as Latin, on to Greek, and then French before becoming part of the English language.

Here's the trailer for Spellbound:

Sita Sings the Blues

A cartoonist is informed, via email, that her marriage is over--and, after finding "solace in the sweet-voiced jazz stylings of Annette Hanshaw and the Ramayana" goes on to create, on her computer, a film that rivals the very best in animation. As the LA Weekly put it, "Pixar has nothing on Nina Paley's India-influenced animated musical for adults", and this homemade film is now #42 on IMDb's list of the "50 Best Musicals of All Time". Sita Sings the Blues has been available for online free viewing for awhile. (It can be found on here on Roger Ebert's website. On Twitter today, he called this film "a legend of indie filmmaking.) As of today, it has a perfect score of 100% at Rotten Tomatoes. Sita Sings the Blues has to be one of the most culturally diverse works I've ever come across; it successfully mixes together 1920's jazz, the complicated love story between Sita and Rama from India's Ramayana, and a starring character who is a new incarnation of Betty Boop--lip-syncing to Annette Hanshaw's bluesy vocals. If nothing else, Sita displays the universality of pain, loss and redemption.

 

 

Demon...Sheep?

Things are getting strange here in California, with the sudden appearance of a very bizarre political attack ad. It has been variously described as the wildest, worst, and weirdest political ad ever. Supposedly about a wolf in sheep's clothing, towards the end of the ad you seem someone crawling away, in dress shoes covered by a blanket. That ain't no wolf.

Strangely enough, a few years back there was a movie about demonic sheep, a parody of bad b-movies. It was actually pretty funny; I wrote about here a few years ago here.

Here is the 'demon sheep' ad, which seems like a parody, followed by my favorite real parody of political attack ads.

To Live Is To Fly

Looking forward to seeing the 'Crazy Heart'. Jeff Bridges has won Best Actor at both the Golden Globes and the SAG awards ceremonies, and appears to be on the fast track to a Best Actor award at the Oscars. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Bridge's Bad Blake is one of America's troubled troubadours, a character which is a pastiche of Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan--and so many others. But the closest parallel may be Van Zandt. The soundtrack, a mix of originals and classics, includes perhaps his best song, the shimmering 'If I Needed You'.

Here are two songs that appeared on the tribute album 'Poet', issued after Van Zandt's death at 53. (The singers are Guy Clark and Nancy Griffith.) The first, 'To Live Is To Fly', is resurrected in one of the original songs on the 'Crazy Heart' soundtrack, 'Fallin' and Flyin'', which contains the haunting refrain 'it's funny how fallin' feels like flyin' for a little while'.

01 To Live is to Fly

02 Tower Song

And here are two clips; the first is the film's theme song, 'The Weary Kind' (itself garnering awards like Bridges) and the second is Townes Van Zandt himself, explaining the genesis of 'If I Needed You'--it arose from a dream--and then performing the song.

Gimme Shelter

Gimme Shelter, the documentary covering the Rolling Stones tour of America the Fall of 1969, has been called a "legendary, harrowing symbol of the tragic demise of the  'Peace and Love' era". It is far from a routine rock doc; it chronicles a triumphant tour of the U.S. that culminates in a horrible debacle at Altamont, California. The Rolling Stones wanted to give a free concert for a farewell show, but when the first choice of a venue--San Francisco's Golden Gate Park--was unavailable, an unused motor speedway at Altamont was chosen. The Stones wanted to pull off another Woodstock (which took place only a few months before), but but the concert devolved into chaos, with a murder occurring near the stage. And so the 60's ended on a very, very bad note.

The disillusionment that would descend upon the counter culture in the 1970's can be seen prefigured in the face of this young woman at the front of the crowd; after the violence she had witnessed, she sadly watches the Stones gamely playing on, tears streaming down her face.

This film has been reissued as part of the Criterion Collection; as their website states, Criterion is "dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements."  Judging from what I've seen of their releases, they are more than fulfilling their pledge.

Taking Off

Until recently, I had only seen the film Taking Off once, yet it has always been one of my favorites. I've seen it only once because, bizarrely, it has never been released on VHS or DVD.  I say bizarrely because it was a critical success and the first American film by Milos Forman--a hero of the Czech new wave cinema of the 60's who, after relocating to America, went on to direct 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (he received the Best Director Oscar for that), 'Amadeus' and many others. I was finally able to see it once again on The Sundance Channel, and now  Taking Off can be seen on You Tube in 9 clips of about 10 minutes each.

Released in 1971, Taking Off centers on a 15 year old runaway (15 and a half as she notes at one point) and the the frenzied reaction of her parents--played by Lynn Carlin (whatever happened to her?) and Buck Henry, whose deadpan comic instincts have never worked to better advantage. 'Taking Off'  is one of the best takes on the generation gap of the 60's and 70's; one critic termed it the 'sweetest of generation gap movies'. There's a telling scene early in the film where the parents and another couple enter the missing daughter's bedroom in a search for clues to her whereabouts; they look and behave like a group of explorers on some far distant planet. It's interesting that a foreigner would pull it off such an accurate--at times poignant, at other times hilarious--portrayal of America at the time when so many native born American directors tackled the same subject in ham-handed ways.  (Sissy Spacek and Henry Winkler are probably still trying to forget their involvement in 1975's 'Katherine'.)

Taking Off reminds me of one of my more current favorites, Little Miss Sunshine; they both they both weave comedy & drama in pitch perfect fashion.  99% of the time, blending the two is a disaster (think Adam Sandler) but when it works, it is truly sublime.

Finally, here's the scene where the parents enter the strange, new world of their daughter's bedroom.

 

 

Half Nelson

A few summers ago, my daughters & I went to see Half Nelson on its opening night in Los Angeles. It had opened earlier in New York, & I had learned that Ryan Gosling's performance was garnering early Oscar buzz for Best Actor. In Half Nelson, he plays a teacher, teaching about the civil rights movement--I did the same a couple of lifetimes ago at the University of Iowa, so there was no way I could ignore this film. We went, we saw, we loved it.

The very next day, we went to the  Sunset Junction Music Festival in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, next door to my own neighborhood of Echo Park.  We were having quite a good time, and as we were about to leave, we saw--or thought we saw--Ryan Gosling! Walking around with a few friends & carrying a motorcycle helmet. (Guess he got to Sunset Junction on a motor bike--safely.) We looked at each other; either we were engaged in a multiple hallucination after seeing a great movie or that was the real Ryan Gosling.

Finally one of my daughters resolved our doubts by striding up to Ryan Gosling's back, tapping him on the shoulder, then asking 'Are you Ryan Gosling?'

With my 'be nice to my daughter' gears in full force, I watched protectively as he said he was; then she said 'I saw your new movie last night & really liked it'; he smiled sweetly and thanked her, then even asked about her & her name.

It's nice when a celebrity turns out to be a nice guy.   

Lars & The Real Girl

The upcoming Ryan Gosling film, 'Lars and the Real Girl', is getting a lot of positive buzz after its debut at last month's Toronto Film Festival, and is already at 91% at Rotten Tomatoes.  It appears to be one of those risky mixtures of comedy & drama that I've written about in an earlier post.  Gosling, fresh off his Oscar nomination for 'Half Nelson', has, from what I've seen in the trailer, taken a 180% turn from from previous roles--he has a touch of Stan Laurel in him this time.  And it seems from the trailer that Emily Mortimer, a neighbor of mine here in Echo Park, also shines.

Here's part of a Canadian article about the Toronto fest.  Gosling is even dabbling in comedy in his interviews now; here he reflects on the life size doll Bianca's presence on the set of 'Lars And The Real Girl'.

As the assembled media chuckled at their stories of how the cast and crew treated Bianca with respect and reverence throughout the shoot, Gosling chided playfully: "Laugh all you want, but I challenge all of you to spend 20 minutes in Bianca's presence and not fall in love."

His bond with Bianca became so real, claimed the grinning Gosling, that he now owns one of the two Biancas used during the film - but he refused to say in what room in his house the doll resides. Gosling sheepishly acknowledged that his girlfriend, Canadian actress Rachel McAdams, isn't so thrilled about Bianca's presence.

Serious for a moment, Gosling acknowledged he fell in love with the script by Nancy Oliver, adding that he's on pins and needles waiting to see how the film is received. It goes into mainstream release on Oct. 21.

"I'm really proud of it and I'm more anxious to see what people think of it than any movie I've ever done - it's so special and there's nothing really that I can compare it to," he said.

Gosling has nothing to worry about if the positive buzz about the movie on the festival circuit is any indication.

Here is the trailer, followed by an interview with Ryan Gosling by Canadian ET.