#j. r. bob dobbs approved

[icarus-suraki]

SLACK FOR EVERYONE!!

I have a question I actually dont know if it's been answered, but what if the pop culture thing is about things already in public domain? is that just as bad because it was created by a single individual, or because it could be used by corporations?

That's much better, but also you've gotta earn it aesthetically? Church of the Subgenius earns it's faux-spiritualization of 50s aesthetics by presenting it in a very very specific way.

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this week / 11

Ship of Theseus, The awesome Discovery of the Week:

A philosophical 2012 Indian art-house masterpiece, based on the Heraclitus thought experiment that asks, if an object that has had all of its components replaced remains the same object.

It tells 3 separate stories that are seemingly unrelated. The first introduces a young Egyptian photographer who is blind and creates her street art based on sounds she hears. The second is about a dying Jain monk, fighting to ban animal testing in India. The third is about a poor bricklayer whose stolen kidney was sold illegally to an unsuspecting Swedish man. The uniting finale is a moving reflection on Plato’s allegory of the cave.

It may not sound appealing, but the film is absolutely beautiful, surprising, compelling and original.

Also found on YouTube in 720p BluRay Quality. Good reviews by Nona Prince and an essay: Visual Metaphors in the film (Please read only after seeing the film itself)

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First watch: Laura - 1944 absurd film noir mystery directed by Otto Preminger.  “I shall never forget the weekend Laura died.”...

Style over substance. 8/10.

Also, I didn’t know that Vincent Price was so tall.

Theme from film.

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Steven Soderbergh‘s The Girlfriend Experience. Real life mega porn star Sasha Grey in her first cross over role. She plays a high-end escort who is paid to act as her clients' emotional companion.

I loved it as a first act, but the story was missing act two.

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The fantastic history of R. "Bob" Dobbs and The Church of the SubGenius! Better than wikipedia!

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I haven’t seen any Louis de Funès films for over 50 years. Surprisingly, Jo, The Gazebo, a typical 1971 screwball comedy, stayed relatively funny and fresh with all the mimicry and jokes I remember from my childhood. 5+

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The Night of the Iguana, John Huston’s classic drama. Richard Burton is a disgraced minister at the end of his rope who is ready "to take the long swim to China". Tennessee Williams in Puerto Vallarta.

“What is important is that one is never alone...”

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2 X Alfonso Cuarón:

* Road to Roma - Interview with Cuarón, deconstructing the ‘making of’ his wonderful 2018 movie. Seeing the colorful process Behind the Scenes, in comparison to the Black and White canvas, is breathtaking. 10/10.

* His previous film - Gravity: A mainstream movie with only 2 actors. Exciting, too thrilling for me.

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First watch: Russian Ark, an experimental story and a technical tour de force. It was recorded in a single, unedited take of 96 minutes at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, on 23 December 2001, with a cast of over 2000 costumed actors. It follows 300 years of Russian history, guided by a 19th-century French diplomat.

✴️                        Lost in America - “This is just like ‘Easy Rider.’ Except, now it's our turn. I mean, we can drop out and we can still have our nest egg!”

Loved it then, loved it now.

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Another, similar film from the same time (1991) and atmosphere, Steve Martin’s LA Story - Adored it then, loved it now.

“Some of these buildings are over TWENTY years old!”

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Of Alan J. Pakula‘s “Paranoia Trilogy”, I always preferred “The Parallax View” and “All the President's Men”. Maybe because even Pakula had a hard time describing an affair between a call girl and a client without resorting to tired old cliches. But watching Klute for the first time in many years, all but the predictable ending is actually first rate.

He should have called it Bree, though.

Appreciation of composer Michael Small, who scored Klute as well as eight more of Pakula’s movies.

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Butter - a nearly-wonderful comedy about a little orphaned black girl who competes at a butter sculpture contest at the Iowa State Fair.

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Hitchcock's favorite plot, “Innocent Person Wrongly Accused”, in North by Northwest, with opening-credits sequence by Saul Bass, and still effective crop dusting attack.

Most of it is ridiculously dated (55 year old accidental hero Cary Grant who has to get his mother’s approval, and the final shot of the Freudian train speeding into the tunnel). It’s still a fun ride.

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My first Almodóvar, All About My Mother. A melodramatic Telenovela world of junkies, transsexuals, AIDS, prostitution and the theater. It’s only during the second half that the film clicked for me.

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The Visual Effects of Psychedelics, from Effectindex. Must be watched in full screen. Real life example.

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I spent 4 long hours entangled with Woody Allen’s sexual abuse in the new disgusting documentary Allen v. Farrow.

Technically, the worst part of this are the unbearable, constant layers of background music that drowns every scene with emotional guidelines. I wish they would stop doing it once and for all.

Not necessary me, but Why I Will Never Watch a New Woody Allen Film Again.

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Another short Haring bio - How Keith Haring Injected Childlike Joy Into His Art.

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The 2020 Invisible Man, Peggy Olson version: Somehow-interesting horror premise, but not my cup of tea. Points for the plot twist at the end. 2/10.

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Throw-back to the  art project:

Annie Hall Adora.

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(My complete list is here)