Afternoon With Keith and Dan: Terrence Malick, Poochinski, Mickey Rooney, and Step Up 3D

Spent the afternoon at Keith and Dan’s house in Brooklyn yesterday. I hadn’t seen Keith since their big Oscar bash last year, and I hadn’t seen Dan since we went to a play this summer. Way too long. I love hanging out with both of them. Naturally we had to laugh about Suzy Gilstrap all over again, but we moved on to other topics. Well, one topic. Movies. These guys are film critics, after all. Have you seen this? What did you think? It came out that I hadn’t seen The New World and Keith gasped, showing true pain and horror, like: it hurt him on a very deep level that I had not seen it, and immediately following his gasp I saw his face light up, in anticipation. He glanced at Dan. Dan said, “But it’s so LONG, don’t we want to visit today?” ESP moment. So we decided NOT to watch The New World this afternoon, but save it for another date. But I loved that look of pain, and then excitement, that flashed over Keith’s face. I know that expression well. Allison and I had it with each other all the time. “Have you seen such and such??” “No.” “OH MY GOD. PROMISE ME you won’t see it until we can see it together!”

We discussed:
— Linda Manz’s wonderful voiceover in Days of Heaven
— Meryl Streep shaking her ass at the camera in She-Devil and saying, “I’m an ARTIST.” Meryl Streep in general.
— Keith left to go get food and Dan and I started talking about Gypsy and Dan said, “I did a very gay thing one day. I watched all the versions of ‘Rose’s Turn’ on Youtube.” We talked about Patti Lupone and he showed me a clip (on Youtube of course) of her singing ‘Rose’s Turn’.
–how often “chemistry” onscreen can result from the actors not really liking each other. That tension creates chemistry.
— Black Swan
— Terrence Malick. Obviously.
— Keith kept looking up things on his iPhone for us. The IMDB credits of obscure stars.
— We watched a TV promo on Youtube for a short-lived series called Poochinski, about a talking dog, voice by Peter Boyle. It was terrible.
— We discussed Mickey Rooney in-depth.
— We talked about the Night of the Hunter Blu-Ray, and the footage of Charles Laughton directing. I haven’t seen it, but Dan told us all about it and how fascinating it was.
— Dan and I are both obsessed by Opening Night.
— Keith brought out a spread of food, bread and cheese and pickles and salami. Their living room is so comfy.
— We all talked about what we are working on right now. Dan’s book on the great Barbara Stanwyck comes out in a couple of months. So excited!
— We talked about Vanessa Redgrave. Dan’s theory is that much of her behavior as an actress results from the fact that she is nearsighted and doesn’t wear contact lenses.
— At one point I found myself vigorously talking about how much I love GI Jane and Keith started laughing in my face. hahahaha It was a totally spontaneous reaction. Unbelievably, Dan had just seen it recently, so we could discuss it at length! Dan liked it too! Anne Bancroft, saying in a steely Southern accent, “I gather.” So campy. So good! There is not one inch of scenery that she does not chew to pieces during her scenes. It is RIDICULOUS. And I honestly think it’s one of Viggo Mortensen’s best performances, if not his best. Laugh in my face if you will, but revisit it if you have dismissed it out of hand. It’s either that performance or the one he gave in Indian Runner, but I am swinging towards GI Jane and “Command Master Chief”. The subtlety he gets into that character, the layers … I am long overdue to do a big GI Jane piece. Maybe when Keith and Dan have me over to see The New World, we can have a double-feature with GI Jane.
— In talking about The New World, Dan said, in regards to Pocahontas, “I guess I don’t believe in innocence like that. I’ve read too much Henry James.”
— We watched another TV promo on Youtube for another short-lived series about a talking chimpanzee who also, apparently, works for the US government, is a surgeon at one point, and maybe even flies a plane. Voice of chimp by Don Ameche. I felt so bad for that chimp, watching him walk around in surgeon’s scrubs.

And then Keith introduced me to his current obsession. The Step Up series. I had no idea what he was talking about. He is researching movie musicals right now, so the Step Up phenomenon was something he started looking into, and now? He is hooked beyond belief. Dan and Keith were both talking AT ME at the same time, something I adore when it happens. They both were talking AT ME about the acting. “The acting is so bad –” “But it’s sincere –” “There’s something charming about it –” “Yes, it’s bad acting, but it’s kind of sweet – they have no idea what they are doing –”

Clearly I needed to see some of it for myself, so Keith popped in the DVD. We watched about 5 dance numbers from Step Up 3D.

I am now hooked.

A couple reasons.

1. The dance scenes are filmed the way dance scenes should be filmed: lots of full body shots, elegant cuts that make sense (rather than quick cuts to hide the deficiencies of the dancers), and lots of long takes. So you know that what you’re seeing is real.
2. The dancers are great.
3. It’s filmed in New York.
4. And yes, the acting is bad, but nobody’s trying too hard. Nobody is going for the brass ring. They’re kids, they’re dancers, they’re in a movie, they have terrible lines to say (like: “I see this glow around you”), and they don’t overthink it.

Lastly: The scene below is the first one we watched. An obvious nod to Fred Astaire, it has a lot of natural joy to it, the choreography is adorable, and, what I appreciate the most:

All one take.

It’s amazing! I mentioned it to Keith (“Keith, this is all one take so far …”) and Keith, who clearly knows far too much about the Step Up thing right now, replied automatically, “It took 17 takes to get it right.”

I love my friends.

Witness: