I had a lot of fun babbling my HEAD off – from my lonely quarantine – with Film Comment editor-in-chief Nicolas Rapold on his podcast “The Last Thing I Saw.” I took the title of the podcast literally: and therefore, the movies I talked about were Hamilton, the Jackass trilogy – which, no word of a lie, helped get me through August – I pulled up my brother’s excellent essay on Jackass: it captures better than I ever could the pull and appeal of those movies. and 8 Mile, because of my summer-long Eminem kick (a continuation really of my 20-year MM kick). I also talked about Gabe Polsky’s Red Penguins, a documentary I think everyone should see. And much more. It was a lot of fun.
And just became it never gets old, here is a masterpiece created by a Reddit user:
I have been excited to hear your thoughts on Hamilton! I am glad you talked so much about Room Where it Happens because seeing that staged — along with everything Diggs and Groff do — was the revelation of the movie for me. Odom’s choreography was so intense and expressive! Ugh he’s so good. And yes – when the phrase escapes Broadway and lands as the title of a John BOLTON book you know it’s a catchy and effective expression of something running deeper in the culture, of the time but timeless. I also deeply appreciated all the choices to film the show and not try and gussy it up. It let us dwell in Groff’s stillness, every moment of Diggs (What’d I Miss, oh man), the phenom that is Goldsberry.
This was such a cheering and welcome listen. I was listening on way to and from visiting my mum, who’s unwell, and it was good to smile, particularly in the discussion of Jackass. It’s never appealed to me but the way you both laughed discussing it was a delight. I love that! There’s this one Rule of Three podcast episode that ostensibly tries to analyse a comedy skit, and it’s a very silly and visual skit so they have to attempt to describe it but they keep dissolving into laughter. I listen to it all the time because when they start snorting and laughing I always find myself grinning. Airplane’s another one I love listening to people talk about. There’s no way to talk about Airplane without laughing! And god knows we need the laughs.
Red Penguins and Infinite Football sound fascinating. Thank you for sharing!
Jessie – hello! so sorry to hear about your mother. I hope she is on the road to recovery – and I am happy my ridiculous chatter was cheering. I said to Nic afterwards, “I am not used to human interaction anymore – I got giddy” – he was laughing, he said the same thing was true for him.
// because seeing that staged — along with everything Diggs and Groff do — was the revelation of the movie for me. //
YES.
It was so intricate – and watching it again, I tried to pretend I didn’t know every detail of the story (not from the musical, but because of my Hamilton stan-dom – or, just in general, my knowledge of that period of American history). And I was trying to figure out if all of it would be clear if I didn’t know the story – and I think it WAS clear. LMM just walks you through it – step by step – and then the STAGING made it even more clear. You really got the stakes, as well as how those relationships started to change – once they realized they could get what they needed from each other.
Would love to hear more of your thoughts on the staging.
I am caught up on one moment – which literally took my breath away when I saw it live – and I STILL can’t get past it – it’s the moment when Odom races back in a wide circle to throw himself down into the chair and put his legs up onto the table. The WAY he runs – in a sort of crouch – he glide-runs – with his arms out – like he’s trying to propel himself into that “room” in one fell swoop – I have no idea HOW he made such a choice – the way he moves in that song – the bent knees is particularly striking – the way he pounds his hand against his chest at one point – You know me and how I babble on and on about gestures and how important they are. His gestures are OFF THE HOOK. I literally have goosebumps just writing this down. And his RUN to the back of the stage … his “conception” of Aaron Burr is so his own – and Aaron Burr is the part of us (the colllective us) we may not be proud of – but we have to acknowledge. It’s like Salieri in a way. And that run backwards is so … desperate, that’s the word I’m looking for. I’m blown AWAY and feel soooo lucky I got to see him do it.
// t let us dwell in Groff’s stillness, every moment of Diggs (What’d I Miss, oh man), the phenom that is Goldsberry. //
Digg’s Thomas Jefferson walk – those loosey goosey knees – cracks me UP.
Again – there’s something about the conception of the characters that is so great – it’s not just in the words, it’s in their bodies.
and Okieriete Onaodowan – so much was going on when I saw the production, it was so much to absorb, I didn’t really take the time to ponder how incredible it was that this one actor would be cast as the ladies-man-spy-tailor Hercules Mulligan AND the asthmatic prim-and-proper James Madison – and he was SO GOOD as both, with two totally different styles of performance. As Hercules, he’s all Busta Rhymes! – as James Madison is more of a regular talk-sing Broadway sound, and he does both brilliantly.
Why do I not know about the Rule of Three podcast?? It sounds incredible! I am way behind the podcast curve – and yeah, it’s the attempting to describe why something is funny that is … frustrating but also rewarding. Comedy is mathematics – if you pause a second longer, you don’t get the laugh. or whatever. I love trying to break this down – kind of like I initially did with that crazy “don’t objectify me” silent pantomime Jensen has in Red Sky at Morning – like, WHY is that so funny to me? It took me 5 paragraphs to describe what he did in 11 seconds!
My old roommate and I used to pop in Airplane on almost a weekly basis. It’s never ever not funny.
and agreed about Infinite Football – I have not seen it, and it sounds so up my nerdy alley.
Again: hope your mother is doing better soon!!
that swooping RUN!! What the hell is that? Yes, so athletic and striking and strong but also, to some degree…pathetic? He ends up sitting at the table with no one there! I wish I knew more about choreography. The way he strikes his chest, throws his arms out, there’s a loneliness and futility to it, it’s powerful and weak at the same time. It’s his I Want song and he’s reaching out but he never can quite grasp. His hands are empty while the trio clink glasses.
And then the other thing I love is how in the next number he’s still catching his breath, haha. I mean, what a huge song. I love how we get like three rare precious gems of closeups in it (not that I think there should have been more – I love that it’s mostly in med&long).
Onaodowan – so good. I particularly love him as Madison! his dynamic with Jefferson is so much fun.
Thank you for your kind words — our definition of ‘okay’ has been radically readjusted, but she’s basically okay at the moment which is a relief!