|
Thursday
"Body Shots"
"The Straight Story"
A love letter to David Lynch, he who makes the surreal
real.
Went to the Paramount theater on Thursday night at around
8. Wanted to get there plenty early for David Lynch's "The
Straight Story." At the Paramount, the AFF folks told us that
we could go in now and sit through the second half of "Body
Shots" if we wanted. And then stay and see the Lynch film.
My friend J.C. and I took them up on this kind offer and went
to the balcony. I forgot how large the Paramount is. I bet
it seats 1000 people.
I thought "Body Shots" was going to be some teen-scene Romantic
comedy Drama mesh, some sort of "St. Elmo's Fire" for the
90's. And I was correct. But it's also a really interesting
film. At first, it seemed like just a funny, 90's look at
sexual liaisons with a pretty bold and modern vocabulary.
But into the final third of the film, it turns into something
else, a real interesting commentary on the hazards of dating
in modern times. Better yet, it tells all sides to the story,
so no real judgment is made. One must make up one's own mind.
Or, possibly, deem to understand that perception can color
so much of one's judgments. Pretty powerful stuff from what
looks like a fluffy teen sex romp. I was pretty impressed
and I can't wait to see the film in it's entirety.
The film had interesting but overtly slick cinematography.
Great acting. And a perfect score by Mark Isham. The editing
was also quite good.
Afterwards, two of the principals, including Ron Livingston,
who made "Office Space" in Austin last year, and the director,
Michael Cristofer, answered questions with some yahoo from
KLBJ's morning show trying to be moderator. Some odd person
in the front row not only tried to pin the actor's down on
their opinion of what happens in the film (a stupid waste
of time) but also tried to push Cristofer into evaluating
his film against David Mamet's "Oleanna," as if this were
the only other film he had ever viewed. There's always one.
In every damn Q&A I've ever been to.
After a brief intermission, J.C. and I went back to the front
row of the balcony and prepared ourselves for Lynch's new
film. I saw a couple of people with "Twin Peaks" shirts and
other Lynch shirts. I wondered if they truly knew what they
were getting into.
A guy from the festival came out, thanked Harry Knowles, who
was in attendance with his ever-present appendage known as
a father, for helping to get the film for the festival and
told us that Lynch had spoken to him this morning, via his
Rice Crispies, and told us to turn off cell phones, pagers,
etc... People applauded. Yet at least twice some dumbass'
pager or cell phone went off. These people, like people who
bring crying babies to films, must be killed. No shit. Let's
just start opening fire on the stupid bastards. No jury who
has ever seen a decent film in a multiplex in the last 5 years
will convict us.
Okay. Enough bitching. Lynch. Lynch...
"The Straight Story" is a masterpiece. Beautiful, slowly paced,
full of delightful quirks, awash with the green hills and
cornfields of Iowa, peopled by the most wonderful characters
to grace the screen in ages, and peppered with the most delightful,
homespun aphorisms heard since Rex Allen died. It's a beautiful
film that almost no one will get. The kind of film a true
mature Lynch fan will revel in and, yet, the kind of film
you could take you father to.
Why did I love it? First, it's Lynch and he brings to the
G-Rated proceedings a sort of heartfelt quirkiness that no
one else could ever achieve on film. Here is an example: The
film has an elderly man, Richard Farnsworth as Alvin Straight,
riding across the state of Iowa on a riding lawnmower to visit
his ailing brother. The reasons why he does this are explained
in the film. In one early scene, after setting up the proceedings
as a road film on 'ludes, Lynch sets his camera on the silhouette
of Straight on his lawnmower traveling down the long expanse
of a highway, then raises it to the heavens for a shot of
clouds, waits, and then pans his camera back to the ground
to show that Straight has only traveled a short distance.
It got a huge laugh.
What other film director would
think to make such a humorous, delightful and peculiar cinematic
statement? This is pure Lynch incorporated into a wonderful
Disney film. Not the new Disney. Not the MTV Disney. But the
old school Disney live action films. The kind that Rex Allen
used to narrate about hound dogs and such. Only a million
times better.
The second reason I loved it? The characters. Farnsworth is
poignant and wonderful. Sissy Spacek as his slightly "slow"
daughter Rose is simply perfect. The entire cast of basically
unknowns, with a few Lynch regulars popping up here and there,
is superb. There was much hubbub about Farnsworth being overlooked
for an award at Cannes and rightly so. His performance achieves
the perfect balance of stately Midwestern farmer and old stubborn
coot. We do not question for one second that this character
would drive a riding lawnmower across two states to see his
brother. Even when the film gets corny, and God knows it does
occasionally, we never once stop liking the characters and
feeling a strong connection to them. We never stop believing
what happens on screen.
The third reason I loved it is the cinematography. Pure Lynch
which means pure art as well. The weaving texture, the thread
of the film, made up of aerial shots of cornfields and grassy
hills and harvesters and winding Midwestern highways are simply
gorgeous. Now, here is where I may differ from most film-goers.
I grew up in Iowa. I spent 15 years of my life there. I recall,
as does Lynch, who grew up in Montana, the beauty of the countryside.
The artistry of a cornfield. The wonder of huge tractors harvesting
crops, the delicate balance of colors in the changing of the
seasons, the glorious rush of a sudden summer downpour. It's
all here. It's wonderful and perfect and beautiful and clean.
There have been many great Westerns in our cinematic history,
but Lynch makes what is most likely the first truly Mid-Western.
These characters are people I knew in Iowa. These plot points
could only happen in Iowa. This scenery is the beauty of the
Midwest brought to Cinemascope with the pure artistic vision
of a man who finds art everywhere. After looking forever at
the underbelly of life, Lynch finally ascends to the skies,
and sees the beauty on the surface of the world as well. He
moves from microscope to aerial view.
Yes. This film requires the patience of a Saint. Lynch makes
this abundantly clear within the first minute. After a short
introduction of shots, which somehow recalls "Blue Velvet,"
Lynch pans into a summer scene set on the lawn of a Midwestern
home. He pans painfully slowly towards a window of one of
the houses. It's excruciatingly slow. Lynch wants us to know,
here and know, that we have to spend the next 2 hours, not
at his pace, but at Alvin Straight's pace. And that
rate is the speed of a riding lawnmower.
Oh, I've told you too much. Just go see the thing. Well, I
take that back. See "The Straight Story" if you meet the following
criteria. You love Lynch. You love rich, slow, textured character
development. You love long, lingering, panoramic looks at
beautiful countryside. You are prepared to spend 2 hours,
which seems like 4, getting into a marvellous story. There
is a wealth of goodness. here. Farnsworth becomes grandfather
to a fatherless generation. And for those of us willing to
pull up a chair, sit around the campfire, and listen to an
old man tell us his life story... with no vibrato, no gimmicks
and no bullshit, there is an enriching experience to be had.
Leave the kids at home. They aren't old enough to appreciate
this yet.
I miss my grandfathers so much. I wish I knew them now, as
an adult. I wish I was the type of person who had the patience
to sit and listen to old people in real life. This film lets
me know that I can listen to at least one. And let all the
small stuff in life fall away. And see what a beautiful, glorious
strange, strange world it truly is.
Seeing the world through the eyes of David Lynch is one of
the most glorious things that has ever happened to me in my
lifetime. It makes what I have seen through my own eyes all
the more blessed, and beautiful and real.
Report Card
Script: A+
Acting: A+
Cinematography\Lighting: A+
Special Effects\Make Up: A+
Music: A+
Final Grade: A+
|
