Gamera 2 (1996)

Directed by Shusuke Kaneko.

A Fresh Faced Protagonist

Tenet (2020, Christopher Nolan) is an action movie expressive of a personal style of filmmaking that never gets in the way of its commitment of being an action movie.

 

   You don’t have to think to enjoy action movies. Bunjeeing up a building of high-rise condos, high-speed car chases, or the inversion of time are the kinds of things that make Tenet a great action movie. So are the set pieces. Most great action movies have a standout set piece. Tenet is crowded with set pieces done so well that they hold their own against each other and make it hard to rank any one better than the others—although that’s not entirely true because it’s the freeway chase. And that’s not entirely accurate because which freeway chase? The one moving forward, or the inverted one?

   Along with spectacular feats of adrenaline inducing death-defying thrills, action movies have a battle of good vs. evil. Tenet’s hero, the PROTAGONIST, is pitted against villain ANDREI SATOR. And as action movies go, these two, along with what’s at stake should either defeat the other, fit all expectations.

 

   Allow me to now separate Tenet into two layers. Take the characters. The hero and villain each provide a distinct contrast to one another. To begin with, we have the protagonist. It’s as if he somehow represents the future. He’s cool—young, black and American. He’s got no name, no backstory, no family, no friends. He and his partner NEIL are professionals, and they work well together. The protagonist isn’t wealthy or powerful. But he has fun. He’s also so proficient no one ever makes him sweat.

   On the other hand, Andrei’s stuck in the past. He’s old, white and Russian. We get his life story. He’s got a wife and kid. He and his wife KAT can’t stand each other, and they’re constantly fighting. Andrei is a billionaire, powerful and connected. But he’s miserable. He’s also so stressed he’s constantly checking his pulse on a wrist monitor. The protagonist makes work look fun, whereas Andrei makes being rich look like life sucks.

   Where these two layers merge is what makes Tenet meaningful. The protagonist’s pure action genre along with Andrei’s human drama baggage culminate in something greater than either could be on their own. Cinema needs to look at the past and towards the future at the same time.

 

   Aesthetically, Tenet is as proficient in its pacing, sound, and framing as the protagonist is as field agent. Nolan’s style is sophisticated—invisible cinema. The least subtle aspect of Tenet is the score (and sound design). And that’s a good thing because its music cues are kinetic while traditional in the sense of classic Hollywood underscoring.

   With this much style to enjoy, it’s a treat looking forward to returning to Tenet in search of filling in some gaps that left me scratching my head.

9/06/2020 Plaza Theatre

Atlanta, GA

70mm print

How to Cartoon for Comedy Comma Perfectly

OR:
Fair Use for Fun, for Fun Games, and for Absolutely No Profit

Cartooning is like sculpture: an art of subtraction. By ruthlessly but correctly removing all extraneous elements, this simple blend of text and image can be transcendent, can encompass and convey virtually anything a mind can conceive, with nothing more than lines on paper.

Best of all, cartooning can be very, very funny. Humor can be many things! Mostly humor is thought of as (a type of) an unexpected juxtaposition, though certainly not every juxtaposition is funny, nor are all surprises funny. (Nor is it entirely clear that all funny things will have an unexpected juxtaposition! Theory work is pretty difficult, it turns out.) Nevertheless, it's safe to say that we can expect most funny things to have an element of unexpected juxtaposition. Henri Bergson described humor as the "mechanical encrusted upon the living," which is my favorite definition, because it is so stoned that it is itself funny. Also "encrustation" is a pretty funny word / concept.

When seeking to surprise and delight and amuse—that is, to provide humor—by means of a cartoon, specifically, it is well to break the whole down to its constituent parts. If the cartoon be composed of text and image, then should both the text in isolation and the image as (a) standalone sans texty companion be funny.

Let's examine an example.

Here is a standard—indeed classic—format: three panels, read in order, left to right. Note here that I am using "read" in a metaphoric sense, as there are no words to be read at all! No, merely three images in sequence. Or, more accurately: three funny images in a funny sequence. Bask in the humor. This ... this is a funny cartoon, all by itself.

(When the images are this funny, you really don't even need any text.)

Imbibe the words, next. We see with no ambiguity or uncertainty that, just as with the images, these words are very, very funny words.

(Why even sully text this funny with images?)

We would expect the combination of these words and this text to be funny, even if that combination (read: juxtaposition) is not unexpected [mind-blown emoji]! Just for the sake of completeness, though, let's review the combination.

(Wallow in the perfected comedic whole.)

Remember: funny is as funny does. When you want to create and endure humor, attend to each aspect as though that aspect alone would to carry the entire success solamente, even as, when you attempt cookery, you ensure the flavor of the dish complete is in every ingredient separately. Or, if you have less time, just rip off this cartoon, because it's truly funny stuff.

Couple references: https://iep.utm.edu/humor/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humor_in_Freud
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/humor/.

Greater wretchedness

Coming home is terrible, whether the dog licks your face or not. Coming home is terribly lonely, whether you have a wife or just a wife shaped loneliness waiting for you.

“Other animals live in the present. Humans cannot, so they invented hope.”

 

I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020, Charlie Kaufman) is a comedy about a YOUNG WOMAN meeting her boyfriend’s parents. Okay, but the movie itself is really a dance between:

·      The interior sadness of the JANITOR
·      His object of hope, the young woman

   And it is through the process of simultaneously depicting these two ideas as art in which we move through a narrative relentlessly shifting its perspective instinctively and intellectually. The fun comes from how neither of these two inventions are straightforward. And thus, we get to explore this fictionalized psyche thinking of ending things for our own edification as audience.
 
   Maybe the best symbol of this quality can be seen as represented by the two Oreo Brrrs (a frozen treat akin to the Dairy Queen Blizzard). Early on as the couple are driving, they pass a billboard advertising the Tulsey Town ice cream stand. A disembodied voice says, “Come, join me.” The voice is creepy. One meaning that could be read into this is that of being lured into obtaining something through the suggestive thought implanted by advertising, here being code for a romantic relationship.
   Much later when JAKE decides to indulge in stopping for a Brrr, along with the young woman, he suddenly realizes he doesn’t even want it. More than that, now as he drives it starts to melt and he has to stop somewhere and get rid of it. Then he becomes distraught over thinking about how it’ll leave a sticky residue, nothing can calm him until he disposes of the dessert.
   In the dumpster where Jake’s thrown away his and the young woman’s Brrrs, there’s a shot of the two discarded confections still full, atop a heap of nothing but other empty Brrr cups. This image left me wondering what it meant long after the movie was over. Sure, there’s the link to nostalgia that comes with the Tulsey Town song, like this’s Jake’s “rosebud.” But that seems too easy. It’s more like the hope the Janitor’s invested in finding love with the right woman, then at the end of his life finally being disgusted by that desire, painfully desperate to rid himself of it and any trace of it entirely.
 
   I’m Thinking of Ending Things is so full of endlessly enjoyable self-reflexive occurrences. And these are what are so effective at defining its artistic tone. Take the pigs that died from being underfed. The way Jake describes it, the neglect happened thoughtlessly. Like it’s at the same time horrific and inevitable. And there’s a poignancy to the way he refers to both of the pigs being eaten alive by maggots. He doesn’t say how many pigs there were, but “both” seems to imply two—as in a couple. 
 
   Somehow this film is still always a comedy. Kaufman’s novel Antkind (published last month) is full of comic wordplay, including several different vaudeville acts and their routines. And though his screenplays have often played around with this kind of schtick, Antkind and now I’m Thinking of Ending Things present a phase where it’s used more often, and consistently.
   Also amped up more in Antkind and the as yet unfilmed Frank or Francis screenplay is Kaufman’s satirical contempt for Hollywood, which comprises a significant part of the comedy in I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Although on a lighter note, one comedic vignette that soars particularly high is when the young woman suddenly performs as both Gena Rowlands’ MABEL LONGHETTI (aided by a cigarette she smokes that appears out of nowhere) and recites by rote the infamous scathing Pauline Kael review of Rowlands performance of that role at the same time. 
   I don’t have any evidence to support this but, my final point I’ll end with is that I think the young woman met the janitor when he was around twenty, at the bar on trivia night. He asked for her number and she gave it to him. He called her and asked her out. And he never saw or heard from her again.


8/29/2020 Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Atlanta, GA

Hello, San Dimas

 Sure, they’re a couple of idiots, but yet again their quest out does itself and challenges the duo with an adventure worthy of getting back in the phonebooth one more time.

   Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020, Dean Parisot) knows how to deliver jokes that are familiar to their brand without feeling stale. It’s a case where embracing the formula is the right thing to do. 

   What gives the film legs is having a dual-narrative. In the B-story we get a reboot where their two daughters time travel on a mission that depends on them seeking the help of an assortment of historical figures from different time periods. The actress who plays BILLIE steals the movie with her dead-on physical impersonation of Keanu’s snarls, head weaving, and incredulous shoulder posturing, complete with matching hairdo. The A-story is a sequel where Bill and Ted encounter an entirely new set of conflicts.

 

   Bill & Ted Face the Music is carefree because it’s not ashamed of being a Hollywood spectacle that’s got heart (and in the right place). And it’s also got a lean running time that’s continuously spoken aloud to remind us exactly how many minutes are left in the move, as displayed by a stopwatch inherited from Rufus.

8/28/2020 NCG Cinemas 

Brookhaven, GA

Submitted for the approval of the midnight society:

The New Mutants (2020, Josh Boone) is a YA horror movie constructed in a way that unifies the collective inner conflicts of its plural protagonist by making the right aesthetic choices.

 

   The inner conflict is the darkness caused by fear, shame, and self-destruction. And for each of the teens there is a trauma from their past that refuses to let go of them, which results in they’re being institutionalized together—providing the depressing premise which is The New Mutants. But not only am I in luck finding this gem of depression, it also has a minimalist quality going for it.

   The whole movie takes place in this giant spooky building that looks like it could be a hundred years old. But other than the five subjects being treated here and their doctor, there’s no one else around except the occasional orderly. We aren’t told hardly anything about this place like where it’s located or who runs it. And the subjects don’t have to do schoolwork. All they do is spend their time in a rec room where a TV runs a never-ending marathon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

 

   Among the characters I find the most compelling are the ones whose sexuality plays some kind of role in their lives. First there’s the arrogant mimbo whose instincts for getting laid catch a hitch due to his arousal arousing his mutant power of human torching to manifest, which isn’t all that unique or original. But really, it’s the Irish teen lesbian who’s cute and sweet yet happens to have the mutant power of being a dog—keen sense of smell, fur, clawing and biting. And the dog girl’s trauma has something to do with her like being attacked by a Catholic priest, but she’s still Catholic. And, ILLYANA RASPUTIN...

 

   The New Mutants does well in focusing on these youngsters isolated and alone in the world who are incarcerated in this oppressive institution only to be stuck with each other, not in a peer group but only to find a different form of isolation and loneliness. It’s all an effective form of representing hormones, puberty and high school.

 

8/27/2020 AMC Phipps Plaza 14

Atlanta, GA

Gamera (1995)

Blue skies and fire.  

Directed by Shusuke Kaneko.

DISCOVERING DRAMATIC DEVICES no. 1

A device unique to Watchmen, Dr. Manhattan calmly expounding on the fate of someone close to him (or all of humanity) from an omniscient point of view in which he transcends time, is something I don't think I've seen done anywhere else.

   That is until the other day, after I watched 20th Century Women (2016, Mike Mills). Throughout that film there are scenes where a character talks about the fate of one of the other characters, mentioning events that will not occur until the end of their lives, while the narrative itself remains rooted in the present. And coincidentally Billy Crudup turns up in a supporting role in 20th Century Women too.

HEAVY TUNES: Records I Listened to This Week or So, As of July 17, 2020

June 30, 2020

1. Wand, Golem
   Shredder. Right up there with Plum!
2. A Winged Victory for the Sullen, A Winged Victory for the Sullen
   Was I awake during this? Was the band?
3. Explosions in the Sky, The World Is Not a Cold Dead Place
   ...if you say so.
4. Helium, Ends with And
5. Trans Am, Trans Am
6. Windhand, Windhand
7. Bongripper, Glaciers
8. Funkadelic, America Eats Its Young
9. Starcastle, Citadel

July 12, 2020

1. David Bowie, Outside
2. Guns & Roses, Chinese Democracy
3. Wolf Parade, Cry Cry Cry
4. Madvillain, Madvillainy
5. Quasimoto, The Unseen
6. Deltron 3030, The Instrumentals
7. Red Sparowes, Every Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun
   Quick note on this band: I do not think they every recorded a bad note, and I love them. This has been: a quick note on Red Sparowes.
8. Steve Morse, High Tension Wires
9. The Nocturnes, A Year of Spring

I came late to Bowie—or, more accurately, I started late to come to Bowie—there's so much of it, and finding this late-career excellence reminded me that some great figures don't stop being great after people stop paying attention. It's not perfect, track for track, but there are some amazing songs here, and I look forward to learning more.

June 13, 2020

1. Black Sabbath, Live Evil
2. The Palace Brothers, There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You
3. Blood Incantation, Hidden History of the Human Race
4. King Geedorah, Take Me to Your Leader
5. fIREHOSE, "fromohio"
6. Screaming Trees (no, not that one), Beaten with the Ugly Stick (EP)
7. Elvis Costello & the Attractions, My Aim Is True
8. Blue Őyster Cult, On Your Feet or on Your Knees
9. Pelican, City of Echoes
10. Monster Magnet, 25....Tab

July 15, 2020

1. Galaxie 500, This Is Our Music
   Could it be that the only essential Galaxie 500 record is Copenhagen?
2. MF Doom, Born Like This
   This has one of my favorite tracks on one of my favorite CDs Noodles ever made, but I probably won't listen to the album again, b/c I don't need to hear or support "Batty Boyz" again.
3. Sebadoh, Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock
   Man, "Mind Meld" sure holds the fuck up. So good.
4. Spoons, Static in Transmission
   Right around here this week I started to lose my mind and pursue depths of Can(adian)Con(tent) that I am not sure are good for me, exactly.
5. Wolfmother, Wolfmother
   This is bad, and I like it. I don't know what to make of anything anymore.

July 16, 2020

1. Swervedriver, Mezcal head
   "Last Train to Satansville" is a great song title. Shoegaze is just prog with pop vocals, but you aren't ready to have that conversation.
2. Spoons, The Best
   "Nova Heart" rules extremely hard.
3. Kim Mitchell, Akimbo Alogo
   I think I wanted to be in the car, driving fast, again. This record gives a good vibe of that.
4. Max Webster, Universal Juveniles
   I told you the CanCon was getting pretty real around here.
5. Finger Eleven, Finger Eleven
   "Finger eleven" is a fucking sentence.
6. John Carpenter, Anthology: Movie Themes
7. Mike Watt, "Ring Spiel" Tour '95
8. Kiss, Music from "The Elder"
9. Dramarama, Hi-Fi Sci-Fi

July 17, 2020

1. Jesu, Never
2. MF Doom, Vaudeville Villain
3. Hawkwind, Quark, Strangeness and Charm
4. Baroness, The Red Album
5. Miles Davis, Bitches Brew
6. Spoons, Stick Figure Neighborhood
   I like this! Sort of the Joy Division guitar album to the later Spoons' New Order keyboard albums.
7. Lana del Rey, Born to Die
8. Blue Őyster Cult, Blue Őyster Cult
9. Deltron 3030, Event 2