I will not give up the free Tuesday afternoon foreign film. The first one was a 2013 French film called 2 Autumn, 3 Winters. It was dreadful. A scruffy guy with an empty life (no apparent job, few friends) meets a girl with an empty life. They hang out with another couple with empty lives. They are all inarticulate, superficial and aimless. They are all early 30s. Is that what it means to be that age? I just read also that Max Nichols (son of Mike) has made his own version of The Graduate, his father's first hit with a mid-20s protagonist who also is aimless, inarticulate, superficial. Boring movies, depressing statement.
Yesterday two documentaries, one after the other interrupted by a long discussion period of the first which was the doc about Joan Rivers. I had seen it quite a while ago and forgot much of it. A driven woman who, as everyone knows made her mark as a potty-mouthed, driven, obsessive who used cosmetic surgery to grow younger looking as she grew older. Almost anything I could say about the insights in the movie could be construed as anti-semetic so I will stop there. It was painful to watch someone so narcissistic. Of course the discussion went on and on.
The third was Errol Morris's masterpiece The Thin Blue Line and to say almost anything about the subject of the film is to sound prejudiced about the state of Texas and the culture of the South. This is about a murder in which an innocent man was convicted of shooting a cop and a psychopathic killer was allowed to run around free. The whole story was told with a rather flat affect, the murder was shown (reenacted) several time always much the same. The many Texans--law enforcement, lawyers, judge, pseudo witnesses, friends of the real killer--were superimposed on Philip Glass's metallic and repetitive music. A long discussion afterwards of course. I came home convinced as I have been at other times that although emancipation of the slaves was important and necessary, we should not have fought a horrible, bloody war to prevent secession. They should be a separate country as they have their own ethos that is diametrically opposite that of most of the North. And Texas (Dallas and a small Texas town was the locale) should have become a separate country as it nearly did at one point.
We'll see if I can handle this kind of overload for another 11 weeks.
5 comments:
I had a love, hate relationship with Joan Rivers. She did make me laugh, especially when she spoke about her GYN. Having been a GYN nurse at one time, I related but, I also recall her being interviewed years ago and asked what her biggest fear in life was and her answer, sadly was this "waking up one morning and finding out I had lost all my money". It's no small wonder that her husband committed suicide not long after the failure of her own show, one he had backed. I'm sure her daughter now is crying all the way to the bank.
Husband's suicide was a bit more complex (aren't they all?) She lied about losing her money being her biggest fear. It was obvious in the documentary that her biggest fear was being alone with her thoughts. She was a workaholic, yes, partly to live the lifestyle she did, but also so as to never stop and be introspective.
As I wrote in my blog about Joan Rivers and other "stars" that have recently died, Joan was hard to watch at times, so I didn't. She did make me laugh as she said things I might have said at times but would be afraid too. It was mostly about her trying to look young that I felt such sadness for her. I hope her daughter doesn't follow in those steps.
It was impossible to believe that face was not a surprisingly pliable mask. No one looks like that-- definitely not over 70 but really, not at 30 or 40 or 50.
By the way, your new picture looks wonderfully real-- bangs become you.
At times I agree with you about the south and Texas -- all the time --- barbara
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