Sunday, October 31, 2004
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Dogville
Wow. What an amazing film. I bought it as a blind buy, based on the strength of Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark, Lars von Trier's previous films, and it was cheap (3 DVDs for $20 at Hollywood Video) so I figured what the hell.
It's a great triumph of minimalist style: there is almost no "set" to speak of whatsoever -- the entire film is filmed with people walking amidst chalk lines written on the ground that form the outlines of streets and houses and everything else in the town. This almost forces you to concentrate soley on the acting (which is amazing: Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Jeremy Davies, Philip Baker Hall, James Caan, Patricia Clarkson, Ben Gazzara, Chloë Sevigny, Stellan Skarsgård... and, a person I've seen in a few things but never really took notice with until now: Paul Bettany... his performance is amazing here, as is Kidman's), and eventually the chalk lines fade away from consciousness, becoming just what they are, a simple expression of sense of place and surroundings, in aide to tell a simple story.
Oh, and the ending's horrifying. I truely did not know where the story was going to go at the end. I was actually quite concerned that the ending was going to be pretty lame... There's the point of the film where it is 10 minutes left, and then all of a sudden Kidman's character starts this long conversation with someone, this seemingly meaningless conversation that doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything else... but this is just Lars von Trier fucking with the audience, because at that exact point, the punch line is given to this long starting point, and the only reaction is holy shit...
This is a great film, and while I still agree with the Cannes jury choosing Elephant over this for the Palme d'Or and best director prizes, it definately is amazing.
It's a great triumph of minimalist style: there is almost no "set" to speak of whatsoever -- the entire film is filmed with people walking amidst chalk lines written on the ground that form the outlines of streets and houses and everything else in the town. This almost forces you to concentrate soley on the acting (which is amazing: Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Jeremy Davies, Philip Baker Hall, James Caan, Patricia Clarkson, Ben Gazzara, Chloë Sevigny, Stellan Skarsgård... and, a person I've seen in a few things but never really took notice with until now: Paul Bettany... his performance is amazing here, as is Kidman's), and eventually the chalk lines fade away from consciousness, becoming just what they are, a simple expression of sense of place and surroundings, in aide to tell a simple story.
Oh, and the ending's horrifying. I truely did not know where the story was going to go at the end. I was actually quite concerned that the ending was going to be pretty lame... There's the point of the film where it is 10 minutes left, and then all of a sudden Kidman's character starts this long conversation with someone, this seemingly meaningless conversation that doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything else... but this is just Lars von Trier fucking with the audience, because at that exact point, the punch line is given to this long starting point, and the only reaction is holy shit...
This is a great film, and while I still agree with the Cannes jury choosing Elephant over this for the Palme d'Or and best director prizes, it definately is amazing.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Michael Moore (almost) comes to Portland
He was unable to attend because of a family emergency, but they still had a great program set up: one of the founders of Moveon.org, the family of a soldier killed in Iraq, and a soldier that just came back from there. Michael did call in though, and here's his phone conversation to us, projected over the speakers to the crowd: Moore.wma (windows media audio, 4 MB, 20 mins long)
Some pictures from that day:
The first of the protesters...
And the first of the people...
The sound crew setting up speakers...
Channel 8 News arrives...
People watching from an apartment window, high above the square...
More people start to arrive...
...until the square is packed with people...
A mother with a son in Iraq...
(continued)
(continued)
A guy giving the peace sign to people driving by...
(continued)
(continued)
The square is quite packed by now...
The Bush-Cheney bus kept driving by, honking its horn...
And again...
Some pictures from that day:
The first of the protesters...
And the first of the people...
The sound crew setting up speakers...
Channel 8 News arrives...
People watching from an apartment window, high above the square...
More people start to arrive...
...until the square is packed with people...
A mother with a son in Iraq...
(continued)
(continued)
A guy giving the peace sign to people driving by...
(continued)
(continued)
The square is quite packed by now...
The Bush-Cheney bus kept driving by, honking its horn...
And again...
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Just read this in an article on Rolling Stone Online. The article, about the new wave of movie piracy, goes on to talk about how some soliders are watching Fahrenheit 9/11 on bootleg DVDs smuggled into the country (the film is offically banned in Iraq). The article keeps going, but here's the gist of it:
"Bootleg copies of the Moore film have been circulated in Iraq and are said to be having a "devastating" impact on U.S. morale, with some soldiers saying they are ashamed of their military service on behalf of "a lie." Moore is now trying to get his film shown at U.S. military bases."
Bravo.
"Bootleg copies of the Moore film have been circulated in Iraq and are said to be having a "devastating" impact on U.S. morale, with some soldiers saying they are ashamed of their military service on behalf of "a lie." Moore is now trying to get his film shown at U.S. military bases."
Bravo.
Monday, October 18, 2004
Green Day
Green Day. October 28. Worcester, MA. My favorite band since I was a kid and I finally get to see them. Katherine's going with me... It's gonna be awesome.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
First new post in forever
Wow, I never do write in this thing anymore, do I? Well, I'm gonna try to put more in this more often now... I'll make myself put like one thing in it before I go to bed each night or something.
Well, I guess there's not much to say for today... Tomorrow I'm gonna show Katherine Magnolia, which is cool - I'm really excited for her to see it. She'll finally get to see the movie that I keep talking to her about all the time. I'm purposely keeping the ending a secret to her though...that's the best way to watch it, and that's the way I watched it the first time I saw it, and I'm grateful I did.
Movie frame of the day: Buffalo '66
Well, I guess there's not much to say for today... Tomorrow I'm gonna show Katherine Magnolia, which is cool - I'm really excited for her to see it. She'll finally get to see the movie that I keep talking to her about all the time. I'm purposely keeping the ending a secret to her though...that's the best way to watch it, and that's the way I watched it the first time I saw it, and I'm grateful I did.
Movie frame of the day: Buffalo '66
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