Baudolino, and packing

I finished Baudolino, finally, after going on hiatus from that drama. Which is good. The last 150 pages were excellent (or at whatever point Baudolino and his strange gang reach the Deacon to Presbyter Johannes/Prestor John's kingdom). It was just too much to read all at once.

Packing blows. To put it succinctly.

When one doesn't have anything resembling an idea of how much trunk and back seat space they have to cram all their books, dvds, dishery, clothing, and so on, ONE IS POSITIVELY SCREWED. To put it less succinctly.

Sunshine, and not getting struck by lightning in Central Park

Went to NYC this weekend to say goodbye to some people. Am feeling cheap, so only took the subway once (going to the LES from Lincoln Center and back) and crossed Central Park about five times as well as walking to Lincoln Center from Grand Central and back.

At one point, coming back from a delicious, too-filling brunch of pancakes and sweet potato fries (ok, I didn't have the fries, my friend did), just as I was walking past the part of the park with the statue of the Angel of Bethesda, thunder clapped overhead. I had a good 15 minutes left of my walk and I had an old white T-shirt on, so I was getting a bit nervous and just kept on. Despite continuing ominous thunder crashes, the rain held off til the literal moment I put my hand on the revolving door to the lobby of Tower 67.

Went to see a matinee of Sunshine this morning. Warning: mild spoilers ahead.


I know it got pretty well shredded, but the film is truly stunning. I think the problem is that, up until a certain point, the audience thinks it's a certain kind of movie. It's science-fiction, but for the great extent of the movie, it's not Star Trek. And then, suddenly, with the arrival of a, let's say, new cast member, the film takes a sharp turn left. The cinematography of every scene in which this new cast member is a part becomes blurry, as if the DP was trying to shoot energy, which may indeed be the case. I think this is where most critics toss up their hands and call it a disaster, but I'm not entirely sure. The plot does become a bit slasher-flick, count-down-the-way-these-people-can-die, but what kind of movie would it be if these astronauts/scientists succeeded in their mission, then turned around and came home? This isn't Apollo 13.


So while the movie does seem deeply flawed, I'm not entirely sure that the flaws are the kind you want to iron out. And even if they are, and you can think of a better way Danny Boyle and his writer could have dealt with the last third of the movie, you can't deny that Sunshine is stunning. Startlingly so, really. Lightyears better than Solaris at least. So yeah, I recommend going to see it, for the delicate moments, the understated acting, and the almost too-predicatble chaos that plagues the mission -- you may love it despite yourself.

Also, I really dig the gold astronaut suits.

Perfume, Redux

I don't really know what redux means, but I'm sure I'm using it properly, being the Contess of Context that I am.

I finally watched Perfume, which has just come out on DVD, knowing full well it received mixed reviews. Following my viewing, I read these self-same reviews and was, to put it lightly, startled. What bothered most of the critics who disliked it is that Tom Tykwer tried to do the "impossible" -- film a book about smell. Well, if one can write a book well about smell, surely, making a movie about it would be no more or less difficult. The other seems to be that the people who disliked the movie don't seem to have liked the book (or read it at all) in the first place, but find it irritating that he stayed so true to the book.

Which is bollocks, really. What they all meant to say is that, considering it condensed the most dull third of the novel (that interminable cave scene) into about a minute of film, it really shouldn't have taken two and a half hours. Of course, it's difficult to make an appealing movie where the hero's a sociopath. Of course, it's difficult to evoke what Grenouille was going through. And?

The book was a cult hit. So it's no shock the movie wasn't going to be an overwhelming success. The pacing's slow and luxe, there's noone to empathize with (Alan Rickman's too one-track, and none of the girls are fully explored, but then again, we're largely seeing through the eyes of an obsessed man, who doesn't really consider the humanity of the populace, so that's not too shocking). I suppose if Tom really wanted a success, he should have changed the book a bit, made Laura more full a character, so we'd be rooting for not to die. But really, we don't care so much. We'd rather Grenouille finish his perfume (the tragedy would be if he failed to achieve that), and when he gets what he wants, and it still isn't enough, the audience still doesn't care because, well, how close can you get to a sociopath.

Not to say the actor doesn't do a great job playing Grenouille. He does. He's just not a character you go to bat for.

The movie's a funny thing. Filmed like a Rembrandt painting, when it's got an Irvine Welsh sort of soul, that's incongruous, and that's why Perfume is likely to leave alot of critics cold.

So. That's explaining that. Why did some like it? Because they loved the book, because they've been fans since Run, Lola, Run, because the acting by Ben Whishaw is superb, because it's a whole-hearted attempt, because it's lovely and because who doesn't love a movie with Alan Rickman? Because it's talking about needing to be human and failing, and, if you've got a strong stomach, you can appreciate that.

This is amazing. I just totally figured out how to do the link within a word thing, which should upgrade the quality of my posts by, like,

a ton!

SPENCER BROWN - WHY I AM COOL

Just saw this guy on Last Comic Standing. Sadly, he didn't make it past the semi-finals, but still - hilarious!

Resolutions

I wonder if any writer has ever met a resolution they liked. For any character, for any person, resolution only comes with death -- which, in of itself, is only a resolution for the character who dies; for everyone else it's likely to only bring up more problems. Mysteries can have resolutions easily, but in a story based on character more than anything else, resolutions are impossible and, actually, bad.

So I think I'm just going to go with that impulse. To finish telling my story but not to tie up all the ends with some of the extensive amount of hemp I acquired at camp (I'm currently wearing two bracelets and an anklet -- thanks Ericka and Dana!). Just be aware that I'm only telling the story, really, of this period of time in these people's lives, along with background, but not really the future. A little of the future, but just for one character, and it's not the central protagonist. More importantly, I think, are the subplots and side stories that aren't so much going to be left dangling but as... well... they're all stowaways in my novel anyhow. Might as well throw them overboard. The people on the ship don't know what happens to them, and neither do we. We'll assume sunstroke and dehydration, leading to hallucination and eventual death, possibly cannibalism as well...

The Darjeeling Limited

I know better. Wes Anderson has a fishing lure of bright colors, dry humor, exotic locales, and Owen Wilson, and I'm hooked. It's only later that I'll realize it's attached to a long line that yanks me out of the water into a sunlight that's going to broil me alive and steal all my oxygen.

In other words sometime the trailer is as much of a Wes Anderson movie as I can take.

OK, not really true. I've seen his entire oeuvre (well, maybe not Bottle Rocket... I get it confused with The Rocketeer, which I'm also not sure if I've seen or not -- this is why I now keep track of these things) and it's all been entertaining.

But.

Sometimes the films are a little bit suffocating. Sometimes they spend too much time in their own metaphysical heads...

He's not the only director who does this. Paul Thomas Anderson, who I assume he is no relation to, also has a tendency to be a little too cool. I will still see all his movies because they are amazing and funny and beautiful. But I know to prepare myself because the film will undoubtedly feel longer than it is.

The Coen Brothers teeter. I met one of the Coen brothers once. Ethan -- the one not married to Frances McDormand. He's a cool cat.

Anyhow, Darjeeling looks swell, and I have nothing but the highest hopes that it will be genius. Actually, same for No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood.

I guess you can't teach a fish new tricks either.