Pass National Health Care With Public Option Now
I keep reading progressive blogs and thinking: I should write more like this. But then I think: As long as they’re out there carrying on the fight so well, why do they need another voice in the choir? What different song could I sing?
And then there’s Voltaire and the ending of Candide which has been gnawing on me:
Excellently observed," answered Candide; "but let us cultivate our garden."
This is what's really interesting me: What the hell does Voltaire mean? Here we have one of the greatest rebels in his time, or any time, and he ends one of his most famous books with this bon mot. Is it satire? Was Candide really as “hot” then as it is now, or was it a throw-away work that Voltaire just penned for the bucks?
This has been gnawing at me for some time. Perhaps it’s just my retreat from facing the decline of the US into a 2nd world nation (if we’re lucky and just don’t go right down to 3rd world); a diversion from a bleak reality. Whatever. Thank goodness for The Google. I may have an answer soon.
Move Monday
Rachel Getting Married and My Date With Drew. The second is a documentary; the first is acting as mock-amentary (I just made that up; as if you couldn’t tell.)
First, My Date With Drew. An aspiring Hollywood player wins $1100 on a game show with the answer of Drew Barrymore. He decides to use the money to make a documentary of his attempt to get a date with the actress. It’s funny, it’s suspenseful, it presents its date seeker goofily attractive and earnest. Drew Barrymore comes across as a very nice person but, of course, she, as everyone, knows the camera is rolling.
I liked the buying of the camera scenes. Now I know why Best Buy and places like that give you a “it lasts till the moment you walk out the door” return time period. Here, they buy the camera, use it during the 30-day return period and then return it. (This is why he has a 30 day deadline to date Drew. Note: He doesn’t make it but the project turns hot again and he goes to another store and buys a camera for another 30 days.)
Charming would be a good description for this movie, in spite of the forging-the-press-ID scenes which I guess might tack on the appellation, criminal. But it is a fun watch.
Rachel Getting Married, however, is Jonathan Demme’s pretend documentary which has the look of a reality show but lacks the punch and lacks a coda.
This movie is about serious stuff. Kym, Rachel’s sister, is a recovering drug addict and returns home for Rachel’s wedding. During the movie we learn the tragic secret in Kym’s background (this is not the cause of her addiction) and we watch her trying to come to grips with her wasted life and with her family.
Anne Hathaway nails the addict look and is very good in this role. She got an Oscar nomination for the role and while I think those awards, as with most of Hollywood, hinges on the “one with the best PR campaign wins", her role is definitely award quality.
I don’t know whom to blame for coming away from this movie disappointed, but I was disappointed because the movie just lies there. This is a movie where you should come away talking and questioning, but I didn’t. For example, in the scene where Rachel confronts her mother and tells her that she (the mom) had some responsibility of the tragedy Hathaway makes Kym's rational very understandable but the mom refuses to take any blame. What a cold, heartless bitch you finally think when at the end of the movie, in spite of Rachel’s request for the three of them (Rachel, Kym and mom) having some quality time together she says she’s busy, kisses them goodbye and leaves.
And then there are the long, long scenes and colorful characters right out of an Altman opus. First the characters, Rachel is pregnant, her hubby-to-be is black, Rachael's father looks like "white bread": and is married to a black woman (Demme wastes the talent of Anna Deavere Smith) the ceremony seems quasi-Buddhist, a Buddhist monk (?) in modern dress seems to be the wedding coordinator, the wedding dance entertainment looks like a mix of African native dance with large touch of erotica provided by the director; this list could go on.
Jesus H. Christ. Kym’s addiction problem is a large enough peg on which to hang this movie, why bring in all these extras which diffuse the seriousness of the story?
Finally, the scene lengths; too long. For example, just two, the dance scene and the filling the dishwasher scene. The dance scene just needed cutting, it was too long. However, the dishwasher scene’s length robs the punch of its ending poignancy. (When Rachel gives her father her brother’s handmade dish.) Very soon, the scene looked forced. The documentary style of seeing real people gives way to us watching actors going through the lines to reach the end punch. It got phony, fast.
Of course, every director must have his own vision but Demme had a real opportunity here to have people walk away from this movie thinking. I didn’t. Kym went to her sister’s wedding, stayed clean, and left. I guess if I were to think about it, considering she attempted suicide once during the wedding, I don’t think Kym is going to have a happy future.
See you next week.
And then there’s Voltaire and the ending of Candide which has been gnawing on me:
Excellently observed," answered Candide; "but let us cultivate our garden."
This is what's really interesting me: What the hell does Voltaire mean? Here we have one of the greatest rebels in his time, or any time, and he ends one of his most famous books with this bon mot. Is it satire? Was Candide really as “hot” then as it is now, or was it a throw-away work that Voltaire just penned for the bucks?
This has been gnawing at me for some time. Perhaps it’s just my retreat from facing the decline of the US into a 2nd world nation (if we’re lucky and just don’t go right down to 3rd world); a diversion from a bleak reality. Whatever. Thank goodness for The Google. I may have an answer soon.
Move Monday
Rachel Getting Married and My Date With Drew. The second is a documentary; the first is acting as mock-amentary (I just made that up; as if you couldn’t tell.)
First, My Date With Drew. An aspiring Hollywood player wins $1100 on a game show with the answer of Drew Barrymore. He decides to use the money to make a documentary of his attempt to get a date with the actress. It’s funny, it’s suspenseful, it presents its date seeker goofily attractive and earnest. Drew Barrymore comes across as a very nice person but, of course, she, as everyone, knows the camera is rolling.
I liked the buying of the camera scenes. Now I know why Best Buy and places like that give you a “it lasts till the moment you walk out the door” return time period. Here, they buy the camera, use it during the 30-day return period and then return it. (This is why he has a 30 day deadline to date Drew. Note: He doesn’t make it but the project turns hot again and he goes to another store and buys a camera for another 30 days.)
Charming would be a good description for this movie, in spite of the forging-the-press-ID scenes which I guess might tack on the appellation, criminal. But it is a fun watch.
Rachel Getting Married, however, is Jonathan Demme’s pretend documentary which has the look of a reality show but lacks the punch and lacks a coda.
This movie is about serious stuff. Kym, Rachel’s sister, is a recovering drug addict and returns home for Rachel’s wedding. During the movie we learn the tragic secret in Kym’s background (this is not the cause of her addiction) and we watch her trying to come to grips with her wasted life and with her family.
Anne Hathaway nails the addict look and is very good in this role. She got an Oscar nomination for the role and while I think those awards, as with most of Hollywood, hinges on the “one with the best PR campaign wins", her role is definitely award quality.
I don’t know whom to blame for coming away from this movie disappointed, but I was disappointed because the movie just lies there. This is a movie where you should come away talking and questioning, but I didn’t. For example, in the scene where Rachel confronts her mother and tells her that she (the mom) had some responsibility of the tragedy Hathaway makes Kym's rational very understandable but the mom refuses to take any blame. What a cold, heartless bitch you finally think when at the end of the movie, in spite of Rachel’s request for the three of them (Rachel, Kym and mom) having some quality time together she says she’s busy, kisses them goodbye and leaves.
And then there are the long, long scenes and colorful characters right out of an Altman opus. First the characters, Rachel is pregnant, her hubby-to-be is black, Rachael's father looks like "white bread": and is married to a black woman (Demme wastes the talent of Anna Deavere Smith) the ceremony seems quasi-Buddhist, a Buddhist monk (?) in modern dress seems to be the wedding coordinator, the wedding dance entertainment looks like a mix of African native dance with large touch of erotica provided by the director; this list could go on.
Jesus H. Christ. Kym’s addiction problem is a large enough peg on which to hang this movie, why bring in all these extras which diffuse the seriousness of the story?
Finally, the scene lengths; too long. For example, just two, the dance scene and the filling the dishwasher scene. The dance scene just needed cutting, it was too long. However, the dishwasher scene’s length robs the punch of its ending poignancy. (When Rachel gives her father her brother’s handmade dish.) Very soon, the scene looked forced. The documentary style of seeing real people gives way to us watching actors going through the lines to reach the end punch. It got phony, fast.
Of course, every director must have his own vision but Demme had a real opportunity here to have people walk away from this movie thinking. I didn’t. Kym went to her sister’s wedding, stayed clean, and left. I guess if I were to think about it, considering she attempted suicide once during the wedding, I don’t think Kym is going to have a happy future.
See you next week.
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