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Off to the Berkshires for Memorial Day Weekend and more...
Off to the Berkshires for Memorial Day Weekend
Frances HaIn these days of action films being proffered around the globe, where guns and boobs and worlds that look like video games are the norm, it is a pleasure to watch a movie without guns, or boobs, not even a kiss. Has the world turned upside down? Where the money-makers have nothing but prurience on the mind and the arty folk are all chaste?
Yep. It's interesting to be middle aged and to have seen everything change. Yesterday's experiments are the money makers of the entrenched studio system--forty years later. And now the arty guys and girls just want to be simple people. Bare and real. Love it. And now for Frances Ha. A lot has already been written about this movie so feel free to hang out on Al Gore's Interwebs and poke around. My simple review: The opening is sketchy and I don't fully believe this "great best friendship" off the bat. But we have to accept it to accept the movie. So accept it I did. The acting isn't amazingly interesting. But it is real. The uncomfortable social and work situations Frances finds herself in, you get pulled along hard. Especially horrifying was one of those dinner scenes where everyone else is settled in and "normal" and has self esteem...and then there's Frances.Very Eric Rhomer from a scene from Summer (remember Marie Riviere in Summer?--talking about her vegetarianism and how it makes her feel light---to a table of meat eaters? Amazing movie. Le Rayon Vert is the original title). Turns out Noah Baumbach is a Rhomer fan. As am I. Naturally. As the movie rolls forward, you get more used to the almost flat style of acting...and you can't stop but say, "More, please." More, in that you could watch this kind of acting in everything you ever watch. But also More, because you wouldn't mind if they got just a bit more high stakey...on the other hand, each character is hiding behind a persona that covers their bruised inner life. It does make sense. No schmacting here... Greta Gerwig is extremely watchable. She lumbers when she walks. She is at the last moment of youthy youth and you feel it. She lets you in on it. This is probably the best script, or close to it (after The Squid and the Whale) of Noah Baumbach's. Greta's writing work was a boon to this screenplay. Much of the supporting cast is completely realistic and enjoyable. All these privileged yet on-the-edge of dissatisfaction people...yep, buy it, entirely. Grace Gummer is excellent as a poised and confident dancer. We'll see her doing larger roles soon. She has a natural ability in front of the camera. And she is not afraid of appearing angry or nasty. (Note: she worked on my play a few years ago, when she was a fresh tadpole out of college. Smart person, always asking the good questions.) The shooting is brill. The black and white. Wonderful to watch. New York is a star here, but not the main attraction. And the only thing this movie has in common with the TV show Girls is that it is in English, has Adam Driver in the cast and deals with 20-something trouble. And the only thing it has in common with Woody Allen's Manhattan is that it takes place, mostly, one borough over, in Brooklyn. Just trying to clear that up for y'all. This movie is not some sad little rip-off.
Frances Ha deserves to be experienced and talked about on its own merits. Completely worth seeing. It is one of the few films that I've seen in a long time that forces you into a full experience. It is not a huge story. But you really feel it. It digs right into you. After you see this, rent Truffaut's 400 Blows if you haven't already. Another movie that is all about the experience. Completely worth the time. Movies: They're good when they're good.      In Switzerland...In Switzerland, there is enough underground space and supplies for every single citizen so when the big bombs of nuclear waste or terrible chemical warfare arrives, people can go underground and live. This is a reflection of the reflexive collective of a moderate-to-right nation. They agree that everyone should remain alive in the face of calamity.
 
Glossy Pop. Sure. Suit & TieApparently, this song is an ode to being handsome and well dressed. And I don't mind.
Justin Timberlake is having a great time. (I believe.) Being in his body, his voice. It was shot incredibly. Is it fatuous? Of course! That's the idea. Sometimes the greatest and deepest statement is as simple as, "Fuck it. I look good. I feel good. I'm having at it." I also love the cereal bowl, early on, catching youth in action. And Jay-Z is gonna "Show you how to do it, son." It's like an initiation. Wealthy, successful, talented Justin Timberlake is forever young. This is what a successful youth will do for you. He can get many more years out of it. In 1999, I was a writer for Miss Teen USA in Shreveport, Louisiana. I wrote jokes for the host, Carson Daly. It was a bit of a disaster. I had two things going against me. First, the other writer who was the main writer had been doing this gig for a few years and he behaved in an excited nostalgic manner about being back in Louisiana doing this gig. The sighs of sentiment, however, were covering a deep and aggressive territorial-ism. I was a threat. Boohoo. How ungenerous. Second, Carson Daly hated my jokes. They were subtle, to say the least, the sort of jokes about the idea that a joke even has to be made is the joke. He didn't get it. Not long after, I was taken off joke writing and mostly handled Carson's water bottles. We were glued to each other. His status was higher. I had to quietly do what I was told. Blech. Paychecks. The day before my joke writing days for Carson Daly were declared unofficially over, the guest band for Miss Teen USA 1999 showed up. It was none other than NSnyc. A wild dress rehearsal audience went wild. The energy of the band, especially of Justin Timberlake, was pitched so high and smooth, physically authoritative and ascendant. I had not ever been so close to this sort of thing. It was a thrill. Seeing the boys going back and forth to their trailers. Their ease and strength. It also became clear to me that I would never be in a boy band. I am 19 years older than Justin. With that clarity, I sobbed. But then I pulled it together to watch the band. They really were amazing. In the Suit & Tie vid, he is still a very young man. But I'm not crying about it now. I'm just dancing along. And I don't care who knows it. ELMS!
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